Sweet Sugar (1972)

Sweet Sugar (1972) * 1/2 (out of 4) Sugar (Phyllis Davis) is a prostitute that plays by her own rules but she's set-up for a drug charge and sent to work in the fields cutting cane. She strikes up a friendship-rivalry with Simone (Ella Edwards) and it doesn't take long for them to realize Dr. John (Angus Duncan) is a sexual psychopath.SWEET SUGAR is yet another exploitation film that takes place inside a prison and features a lot of beautiful women being abused by a lot of not-so-beautiful men and of course there's the wicked leader calling all of the shots. There were so many different WIP (women in prison) movies being made during this period that you really needed to have something that set your film apart from the others. When you look at the genre as a whole, it would get much more darker and more brutal when various European director's starting making films like BARBED WIRE DOLLS.How does SWEET SUGAR stand up? Sadly, it's a pretty boring affair and unless you're a completest for the genre then you can just stay away from this. The biggest problem with this movie is that it wants to play the game of a WIP movie but there's no indication that the screenplay or direction knew what to do. On a technical level the film looks nice and it's better made than a lot in the genre but the biggest issue is that it's downright boring and this is never a good thing for an exploitation movie.The screenplay offers up a checklist of things that you might find in a film like this but there's nothing entertaining about it. Everything on display here has been done better in movies made before this and after it so you're basically just watching a watered down version of something you've seen too many times. There's nothing erotic about the sex scenes. There's nothing overly graphic with the violence. Yeah, there's a couple lesbians kissing and there are some beautiful women naked but everything going on around them is just boring.Director Michel Levesque directed WEREWOLVES ON WHEELS the year before and I wasn't overly fond of that film either. The movie is just way too boring for its own good and it just doesn't stand out in a crowded genre.

TITLE: SWEET SUGAR opened in theaters on January 1 1973 starring Phyllis Davis, Pamela Collins, and Jacqueline Giroux. This movie is 90 minutes long.SUMMARY: The movie opens with a feisty prostitute Sweet Sugar goes up to a room with a man and he tells her he has something for her and gives her what looks to be a rolled up joint. He tells Sugar that he has to go get something and leaves the room. Then two cops enter the room and arrest her on grounds of illegal drugs. Sugar is taken and thrown in jail and end is offered a plea deal that includes Sugar of serving two years hard labor cutting sugar cane at a harsh prison plantation farm. The prison is run by a wicked and deranged warden Dr. John who grossly mistreats the inmates by subjecting them to all kinds of twisted and inhumane medical experiments. Naturally, Sugar forms bonds with Simone her chief rival, Doleres and Fara. The women try to escape on several different occasions only to have something go wrong. After each time one of the girls is whipped, caged or is forced to be alone with the guards. Each day the women have to go out into the plantation to cut sugar cane. The girls get very little wages and what wages they do get they have to pay back for the food, clothes, and other things the girls need.QUESTIONS: Who was the guy that framed Sugar? Why was Sugar sent to this plantation instead of another prison? What were the other girls sent to the plantation for? MY THOUGHTS: I love this movie. This movie is full with action and drama and it keeps you guessing on what's going to happen next. I thought that Pamela Collins and Jacqueline Giroux were great in the roles as Sugar co conspires. However, to me this movie was about one person and one person only Phyllis Davis. She was excellent in her role as Sweet Sugar. This movie also used Phyllis Davis beauty in this movie also. There's several scenes that involves Sugar that will get your blood racing. Despite what other reviews stated about this movie I thought it was an excellent picture. So based on the action, drama and most of all Sweet Sugar beauty and talent I give this movie 10 weasel stars.

Feisty prostitute Sugar (a winningly brash and spunky performance by statuesque brunette stunner Phyllis Davis) gets busted on a trumped-out marijuana possession charge and has to serve two years hard labor cutting sugar cane at a harsh prison plantation farm. The wicked and deranged warden Dr. John (a deliciously hammy portrayal of pure eye-rolling cackling evil by Angus Duncan) grossly mistreats the inmates by subjecting them to all kinds of twisted and inhumane medical experiments. Naturally, Sugar and several other ladies plot to escape from this dismal hellhole. Director Michel Levesque and screenwriter Don Spencer load this satisfyingly seamy potboiler with all the right trashy grindhouse stuff: we've got a constant snappy pace, a handy helping of tasty female nudity, rape, hot babes in tight tank tops and skimpy cut-off shorts, a couple of obligatory shower scenes, degradation, torture (Dr. John locks a bunch of trouble-making gals in a room with a gaggle of ferocious rabid felines!), a catfight, and a rousing last reel break-out set piece. Moreover, the cast of familiar B-movie faces have a field day with their juicy roles: Ella Edwards as the sassy Simone, Cliff Osmond as the mean and sadistic captain Burgos, Timothy Brown as affable voodoo-practicing convict Mojo, Pamela Collins as sweet, vulnerable teenager Dolores, James Whitworth as brutish guard Mario, Albert Cole as likable contraband dealer Max, and James Houghton as lovably dim-witted lunkhead Ric. Gabriel Torres' reasonably slick cinematography gives the picture an attractive bright look. Don Gere's groovy, swinging score and the funky, syncopated theme song both hit the soulful spot. A pleasingly scuzzy and spirited piece of blithely low-rent junk.

Do not let the average rating of 4.5 on this movie fool you; it is bad, very bad. In fact, after renting and watching it as a precursor/mood setter for a lowlife pub crawl, there was little disagreement between my cohorts and I that we had managed to find the worst movie available for rent at Blockbuster (I'm sure many of you feel that you have made similar discoveries, which I would be interested in hearing, but believe me, if this isn't the worst on offer at Blockbuster, it was at least the worst on offer at the Fredericton, NB Blockbuster on Priestman St.). Which was precisely its appeal, naturally - telling others about this truly bad movie was both entertaining and somewhat self effacing (the title I saw it under was "She Devils in Chains," which title justifies the suspicious queries as to my motives in renting this abysmal classic). I recommend this movie to anyone who wants to place the perfect lowlife opening bookend to a planned night of debauchery, and hope that their closing bookend is equally unsavory.