Girl on a Chain Gang (Blu-Ray Review)
**The Film Detective’s Special Edition for “Girl on a Chain Gang” comes out on Tuesday, April 19, 2022. This is a review of not just the film, but the Blu-Ray Special Edition.**
It’s a bit surprising that “Girl on a Chain Gang” does not have a bigger reputation. Yes, it feels very exploitative in its approach, but it’s subject matter is explosive and, sadly, still relevant. Systemic racism and police corruption are still issues that we see in the year 2022, and it’d be great to see “Girl on a Chain Gang” get heightened interest at this time. I wouldn’t say it’s a great film on the subject, but it’s certainly a compelling one.
The film begins with three people (Jean Rollins (Julie Ange), Ted Branch (Ron Segal) and Audie Dixon) are driving down South when they get pulled over by a couple of small-town cops. The cops harass the trio, white consists of two whites and one black, and goad them into arrest-able offenses, even though there’s no reason to pull them over in the first place. They take them into the jail, and the Sheriff (William Watson) allows them to go if they’re able to pay the fines. They are, but they aren’t out long before they’re set up for further charges, setting up a night and day of Hell for the three under the corrupt Sheriff.
There’s going to be moments where this is tough to take, and it presents some truly depraved and prejudiced behavior by the police here. Writer-director Jerry Gross doesn’t give us complex characters, but all of them are compelling characters, whose behaviors feel very in tune with what we come to know about them. What connects us with this story is how it depicts the blatant corruption and prejudice that existed in the South before, during, and after the Civil Rights era. The only difference about after was, it wasn’t always as visible to outside observers. With the pendulum swinging back in the opposite direction, maybe it’s the best time for a movie like “Girl on a Chain Gang” to be entered back into the public consciousness, to remind us of what was never really as far in the rear view mirror as we’d like to believe.
Blu-Ray Presentation
As with every Film Detective release, you can expect only the best work done in their restorations of these films, and “Girl on a Chain Gang” is no exception. There are no clear upgrade in the audio and video here, especially compared to prior releases such as “A Life at Stake” or “The Capture,” but in a way, that works to this films advantage, as it’s very much more of a B-grade, low-budget exploitation film than those, which just feel a step below major studio offerings in their production values.
The special features lineup for this disc will feel familiar to Film Detective fans, but it’s the depth of knowledge we get from them that will hook us. First off is an audio commentary by Jennifer Churchill, which is engaging and informative, although even she cannot get down to the mystery of who plays Audie Dixon in this film. Girl on a Chain Gang: Race, Rednecks and Civil Rights is a great essay by Lisa Petrucci which presents the context for the film, be it from its exploitation origins to its place in documenting the Civil Rights movement. “It’s All in the Title: Exploiting Jerry Gross” is a compelling video essay from historian Chris Poggiali which breaks down the filmmaker’s career and life, from his beginnings as a hopeful distributor to his attempts at filmmaking such as here and “Female Animal.”
Film Grade: A-
Audio & Video: A-
Bonus Features: A
“Girl on a Chain Gang” is uncomfortable to watch, and should be. A lot of the ideas about police brutality and corrupt local politics should feel like the distant past, something we should only see as part of a bygone era. Unfortunately, Jerry Gross tapped into something inherent in the American condition when it comes to change and progress; hopefully, this disc from The Film Detective will remind a lot of us that there’s still a ways to go yet.
