The Hot Box

When one of the village boys on the tropical island of San Rosario dies because of inadequate medical care, Flavio, the leader of the People's Army of San Rosario, determines to rectify the situation by kidnapping some nurses to teach medical procedures to the revolutionaries. Soon after, Bunny Kincaid, Lynn Forrest, Ellie St. George and Sue Pennwright, American nurses who have come to San Rosario to work at the Government Medical Center for three months, are sunning on the beach when a group of bandits working with the revolutionaries emerges from the jungle and kidnaps them. When one of the bandits slices off Lynn's bikini top, the spunky nurse spits in his face, enraging him. The bandit leader is about to rape Lynn when Flavio and his men arrive to pay off the bandits for kidnapping the nurses. After the bandits depart, Flavio apologizes to the women, but explains that he needs their services. At the rebel camp, Flavio informs the nurses that they will be shot unless they agree to help him set up a medical dispensary and teach the rebels the rudiments of first aid and public health. Soon after, Garcia, a journalist sympathetic to the rebels, arrives to write a story about them. While Flavio and Garcia watch the rebels train, the nurses seize upon the distraction to steal a truck and flee. Flavio jumps into his jeep to pursue them, and catches up to them when they reach the banks of El Tigre River, which they are unable to cross in their vehicle. After Flavio beats them for their insubordination, the nurses compile a list of medicines needed in preparation for a raid on a medical clinic. Flavio forces Lynn to accompany him, but upon breaking into the clinic, they learn that it has no supplies because the government is stockpiling all medications at the government hospital, a facility restricted to the treatment of wealthy and prominent citizens. Upon returning to the rebel camp, Lynn voices her concern that the people's clinic has not been allotted any medicine, prompting the other nurses to accuse her of being sympathetic to the rebels. Flavio then leads a raid on the supply depot, where, in a violent confrontation with the soldiers, he is wounded but manages to escape with a truckload of medical supplies. When Ellie changes the dressing on Flavio's wound at the camp, he wonders why she, as a black woman, does not identify with the dispossessed. After she responds that this is not her revolution, he calls her arrogant and selfish, after which they make love. Meanwhile, Ronaldo Montoya, Flavio's second-in-command, complains to Bunny that Flavio was not prepared for the raid. Bunny repeats this to Sue, who decides to try to convince the disgruntled Ronaldo to help them escape. After Ronaldo agrees to help the women, Lynn announces that she wants to stay because she supports the rebel's cause. However, the others manage to overcome Lynn's opposition, and that night, Ronaldo leads the women out of camp and steals a boat from a fishing village, from where they sail to the harbor at Los Indios. Upon docking, however, they are met by Garcia, who is now wearing a military uniform. Garcia reveals that he is really Major Dubay, the head of the army, and has been impersonating Garcia in order to locate the rebels' camp. He explains that he kidnapped Ronaldo's brothers in order to force him to cooperate with the military, then reveals that he has killed the brothers, even though Ronaldo fulfilled his part of the bargain. Later, at the military compound, Sue asks Dubay to allow her and her friends to return to San Rosario City, and in response, he brutally rips off her shirt and rapes her. The other women are ordered to disrobe for the doctor, and when they refuse, they are shoved into a cage and sprayed with scalding steam until they consent. Later that night, the nurses trick some guards, seize their guns and free Ronaldo, who sets fire to the compound. As the troops try to extinguish the fire, Ronaldo and the nurses escape in a small motorboat. Upon landing at the fishing village, they steal a truck, but when it runs out of gas, they proceed on foot to the camp, where they warn Flavio that Dubay is on his way to attack them. Flavio arrests Ronaldo and orders him tied to a tree, then instructs the rebels to mine the river with bottles filled with gasoline. When Dubay and his men arrive at the other side of the El Tigre, they begin to cross the river in rafts, after which the rebels shoot at the homemade fire bombs, causing them to ignite. In the ensuing shootout, Sue frees Ronaldo, who is gunned down while fighting Dubay's troops. Dubay watches in disbelief as the rebels, with the help of the bandits, decimate his ranks. Calling for a retreat, Dubay turns to flee, but is downed by a rebel bullet. With the victory of the People's Army, the nurses are allowed to return to the city, except for Lynn, who decides to throw in her lot with the rebels.