Hustler Squad (1975) User Reviews

As bad as you would expect.

[BlackJack_B · 3/10 · 25 August 2005]

I'm not sure why this movie was made. I'm guessing this was drive-in fare for the 1970's as the fad was still going strong at the time. Hustler Squad takes place in WWII in which the U.S. Army discovers that one of the Japanese generals frequents a brothel. The lieutenant responsible for the mission decides to find four women, train them, and pass them off as prostitutes in the brothel; where they would kill their enemies while they had their "philisophical discussions". He gets a murderer, a prostitute, a woman whose family was killed by the Japanese, and a terminally ill nurse. They are joined by a Filipino sharpshooter. Well, when it's all said and done, you won't believe who survives.

Basically, this is a $1.98 movie. The acting is very poor; probably done by first-timers. The lighting is dark and shoddy. The music is typical 70's. There's a lot of fight scenes that echo ye olde days of fistfighting. However, the gunfights come of as Kung Fu Dancing. The soldiers shoot their guns as if they are playing a guitar and they seem to be dancing in close quarters combat. Also, the death throes of the soldiers are way over-the-top. Add in the fact that the film doesn't have anything in it that screams 1944 and you've got a winner of a loser.

nothing special to see

[trashgang · 3/10 · 11 June 2012]

Even in the grindhouse flicks you have some bad flicks. For some grindhouse already stands for low quality flicks. This here isn't a kind of grindhouse I really like. It's a rip-off of a few flicks made with almost no budget.

Although it survived the days of drive-ins and is now available on DVD for the first time. The reason is simple because even as this isn't a good flick, still some names attached to it became more known afterwards. Karen Ericson, here as Lt. Jennifer West moved further in Night Of The Demons (1988) as Judy's Mother. It was also her last flick she made. Crystin Sinclaire, here as Cindy Lee Dawson moved further to horrors like Eaten Alive (1977) and Ruby (1977) before quitting in 1979. But Liza Lorena as Sonya might be the biggest name still performing in TV series.

The story is a bit sleazy. Hustlers are recruited to the army to seduce Japanese officers and kill them in action. By doing so the enemy could invade the island and conquer the Japanese. And that's were the rip-off comes from, all those movies about outlaws coming together to rescue someone or are out to do a dirty job, remember The Dirty Dozen (1967).

There's a lot of talking going on and naturally you have the bastard, here it's John Ericson as Maj. Stony Stonewall, you know the guy, big mouth, always ready for a fight or a card game with the usual cigar. It's only towards the end of this flick that it becomes worth watching. The hustlers do kill the officers and some do show their juggs to do so. There is even, for the quick viewer, a decapitation and a few stabbings by a samurai sword.

Blood do flows here and there but on a low base. Still, for the lovers of bad grindhouses it's out there to pick it up.

Gore 0/5 Nudity 0,5/5 Effects 0/5 Story 2/5 Comedy 0/5

Pay your dues

[nogodnomasters · 3/10 · 26 September 2017]

The movie starts out with a failed raid by rebel Filipino forces against a Japanese stronghold. The Japanese plan of having their top brass all gather at a bordello on the island. Our military, lead by Major Stonewall (an unkempt John Ericson, Sam Bolt from TV series "Honey West") devises a plan to train and place four women in the midst of them. We meet the major in the middle of an improbable high stakes poker game where he bluffs his way through. He is chosen because he thinks outside the box. He meets with Paco Rodriguez (Ramon Revilla), the leader of the rebels as they openly discuss options while drinking in a public bar in Australia. After a bar fight where the guys get beaten up by a woman who knees them in a soft spot, Paco comes up with an idea of using women.

The first stop is a female prison. After the cat fight, Ericson selects imprisoned killer, Rose Carson (Nory Wright). She slit the throat of her boyfriend for sleeping with another woman, apparently illegal outside of Georgia.

The second woman is Anna Oleson, a doll face pacifist nurse with a fatal disease and has only 2 months to live (after the 60 day training course). Anna is played by Johanna Raunio, who two years earlier in 1974 was Miss Finland ! Sonya (Liza Lorena) is added as the third member. Her family was tortured, raped, and killed by the Japanese. She herself was raped.

