“High School Honor Student by
Day. Hollywood Hooker by Night”
The seedy side of Hollywood has long held a fascination for
filmmakers, particularly those low-budget exploitation producers who saw the
commercial potential in taking their audience on a rocky ride through the
sleazy underbelly of Tinseltown. The Sunset Strip of the 1960s-80s was the L.A.
equivalent of New York’s infamous Times Square and 42nd Street of the same era,
though the later did not have the Jekyll & Hyde facade that L.A. radiated
as it shifted between day and night (while the Times Square of old, according
to tales told by those who lived through it, was an intimidating danger zone
24/7).
The late-sixties saw movies like Dave F. Friedman’s
sexploitation film Starlet (1969) depicting the sordid side of the
Hollywood rainbow, while Ray Dennis Steckler’s astounding The Hollywood
Strangler Meets the Skid Row Slasher (1979) captured enough of the grotty
locales of the area to make it an indispensable document for sleaze scholars to
study. The early-to-mid-1980s, however, seemed to be a particularly fertile
period for films which took the viewer on a low-budget trawl through the dark
alleyways, cheap hotels, grimy adult shops, and neon-lit streets on which the
denizens of Los Angeles sought an easy score, anonymous sex, and a brief
respite from life’s drudging realities. Vice Squad (1982), Death Wish
II (1982), 10 to Midnight (1983), Alley Cat (1984), The
Glitter Dome (1986), and Hollywood Vice Squad (1986) were just some
of the titles turned out during this period that wallowed in the kind of
violence and lurid excess which the City of Angels had to offer. But the film
which best encapsulated the flashy fantasy of early-eighties seedy L.A. noir was,
perhaps, Robert Vincent O’Neil’s Angel (1984) and, to a lesser extent, its three subsequent sequels.
Donna Wilkes as the original, iconic Angel.
Angel tells
the tale of fifteen-year-old Molly Stewart (Donna Wilkes), an A-student at an
exclusive prep school in Los Angeles who, once the sun goes down, teases her
hair, paints her face, and dons stilettos and leather mini-skirts before
heading out to the Sunset Strip, where as “Angel” she turns tricks in order to
keep a roof over her head, since both her parents had abandoned her some years
earlier, a fact which she keeps to herself. Looking out for Angel on the
streets is a memorable cast of eclectic characters including Kit Carson (Rory
Calhoun), an aging star of western movies who now spends his nights wandering
Hollywood Boulevard in full cowboy regalia, Mae/Marvin Walker (Dick Shawn), a
transvestite who lives in the same apartment building as Molly, and Solly
Mosler (Susan Tyrell), her foul-mouthed landlord who also paints childish
abstracts.
It’s a good thing that
Molly has such people minding her back, as there is a vicious serial killer
with necrophilic tendencies (played by John Diehl), who is stalking the Strip
carving up prostitutes, much to the frustration of Lt. Andrews (Cliff Gorman), the
cop who is assigned to the case. The terror hits closer to home when two of
Angel’s streetwalker friends, Crystal (Donna McDaniel) and Lana (Graem McGavin),
fall victim to the vicious killer, with Angel clearly next in the unnamed
psychotic’s sights. With Lt. Andrews and high school teacher Patricia Allen
(Elaine Giftos) closing in on the truth behind Molly’s lack of parental
guidance, not to mention the extra harassment from a group of her obnoxious
male classmates who stumble upon her dual identity, Angel helps herself to
Solly’s long-barrelled magnum and, with the aid of Kit Carson and his colt 45s,
confronts and takes care of the psycho killer in a memorable finally that is
fitting of Carson’s Wild West persona. We last glimpse Molly as she walks away
from the crime scene with a wounded Carson and Lt. Andrews, presumably to leave
her alter-ego behind for good.
Angel and some of her crew.
