Though it wouldn't survive past 1979, Dimension had a brief, but glorious, run starting in 1972 with The Doberman Gang, Sweet Sugar and its first Filipino acquisition The Twilight People. The company, founded by Lawrence Woolner, a co-founder of New World Pictures with Roger Corman after running the indie exhibitor Woolner Brothers (with siblings Bernard and David), was responsible for releasing a handful of Mario Bava titles.
Even then, the ties between Filipino filmmaking and Blaxploitation were becoming clear, and when this film opened the two were almost inextricably linked. The Muthers has a wild roster of African-American actresses in the lead, with Missouri-born Jeannie Bell headlining after a string of Blaxploitation favorites like Melinda (1972), TNT Jackson (1974) and Three the Hard Way (1974), not to mention a well-remembered appearance in Playboy. Joining her for the ride is Rosanne Katon, a relative newcomer at the time mostly known for her perky turn in Jack Hill's The Swinging Cheerleaders (1974) and one of the main roles in the aforementioned Ebony Ivory & Jade. Both women are cast as modern, Women's Lib-era versions of Robin Hood as pirates who help villages in need by raiding a plantation hiding an illegal slavery camp.
Cast in more morally dubious roles are two other Black actresses, marking this as a rare film at the time with a quartet of African American women in leading roles. The statuesque Trina Parks first made an impression on filmgoers in 1971 as killer gymnast, Thumper, in Sean Connery's last official James Bond film, Diamonds Are Forever. Oddly, her only other theatrical role would come in between with the outrageous cult oddity Darktown Strutters (1975) for New World.
Also on hand in Jayne Kennedy, another Playboy alumnus, who was married to actor Leon Isaac Kennedy at the time. A Miss USA pageant semi-finalist, she had made her screen debut in Stephanie Rothman's Group Marriage (1973), but was mainly known for television appearances at the time. She would go on to become an early female sportscaster for The NFL Today and an '80s exercise guru. Kennedy and her husband would go on to star together in another Filipino action film, Death Force (aka Fighting Mad) (1978), helmed by the director of The Muthers, Cirio H. Santiago.
Easily the most prolific director of Filipino-American productions, Santiago benefited greatly from his ongoing relationship with Roger Corman that spanned well into the 1980s. Santiago had been diligently turning out commercial films in the Philippines since the mid-1950s, but he really hit his stride starting in the early '70s with English-language titles intended for international exhibition like Fly Me and Savage! (both 1973). Thanks to TNT Jackson and Ebony Ivory & Jade, he would meet some of the stars of this film, and he would continue to turn out fast and furious entertainment for Corman and other American cohorts with films like Vampire Hookers (1978), the crazed Firecracker (1981), Stryker (1983) and a string of post-apocalyptic favorites including Wheels of Fire (1985), Equalizer 2000 (1987) and The Sisterhood (1988). By the time he passed away in 2008, he had left behind a movie legacy in his country that remains unparalleled, and The Muthers is a perfect example of his pitch-perfect drive-in sensibilities.
Producer: Cirio Santiago
Director: Cirio Santiago
Screenplay: Cyril St. James
Cinematography: Ricardo Remias
Film Editing: Gervacio Santos
Special Effects: Rolly Sto. Domingo
Music: Eddie Villanueva
Cast: Jeanne Bell, J Antonio Carrion, Rosanne Katon, Jayne Kennedy, Trina Parks, John Montgomery, Sam Sharruff.
C-83m.
By Nathaniel Thompson