The fourth girl is Cindy Lee Dawson, a prostitute who has a price on her head for "crossing the black market." Played by Crystin Sinclaire she has the facial features of Traci Lords and a raspy voice.

Most of their training is accomplished in a long music montage. The girl's manage to infiltrate the bordello (as if anyone would think otherwise). No one questions how 3 English speaking "round eyes" 2 of which are blonde happen to be part of this group of Filipino comfort girls. Cindy Lee Dawson and Nory Wright provide the movie's nude scenes, which are brief and nearly PG-13 by today's standards.

Shlocktacular!

[Scott_Mercer · 5/10 · 24 September 2006]

Well now. I guess I am in the minority on this one. By now everyone must be familiar with the concept of "so bad it's good," and for me, that's where this shlockfest came down. Entertainingly horrible.

Another low budget period piece that takes place in the 1940's, but they didn't quite pull it off. Everything still looks like it was shot in the Philippines in 1976 for a budget of two dollars, which it was (too bad they don't even mention on the package that it's supposed to be a World War II movie).

But this thing is so clichéd it's hilarious! Anyone who would dare to call his lead character "Major Stony Stonewall" with a semi-straight face is my kind of idiot. Ah yes, the blustery, cigar-chomping chauvinist pig commander who "doesn't play by the rules." Haven't we seen this a FEW times before? I was rolling my eyes and chuckling at the same time. Women with nothing to lose are recruited in Australia by the U.S. Major during World War II to infiltrate a "resort island" where top Japanese generals are going to be gathering soon for a secret meeting and a little pre-paid cookie. Their secret mission: get 'em in bed, and get 'em dead.

Yes, most of the action is fist fighting, but there's two military battles, one at the beginning and one at the climax of the film, plenty of machine guns firing blanks and Filipino extras sliding down hills to a fake death, a little bit of fake movie blood, and hell, even a guard tower that gets blown up real good. What do you people want from a low budget Filipino production from 1976, CGI effects? They worked with what they had.

It might be a quirk of copyright, but I don't think this is public domain in the United States. Seems like everyone who commented bought it at a pound shop in England, which means that maybe nobody got any royalties.

Unfortunately for my wallet, I had to pay $11 for a double feature of this film along with "Wild Riders" in the new BCI "Starlite Drive-In Theatre" series of B-movie schlock, much of it from the bargain basement archives of Crown International Pictures.

Okay, so I paid $5.50 instead of $1.00 for it. Am I disappointed? NO! No I tell you! There is plenty of entertainment to be had here.

This is a great DVD to practice your Mystery Science Theater auditions with. A lovable piece of dung. Recommended for Drive-In Movie heads.

Certainly the best World War II hooker assassin movie I've seen this week.

But I've got a better title. How about...THE FLIRTY DOZEN??? (groan....) Yeah, that wouldn't even work. There were only four of them.

This is the worst film I've ever partly seen

[steamylog101 · 1/10 · 2 July 2005]

Unbearable....its without a doubt the worst film I've ever seen....i couldn't stomach it all as i felt that to watch more would be to waste another hour of my life after the film i felt sick it was that bad...as my friend pointed out poorly lit rubbish. On top of that the gun fights were just terrible....every copy of this film should be seized rollered, burned, urinated on, then sent into space to go infect any attacking creatures with the worst horse kak that man kind can muster...then we should have all religions pray for redemption for us all for creating this rubbish......then knowone should be allowed to speak of this film again....ever........not like many people were in the first place to be fair. Maybe a slight over reaction but you can never be too careful....can you.

It's just plain poor.

[RatedVforVinny · 3/10 · 2 December 2019]

One that has a juicy scenario of undercover escorts, who are sent to an occupied island, to infiltrate a party of high ranking Japanese officers and then dispatch them in anyway possible. Sort of like a sleazy 'Dirty Dozen', riddled with such obvious cliches such as "You're not all going to make it back home!" and (what a surprise) this indeed turned out to be the case.

Woah

[BandSAboutMovies · 2/10 · 16 April 2023]

Their orders: LOVE your enemy...then KILL HIM!

