WRESTLING WOMEN VS. THE KILLER ROBOT (1969)

 

PHENOMENALITY: *marvelous*
MYTHICITY: *poor*
FRYEAN MYTHOS: *adventure*
CAMPBELLIAN FUNCTION: *cosmological*

Depending on one's viewpoint, WRESTLING WOMEN VS THE KILLER ROBOT is either the last, or next to the last, of the "lady wrestler" films of the 1960s, all helmed by "Mexploitation" director Rene Cardona. I have not re-screened NIGHT OF THE BLOODY APES, also from 1969, for some time, but I recall that it seemed far more focused upon its anthropoid monster (just one rather than several) more than the luchadora of the story. But ROBOT is certainly the last lady-wrestler movie from Cardona that featured two luchadoras for the price of one.

Sadly, ROBOT may not be the worst of the five teamup films, but it's still a very paltry finale. One of the five, SHE WOLVES OF THE RING, I have not reviewed here because it's a purely naturalistic drama about lady wrestlers, but the only one that stands out is the first one, DOCTOR OF DOOM. In fact, the script for ROBOT reworks a handful of scenes from DOCTOR to pad out the 1969 movie, which is mostly an uncredited remake of "The Cybernauts," an episode of the 1960s teleseries THE AVENGERS.

The evil Doctor Orlak (Carlos Agosti) and his assistants seek to invent the perfect robot servant. I'm not sure why he chose to change a regular human into a brutish ape-man, which wouldn't seem to have much to do with cybernetics. He decides he can improve his inventions if he kidnaps a bunch of scientists to help him, so he sends out his single "killer robot" to track down such unwilling aides. This robot looks almost exactly like the one from the AVENGERS episode, a tall man in a trenchcoat but with silver-metal facial skin. 

Trouble is, one of the kidnappees is the uncle of a tough lady wrestler, Gaby (Regine Torne), so she and her cop boyfriend join forces to find the victims and rescue them. Gaby's roommate and fellow wrestler Gemma (Malu Reyes) joins the crusade, as does the cop's comical partner. This might sound promising, However, because the killer robot is almost indestructible, the ladies' wrestling moves aren't any more effective than gunfire. Gaby and Gemma finally penetrate Orlak's laboratory, where Orlak reveals that he's also stolen a device from a second AVENGERS episode, "Return of the Cybernauts:" said device being a bracelet that can make a normal human act like a robot. However, the cops and the lady wrestlers devastate the lab and rescue the abducted scientists.

Orlak then escapes to a second lab, where he somehow transfers the power of his ape-man (strangely named "Carfax") into the body of a female slave, whom he decks out in metal garb so that she too will be a "killer robot." This robot, name of "Electra," challenges Gaby in the ring, but Gemma realizes that Electra is an automaton and comes to Gaby's rescue. Happily, Orlak is ringside, controlling Electra with a transmitter, so that the cops manage to shoot him down and end his menace. 

All of this recycling might be bearable, except that the action scenes are subpar, even those in the ring. I can't escape the feeling that Cardona was completely played out on the topic of female fighters and simply didn't try all that hard.