Though surprisingly
restrained for an exploitation film which such a provocative theme and
potential for titillation, Angelworks so well because it delivers on
tension and character, and features an effective and endearing performance from
Donna Wilkes in the role of Molly/Angel. Wilkes, who was twenty-four at the
time of filming and was best known for her role as teen Jackie Peters in Jaws 2(1978), really handles the dual elements of frightened innocence
and provocative sexuality that was pivotal to her character, and gets terrific
support from her main co-stars, who help create a unique world for Angel to
exist in (Wilkes researched her role by spending time with real Hollywood
hookers, street kids and members of the L.A. Police). The use of real locations
on and around Hollywood Boulevard also helped add to the film’s air of
authenticity, and the El Royale Hotel on Ventura Boulevard, which features in
the movie, is still standing and has been a been a haven for struggling
writers, directors, actors, and musicians, not to mention curious Hollywood
sightseers, since the 1940s. Angel also
benefits from a great soundtrack, propelled by the film’s highly-infectious
theme song, “Something Sweet”, which was composed and performed by The Allies,
a new wave-tinged pop/rock band formed by guitarist/vocalist Matt Preble and
Pam Neal, who played the L.A. and San Francisco.
Released in the US on January 13, 1984, Angel’s initial opening weekend
proved to be somewhat disappointing, but positive word of mouth helped turn the
film into a substantial hit for Roger Corman’s New World Pictures, with the
movie eventually raking in nearly $20 million on a $3 million budget. Not
surprisingly, a sequel was soon put into production, and Avenging Angel(1985) hit the screens exactly one year after the original. Once
again directed by Robert Vincent O’Neil from a screenplay co-written by himself
and Joseph Michael Cala, Avenging
Angelsaw the title role
being recast, with Donna Wilkes replaced by Betsy Russell, starting a trend of
revolving lead actresses which would continue through the two subsequent
sequels in the series (Wilkes reportedly did not reprise her role due to a
salary dispute).
In Avenging
Angel, Molly Stewart is off the streets, out of high school, and
studying hard at UCLA to make it as a lawyer. But she soon brings Angel out of
retirement, and back on the streets, upon learning that Lt. Andrews, the man
who helped save her in the first movie, has been murdered. Enlisting the help
of her old friends Solly and Kit Carson (the later of whom she has to break out
of a sanitorium to which he has been confined), Angel sets out to avenge
Andrews’ murder and uncovers a scheme to buy up Hollywood Boulevard properties,
which a feared gangster is instigating, using violence and intimidation to
persuade those owners reluctant to part with their businesses.
Betsy Russell takes over the title character in Avenging Angel.
While it has its moments, Avenging Angeldid
not build on the promise of the original, and the film failed to make any
significant dent at the box-office, barely ear1977), the later starring Jack
Wrangler and a favourite of John Waters. Under his real name, DeSimone also
helmed the infamous sex comedy Chatterbox(1977), starring Candice Rialson as a
hairdresser with a talking vagina, before moving on to cult exploitation and
horror fare like Hell Night(1981), The Concrete Jungle(1982),
and Reform School Girls(1986). He was also an uncredited
co-director on Danny Steinman’s brilliant Savage Streets(1984),
a story of female street justice which certainly took some of its ques from the
first Angelfilm, and featured a soundtrack by
none other than a pre-Whispering Jack John
Farnham!
While it has its moments, Avenging
Angeldid not build on
the promise of the original, and the film failed to make any significant dent
at the box-office, barely earning a quarter of what Angeltook in the year before. The absence of Wilkes certainly hurt the movie, though Betsy Russell tries her best, and at least Rory Calhoun and Susan Tyrell return to provide a bit of continuity. The film proved to be significantly more popular on home video, however, which led to a third film being put together under the guidance of a completely new production team. Angel III: The Final Chapter(1988) was written and directed by Tom DeSimone, whom under the name of Lancer Brooks had developed his filmmaking skills in the burgeoning gay XXX market of the early-seventies, helming such choice titles as How to Make a Homo Movie(1970), Swap Meat(1973), Black Heat(1973), and the classic 3D porn, Heavy Equipment(1977), the later starring Jack Wrangler and a favourite of
John Waters. Under his real name, DeSimone also helmed the infamous sex comedy Chatterbox(1977), starring Candice Rialson as a hairdresser with a talking
vagina, before moving on to cult exploitation and horror fare like Hell Night(1981), The Concrete
Jungle(1982), and Reform School Girls(1986). He was also an uncredited
co-director on Danny Steinman’s brilliant Savage Streets(1984),
a story of female street justice which certainly took some of its ques from the
first Angelfilm, and featured a soundtrack by
none other than a pre-Whispering Jack John
Farnham!
