Women in Revolt (1971)

Take a walk on the wild side with three girls from different walks of life -- and they've all got man problems! High-society dame Candy, frigid middle-class matron Jackie, and gutter nymphomaniac Holly are inspired by the fashionable Women's Lib movement to get organized as PIG (Politically Involved Girls) and give up men. However, their attempts to go lesbian and build new careers only lead to exploitation and abandonment in this outrageous, gender-bending cult comedy from director Paul Morrissey.

"What do you mean...

Come down off my trapeze and get into the sawdust? That's just Circus talk!!"

- Candy Darling March 8, 2007

Worser than "Trash"! A waste of time!

As a big fan of Paul Morrissey's great movies "Flesh for Frankenstein" and "Blood for Dracula", I couldn't believe how worse "Trash" is compared to them. "Women in revolt" is even more terrible than "Trash". The bad plot and the poor acting are giving me stomach cramps. this movie is a complete waste of precious time! So avoid it immediately! April 4, 2006

twisted fun

It amazes me how a 30 year old movie can still shock you. Drag Queens making out with "straight" guys? way ahead of its time.
the movie is hilarious and dark at the same time. Candy Darling looks flawless, Holly Woodlawn looks scary and Jackie Curtis is just a mess.DP work is a bit mediocre ( thanks to the mastermind of this project: Warhol himself) and editing could be better. Seeing Holly Woodlawn molesting beautiful Jane Forth is priceless though!
Overall a movie about an era and a scene long gone but very much missed.... January 4, 2006

A Talented Mess

This is such a miserable mess. And I really wanted to like it since I regularly watch the other Paul Morrisey flicks like "Trash," "Heat" and "Flesh." About the only fascinating angle to this jumbled work is to see it as a snapshot of a vanished era when Candy Darling and Jackie Curtis and all the others are frozen on film at their peaks. If John Waters had taken control of this movie, it would have become a genuine underground classic that you could enjoy even today--like Water's "Mondo Trasho" and of course, "Pink Flamingos." But no one appears to know anything about camera angles, or editing, or script writing. I know, I know, some find this the charm of Morrisey's work with Warhol's gang--their ad libbing and their natural qualities. In some scenes, you see the elbows of others on the set but the camera never shows them. Towards the end, you see Holly Woodlawn stumbling along the Bowery as an alcoholic. In last week's, NY Post, Page Six noted that Woodlawn was in an alcoholic coma, a tragic turn-of-event for one of the Warhol gang's most likeable personalities. February 3, 2004

We're young, we're beautiful, and we're miserable!

Paul Morrisey's Women in Revolt, while a satire of Women's Liberation in the early 1970s, is really an homage to classic movie cinema of the 1930s, 40s, and 60s. In it, Morrisey alludes to the popular "woman's picture" or, "weepies" of those eras by presenting us with the story of three career girls -- a set up that is most reminiscent of How to Marry a Millionare.
Candy, the beautiful and more aloof one of the trio, has her head in the clouds and aspires to become an actress. It is Candy who makes allusions to old time movies and stars by quoting such campy lines such as "I want to live" from Susan Hayward's movie, and the above. Her scene when she auditions for the movie agent is so reminscent of Lana Turner's audition with the agent in Imitation of Life (the set is so similar, right down to the swinging door!)
In real life, Candy Darling was obsessed with old movies and old movie stars. Her mother was a big fan of them and Candy used to entertain her by impersonating Joan Crawford or Garbo and dressing in drag. Candy is also the more convincing woman when compares to Jackie Curtis.
Curtis, a school teacher and a repressed lesbian, is also fighting for women's rights. But she, too, is a character grouneded in cinema. A "working woman" or "career girl," she is single, beautiful, and a survivor. But Jackie's character is annoying: she gets upset at her houseboy for no apparent reasons and is very cruel to him, at one time throwing matches at his naked body. Still, Curtis is a fantastic performer to watch. He is so alive and funny, having starred and written many off broadway plays. It is ineresting to note that the only reason Curtis started dressing in drag was because he wanted to become a star and knew that Andy Warhol was intrigues by transvestites. Holly Woodlawn, however, just knew how to lie.
When he was preparing to shoot Trash, Morrisey says that he cast Holly without even meeting her. Having read a story in a magazine in which Woodlwan described herself as a Warhol Superstar (without officially being one), he was curious and cast the talented Woodlawn. Unlike her perfomance in Trash, which was brilliant and funny, Woodlwan is reduced to a supporting role that leaves her with less screen time. In her memoir, Woodlawn wrote that she felt intimidated by Darling and Curtis who just dominated every scene and thus she handed the movie over to them. This is a shame because I was really impressed by Holly's acting in Trash and in this movie, she plays a kept women who simply screams and has sex with many men.
Overall, Paul Morrisey's Women in Revolt is a gem. If you like old movies and obscure cult films, you might be able to recognize the allusions to old Hollywood in the film. If not, that is okay too because this is really a good movie. It is funny, interesting, and good.
My only regret is that Image Video does not issue a commentary for this film. There are so many stories on the making of and background of this movie. I would love to have insight into the actress' private life. Someone at Image should hurry up and get Holly Woodlawn (the only surving actress of the trio) and Paul Morrisey's commentary on this important film! The same should be done with Trash because all three of the main characters are still alive.
Still, a good movie to add to your cult collection. March 20, 2003

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