Major Stony Stonewall (John Ericson) has been given a mission: kill off a group of Japanese officers while they're in a brothel in the Philippines. That means it's time for a dirty one-third dozen: a sex worker on the run from organized crime by the name of Cindy Lee Dawson (Crystin Sinclaire, Crazy Alice from Caged Heat and Libby from Eaten Alive), the sexually overcharged killing machine known as Rose Carson (Nory Wright, Cover Girl Models), a Scandinavian nurse named Anna Oleson (Johanna Raunio) with a death sentence thanks to a terminal illness and Sonya (Liza Lorena), who was assaulted by Japanese troops after they murdered her entire extended family.

They're aided by Lieutenant West (Karen Ericson, wife of the hero in actual life) and a rebel leader named Paco (Ramon Ravilla). Seeing as how this as made in the Philippines, this has Vic Diaz in it, of course, but my favorite character is the Japanese admiral who is nothing like the animals that the propaganda has led the girls to believe that he may be.

Set in the 40s but feeling like it's the 70s - outside of the big band music that plays during the training - this movie promises sleaze and only has women talking about how much they want sex and not getting it. Director Cesar Gallardo also made Bamboo Gods and Iron Men and somehow in this film, he figured out a way to make attractive women turned into killers boring.

bad B-movie

[SnoopyStyle · 2/10 · 13 July 2015]

During WWII, Filipino commandos attack a small Japanese-held island. The attack fails and US commanders have no choice but to get the help of unconventional Major Stony Stonewall. It's 60 days before some of the leading Japanese generals gather at the resort. With the help of local fighter Paco, Stonewall recruits four women to take out the Japanese commanders. They are murderer Rose Carson from prison, selfless nurse Anna Oleson with terminal illness, Filipina Sonya with a grudge to settle and prostitute Cindy Lee Dawson on the run from the mob.

By itself, the story is solid B-movie material. I can see Chuck Norris doing this back in the day. However the movie is filled with bad writing, bad acting and bad filmmaking in general. It is bad. Its only salvation is that it has no pretension of being anything remotely good. Its greatest failing is that it's boring.

Filipino cheapie delivers the goods on a basic level

[Leofwine_draca · 5/10 · 5 August 2016]

As far as low rent Filipino action films go, HUSTLER SQUAD isn't too bad. As with so many films in the genre, the setting is the Second World War, the enemies are the Japanese and their encampment on one of the islands, and the heroes a quartet of women who go undercover amid a party of prostitutes in order to destroy the complex.

HUSTLER SQUAD is a well paced little film that sometimes overcomes the shortcomings of its genre. There's plenty of incident here, whether it's the party that the Japanese hold, the lengthy training and recruitment sequences, or the all-action climax. For a low budget girls 'n' guns movie, it's workable enough, with plenty of action to see it through. John Ericson gives a hilariously wooden performance as the impossibly macho US major 'Stony' Stonewall and the rest is a mish mash of violence, explosive action, and fist fights.

An enjoyably clunky low-budget Crown International Pictures rip-off of "The Dirty Dozen"

[Woodyanders · 8/10 · 1 March 2007]

How's this for a fresh, novel and interesting premise for a World War II action potboiler: Mighty macho foul-mouthed, cigar-chomping Major Stony Stonewall (gruffly essayed by John Ericson), assisted by compassionate Lt. Jennifer West (the appealing Karen Ericson) and tough guerrilla fighter Paco Rodrigeuz (likable Ramon Revilla), has to train four lovely young ladies -- terminally ill nurse Anna Oleson (yummy Johanna Raunio), vengeful rape victim Sonya (solid Lisa Lorena), libidinous convicted murderess Rose Carson (fiery Nory Wright) and brassy hooker Cindy Lee Dawson (a nicely sassy'n'sexy Lynda Sinclaire) -- for a desperate suicide mission which entails the women seducing and assassinating several top Japanese army officials who frequent a Filipino brothel. Sound pretty silly and ridiculous? Well, it sure is just as laughably dumb and absurd as the plot suggests. However, there's a certain engagingly clunky charm to this admittedly cheesy'n'chintzy piece of ultra-cheap vintage 70's drive-in exploitation junk that's impossible to either dislike or resist. Cesar Gallardo's plodding (mis)direction, the ineptly staged action scenes, the generic film library score, the by-the-numbers hackneyed and predictable plot which blatantly copies "The Dirty Dozen," a knock-down, drag-out barfight, a really funny training montage sequence, a decent smattering of nudity, a welcome appearance by the great Vic Diaz as a smarmy Japanese soldier, the crude, ratty, unpolished cinematography, a rousing last reel raid on the bordello, and the neatly ironic ending all ensure that this honey is an absolute cruddy hoot from stinky start to paltry finish. Good, tacky fun.

