Directed By: Don Schain
Starring: Cheri Caffaro, Duane Tucker, Herbert Kerr
Tag line: "To bust a ring that specializes in assorted sports you need a girl who's played them all"
Trivia: When released on video in the UK, the title was changed to Little Girls Lost
Ginger, a 1971 crime film written and directed by Don Schain, offers plenty of exploitation goodness, from nudity and violence to rape, drug use, and even a little S & M. Of course, Ginger also has poor acting, terrible production values, and a basic story that doesn’t make a lick of sense, but I guess you can’t have everything, can you?
In an effort to bring down ultra-criminal Rex Halsey (Duane Tucker) and his violent gang of drug dealers / prostitutes / blackmailers , rich girl Ginger (Cheri Caffaro) volunteers to work undercover for private investigator Jason Varone (William Grannell), who has been hired by several prominent members of Brighton, NJ (Halsey’s base of operations) to eliminate this blight on their community. Though she has no law-enforcement experience whatsoever, Ginger manages to convince Jason she will succeed where others have failed (the last woman to tangle with Halsey and his cronies was gang-raped before getting a plastic bag tied over the head).
When her attempt to reform Cathy (Linda Susoeff), one of Halsey’s most trusted prostitutes, ends in disaster, Ginger sets her sights on key members of Halsey’s operation, including Rodney (Casey Donovan), J.D. (David Ross),and even Jimmy (Herbert Kerr), an African-American narcotics dealer with a taste for white women. But the closer she gets to Halsey himself, the more dangerous her task becomes, and if she isn’t careful, Ginger will end up like all of her predecessors: dead!
Grindhouse aficionados will have a field day with Ginger, which features a number of unforgettable scenes. In one, Ginger (while lying on the beach, minding her own business) is approached by Vicki (Michele Norris), Halsey’s main squeeze, who challenges our heroine to a fight (the fracas concludes when Ginger strips Vicki naked and hog-ties her with her own bikini). In addition, there’s a lesbian encounter (with Ginger and another of the gang’s ladies), and more than a few sequences featuring bondage and S & M. And if this isn’t enough for you, Ginger also has one very uncomfortable sequence involving castration by piano wire!
Like most movies of this ilk, Ginger suffers from bad acting and some head-scratching WTF moments (why would a professional investigator hire an inexperienced beauty in the first place?). In addition, a good many scenes run on far too long (like the drug deal where the most exciting thing that happens is a guy rolling a joint). Even more perplexing are the scenes in which characters purposefully put themselves in harm’s way, walking into obvious traps without bringing a weapon along (one of Halsey’s trusted cohorts makes this fatal mistake when Ginger, whose cover has already been blown, invites him over for a “chat”).
Those familiar with this era’s exploitation movies won’t be the least bit bothered by these weaknesses, whereas others probably wouldn’t watch a picture like Ginger in a thousand years. So, this is to anyone on the fence about this film: If you can deal with nudity and violence and don’t mind ridiculous dialog or gaping plot holes, then definitely give Ginger a shot. Even if it’s seedier elements don’t impress you, odds are you’ll laugh once or twice.