Big Zapper (1973)

Shapely Australian-born redhead Linda Marlowe starred in the title role as private eye Harriet Zapper, a one-woman army whose weapons of choice were .357 magnums, karate, judo and Kung fu.

Billed as the first British Kung fu movie, Big Zapper was full of thuggish B-movie characters getting their comeuppance from Ms Zapper – for their excruciating acting as much as for their ungentlemanly behaviour.

Hired by the wealthy Jeremiah Horn (Jack May) to find his missing daughter, Pandora (Bobbi Anne), Harriet pursues sadistic and effeminate crime-boss Kono (Gary Hope) through London, chopping down his inept henchmen at every turn and narrating the whole thing in a monotonous Philip Marlowe-style voiceover.

She is assisted by her impossibly randy sidekick, Rock Hard (Richard Monette,) who spends most of the film snoozing in the back of Harriet’s convertible Mercedes in between shags.

The Lindsay Shonteff production also starred Sean Hewitt and Michael O’Malley. Upon its release, The Observer called it “a crude abomination”.

The scripts are dire, the sets are dismal, and the costumes tacky – but there’s plenty of gratuitous nudity and lots of energy.

Shonteff followed the film with Zapper’s Blade of Vengeance (1974)

Harriet Zapper
Linda Marlowe
Kono
Gary Hope
Fingers
Sean Hewitt
Strawberry Jim
Michael O’Malley
Rock Hard
Richard Monette
Jeremiah Horn
Jack May
Maggie
Penny Irving
Septimus/Randy Horn
Stuart Lock
Pandora Horn/Pandy
Bobbi Anne
Shawn Cobra
William Ridoutt
Cortini
Graham Ashley
Rose
Parnell McGarry
Cecil
Michael Crane

Director
Lindsay Shonteff

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