Taking over the titular role in Angel III was the exotically-named Mitzi Kapture, who would
later go on the play Sgt. Rita Lee Rance in the first five seasons (1991 –
1995) of Stephen J. Cannell’s long-running late-night crime drama Silk Stalkings. Kapture plays a
more mature Molly Stewart in Angel
III, which sees the character now working as a freelance
photographer in New York, a far cry from the burgeoning lawyer we saw in the previous
entry. While on assignment at an art show, Molly faintly recognises a woman who
turns out to be her long-lost mother, whom she follows back to L.A. and gets
reacquainted with long enough to discover she has a younger sister she did not
know about, who is in grave danger at the hands of some mysterious criminals.
Unfortunately, mom gets tragically killed by a car bomb soon afterwards,
forcing Molly to once again hit the streets as Angel as she tries to rescue her
sister Michelle (Tawny Fere) from a white slavery prostitute ring ruthlessly
overseen by a woman named Nadine (Maud Adams).
Mitzi Kapture: the third Angel in as many films.
Featuring plenty of sleaze and nudity (a DeSimone
trademark), Angel IIIis probably the most enjoyable of the
three sequels, moving along at a decent pace and featuring an interesting cast
of supporting players including Richard Roundtree (the original Shafthimself), cult favourite (and Roger Corman regular) Dick Miller,
and Toni Basil as a posh art gallery owner. Though well-known for her catchy
1982 pop hit “Mickey” (and its inventive music video), the multi-talented Basil
has had a fascinating and varied career dating back to the 1960s, dancing in
Beach Party and Elvis movies, choreographing David Bowie tours, and appearing
in films such as Easy Rider(1969), Mother, Jugs & Speed (1976), and Slaughterhouse Rock(1988). As the villainous Nadine, Maud
Adams channels the same measure of glamourous menace which she projected in her
two James Bond outings, The Man with
the Golden Gun(1974) and
Octopussy(1983). Also popping up in the movie
are XXX star Ashlyn Gere, late scream queen Roxanne Kernohan (tragically killed
in a car accident at the age of only 32), and Tom DeSimone’s younger brother
Bob (ironically cast as a porn film director).
Despite its subtitle, Angel IIIdid not
prove to be the final chapter in the Molly Stewart saga, which would come six
years later in Angel 4: Undercover
(1994). Now played by Darlene Vogel, Molly is reinvented as a blonde in her
fourth (and last, to date) cinematic outing. Now putting her skills with a
camera to work as a police photographer, and romantically involved with a local
DJ, her alter ego emerges once again when an old friend from her street days
arrives in town to catch a rock band and soon turns up dead. With the killing
linked more to the rock & roll scene rather than prostitution, Angel this
time assumes the guise of an eager groupie in order to turn up evidence that
the brilliantly-named, and extremely drug-addled, British rock singer Piston
Jones (Shane Fraser) is responsible for her friend’s death.
Angel in name only.
Directed by Richard Schenkman under the alias of George
Axmith, Angel 4was unfortunately a pretty
disappointing note for the series to end on. Schenkman’s background in music
videos and Playboy video
documentaries certainly hold him in good stead when it comes to the flashy
visual side of the production, but it ultimately comes across as an Angel film in name only, and more
of an illegitimate daughter than an official continuation of the same
character’s life journey. With only a slumming Roddy McDowall providing any
real interest amongst the faces in the cast, Angel 4: Undercover (also
known as Angel 4: Assault with a
Deadly Weapon) was a rather sad ending for a memorable character who
perhaps should have stayed in the big hair and neon-electric colour palette of
the 1980s, the decade for which she was created and felt most at home in.
While Angel 4has so far only surfaced on VHS and laserdisc, the first three
films finally received the release they deserved when Vinegar Syndrome issued TheAngel Collection Blu-ray box set in November of 2019. House in a
creative slip-box, TheAngel Collection featured stunning,
restored transfers of each film, which instantly rendered previous bare-bones
DVD releases obsolete, along with a number of interesting featurettes
(particularly on the first film). A good companion piece to the Blu-ray set is
the nice single-disc soundtrack CD, released by BSX Records by 2014, featuring
music from the first three films (though the version of “Something Sweet”
included is sadly a recent re-recording, performed by Melody Michalski).
Vinegar Syndrome's impressive Angel Blu-ray box set.