The Manhandlers (1974)
A gorgeous girl named Katie inherits her deceased uncle's business and decides that she too can be a businesswoman and hire two hot girlfriends. Katie doesn't like the brothel part so she gets rid of that and is soon giving legit massages. The mob doesn't like this and Katie is quickly being muscled by mob goons to turn up the heat or pay. Katie soon discovers more about the massage-parlor than she had wished.
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Slow pace in the most part of the movie.
If the ambition is to provide two hours of instantly forgettable, popcorn-munching escapism, it succeeds.
Blistering performances.
It's the kind of movie you'll want to see a second time with someone who hasn't seen it yet, to remember what it was like to watch it for the first time.
I did not know anything about the movie and all the actors are unknown. Except Rosalind Miles who was in "Shaft's Big Score!"(1972) plus one episode of "Columbo", one of "Baretta" and one of "Starsky and Hutch". Seeing the title and the poster, I thought I'd see a movie like "Charlie's Angels"(1976-1981) or Mama's Dirty Girls"(1974). But the reality is quite different. Don't be fooled by the poster on IMDb, you will not see the girls in the film manipulating machine guns. You will only see them doing massages and you will see them naked at some point. The movie begins as a mob movie with one killing after another, but after that it becomes just a very soft porn and a very soft comedy. Watch it only if you do not have anything better to do...
I tracked this down to see Judy Brown in something other than a WIP flick. Three girls take over a massage parlor only to have the mob pressure them into making it a whorehouse. The overall tone of this movie tries to be serious but comes off light and playful. It really has an innocence compared to some of the other exploitation films of the era. The mobsters are quite laughable but entertaining. All three women are very beautiful and show us the goods but nothing too explicit. Most of it is shot in the parlor. There is an extended scene at an amusement park towards the end giving us some nice footage from the era. Although the title may suggest it the girls are not involved in any fighting or action scenes. If you like drive in films of this ilk its worth checking out. Nowhere near a must see though.