Fun Filipino action trash

[Red-Barracuda · 7/10 · 27 October 2015]

This movie is basically The Dirty Dozen (1967) but with a gang of bad girls instead of a platoon of bad boys. All-in-all, not a bad idea for a movie in my book. Set during World War II, we have four civilian women who are trained to become assassins for a highly secret mission where they will use their sexuality to get up near and close with four high ranking Japanese officers who are scheduled to stop off at a well-guarded island retreat where they intend to spend some relaxation time with some ladies of the night. Needless to say, if the plan goes ahead as expected, these guys are going to be in for a decidedly different type of excitement than they had in mind.

Hustler Squad is one of many exploitation movies that were made in the Philippines during the 70's. It mixes action with a bit of sexploitation. It features a character called Major Stoney Stonewall – a man who, needless to say, doesn't play by the rules. His style of unorthodox thinking leads to the killer prostitutes idea. The girls are assembled from a convict, a rape victim, a hooker and a woman with a terminal disease. Production values are pretty basic as you would probably expect from a Filipino action flick and it rarely gives off the feeling that the action is really happening during the 1940's. The women especially look thoroughly like 70's chicks. But I'm not really complaining because I find this one to be a somewhat unfairly maligned movie which succeeds in entertaining from start to finish. The basic plot-line is a decent one and the action is generally quite a bit of fun. And there's always something undoubtedly good about seeing a bunch of women get together to kick butt in an action flick. This one is certainly rough around the edges in places but that's also part of its charm.

The real score for this Movie

[phmaton · 10/10 · 23 October 2006]

This movie is the best movie I've ever seen contrary to the people who previously commented on it. They don't appreciate a real work of art. I really like this film. I can relate to Maj. Stony Stonewall, which is my idol. I also look like him. I watched this movie more that ten times now. It should be on the number 1 list. Viewer like pastry, blue thunder, steamy, reluctant, and jack yd are just plain idiot.

The script, acting and the effects are professionally done. I can compare this film to classic like Saving Private Ryan, Black Hawk Down, and The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King. I really recommend this film to everyone!!!!

a bona fide Grindhouse gem that is both intentionally, and unintentionally funny!

[Weirdling_Wolf · 9/10 · 14 July 2023]

A dirtier-minded dozen, this uproariously fun Filipino actioner clearly doesn't take itself all too seriously, but it has a higher calibre of acting that makes suspension of disbelief much less of a chore! An amicable group of hard luck women are stridently put through their militaristic paces, excitingly montaged into a sultry squad of sinewy, savage hearted scarlet women! The risque plan is to place them within a late-night soiree, swollen with Army big knobs, luridly liquidating the libidinous Japanese high command with their finely honed feminine harms! Deliciously schlocky stuff that, happily, remains consistently entertaining until the blazingly bellicose climax!

The likeable performances are uniformly excellent, making it easy to root for our scintillatingly saucy assassins sordidly essayed subterfuge! Surprisingly, for a ribald, low budget exploitation flick, the zesty dialogue and robust characterisation is distinctly above average, and any shoot 'em up starring charismatic cult hero, Vic Diaz is always time well spent! A sparky, easy on the eye cast, rousing Gung-Hoe action, and quality repartee raises Gallardo's boisterous WW2 bullet-fest above the mire of B-Movie mediocrity. 'Hustler Squad' is a righteous discovery, a bona fide Grindhouse gem that is both intentionally, and unintentionally funny!