THE ROWDY GIRLS is a softcore western comedy starring a handful of B-movie queens and not much else. The twist is that while westerns usually feature hard-drinking cowboys who spend their time indulging in gambling, shoot-outs and carefree sex, the gender spin in this film sees women playing the main roles while the guys are second fiddle.As a low budget movie released these days by Troma, it's not really up to much, although the production values are a bit better than you'd expect. The singing cowboy narrator is really annoying and should have been done away with all together. The film has a handful of sex and nude scenes although it isn't bogged down with them.Softcore queen Shannon Tweed has a sweet and tender moment in the woods with her man while Julie Strain, who plays the villain of the piece, has a rather more explicit bedroom interlude. Deanna Brooks makes her debut film role and manages to stand alongside the two more experienced actresses, and there's a bit part for John Waters starlet Mink Stole. The film's not really up to much, but at least it's inoffensive and quite watchable.

This film essentially focuses on three women who each strive for success on their own terms. The first is a prostitute named "Velvet McKenzie" (Shannon Tweed) who isn't getting any younger and in order to leave her profession behind convinces a customer to rob a bank for her. She then double-crosses him and takes a stagecoach headed west and dressed like a nun. The second woman is a vicious killer by the name of "Mick" (Julie Strain) who loves the leader of an outlaw gang named "Billy Poke" (Daniel Murray). The third woman named "Sarah Foster" (Deanna Brooks) desperately wants to go to San Francisco and has left her parents to get there. Unfortunately, she doesn't want to make the trip all by herself and seeks a man to accompany her. Eventually, the paths of these three women intersect and it's at this time that things begin to really happen. Now, although I don't usually care much for movies produced by Troma, this particular film wasn't too bad. While it had the usual cheap feel to it there was enough of a plot to keep things entertaining for the most part. Likewise, the three actresses mentioned earlier certainly didn't hurt the scenery in any way. In any case, this movie turned out to be better than I expected and I have rated it accordingly. Average.

Frankly, I don't like westerns very much. If I did purchase the DVD version of "Rowdy Girls", it was for Shannon Tweed, Julie Strain and the Troma sticker on the DVD.For the Troma part, Lloyd Kaufman is executive producer and Troma just distribute the movie. Some kind of participation but not the kind of things you expect in a Troma movie. So "Rowdy Girls" isn't particularly violent. It's a western, of course there are gunshots, even dead people but it's not explicit such as in "Toxic Avenger" for instance."Rowdy Girls" is less than a hour and a half, so it's going quick, has enjoyable scenes with nudity (even though, as mentioned above, it's not explicit) and humor. It makes a good movie to rent and enjoy on a Saturday night.

This is not going to win an Oscar, we all know that. However, as a B-movie, I do find it quite watchable. At least it has a plot and I like the fact that the makers of this film don't take itself so seriously and sometimes even make fun of the story or characters themselves (e.g. they have this cowboy singing in front of the camera time by time to tell the storyline). That makes the film more fun to watch. Some people might find the nudity not explicit enough, especially because of the names like Shannon Tweed or Julie Strain are featured in this film. Since Shannon Tweed co-produced this film herself, I believe this is how they intended to make the film: not making a softporn flick full of nonsense sex scenes but a comedy with a bit nudity instead. The acting in general is better as compared to other B-movies. I like Richie Varga who played the Sheriff's brother in the movie. He is such a hunk but is very adorable as well. He deserves to have more film roles in the future.