Anjo - Inocência e Pecado

Sure this is an over the top '80s sleazefest. Sure you might groan while watching it, but no film captured the sex-ridden heart of the sunset strip in the mid-80s better than this film.

The lovely Donna Wilkes is just sooo sweet as Angel, you can't help but feel for her in this movie, no dad, Mom just leaves for some guy! ouch! So she hooks up with wacked-out cowboy Rory Calhoun, wonderfully spoofing his own career. A cross-dresser with heart, Dick Shawn and a landlady who looks like Punk-X, the always welcome Susan Tyrell. But even when enjoying this weird dysfunctional "family" you know she needs something better. A serial killer, and a real sick bastard at that, on the loose just heightens the suspense. this is great shlock!

It seems strange to label an exploitation cheapie like this as heartwarming, but Angel does attempt to tug at the heartstrings a bit and it mostly works. The street characters are a charming group of social outcasts and the film's message about creating your own family is moving.

All of this warmth is dribbled over a not unusual, but still exciting "killer targeting sex workers" story. It works.

On watching "Angel", one gets the impression that the movie could have gone one of two ways and been successful - had the filmmakers made enough of an effort. Sadly, the results are somewhat underwhelming. The most obvious way the movie could have gone is down the exploitation route. Surprisingly, there is very little that could be considered that - foul language is almost non-existent, the nudity is generally fleeting and never presented in an erotic manner, violence is not explicit, and not once we never see our heroine seriously involved in her "trade".

The other route the movie could have gone down is presenting the situation in a serious manner. Unfortunately, not much is done this way as well. We have crazy characters, but they really don't do much, nor do we learn much about them. Street life is also presented to be overall not a bad way to live. There are some believable complications that come up in the heroine's life, but once they come up they are barely dealt with. Possibly the reason for this is that the movie seems cut down seemingly from a longer cut. It would also explain why the movie at times jumps unbelievably quick from scene to scene before anything of real importance has the chance to come up.

The movie still remains strangely watchable all the same. Still, one cannot help but see so much wasted potential.

Released to critical assault(and one surprisingly enthusiastic review from Roger Ebert), ANGEL managed to glean wide audience appeal and raked in the dough. It was ingeniously marketed- "High School Honor Student by Day/Hollywood Hooker by Night" was the memorable tagline, featured with ad images of a knee-socked high school pigtailer and her high-heeled "come-hither-with-cash-in-hand" alter-ego. Our sympathetic young heroine is played on-target by Donna Wilkes(looking a hell of a lot sexier than she did on TV's HELLO LARRY a few years earlier). An eccentric supporting cast(Tyrrell and Calhoun, most notably) shine as various "creatures of the street"

On the surface, it's a fairly conformable psycho-slasher crime picture with a heapin' helping of tittie and some very dodgy scenarios. But there's a distinct tongue-in-cheek subtly underlying the obvious pastiche of ANGEL, implying a wry sendup of the base material. Too, it joyously celebrates its own trashy nature with a good sense of humor about itself, yet still maintains a steady momentum of raw tension, violent action, and crisp direction.

With the surprising box office this film generated, a string of inferior but inevitable sequels followed(without the lovely Ms. Wilkes). Next up was AVENGING ANGEL.

7.5/10

The best movie ever! OK, so its not. But trust me if your'e looking for exploitation fare at its best, this is it. I'm talking teenage prostitution, guns, the sunset strip in all its decadent glory, drag-queens, dykes, nerds, high school pressure! This movie has it all!

This isn't Shakespeare, it is what it is. The use of La is fantastic, the soundtrack is great. Director Andrew Davis ( the Fugitive) worked on the photography. Donna Wilkes (where have you gone Donna?), is simply so precious, so innocently sexy, she takes your'e breath away. Rory Calhoun, matinée idol in the '50s, is totally whacked out here, he's surreal as Kit Carson(!) Cliff Gorman does a great job as the cop whose seen too many young kids sucked into the sewer of LA, he should have gotten better parts after this. Dick Shawn, who I never really liked, is just great here, a totally sympathetic drag-queen! WOW! Susan Tyrell is awesome as always,s he repulses and fascinates in the same frame.

Angel is the type of late-night viewing that really sticks with you. The plot is complicated by a serial killer, well-played by John Diehl, and you really feel the tension build. Note the small performances in Angel, the guy who plays the street performer was in love with one of the murdered prostitutes, notice his face when he learns of her brutal death. Terrific.

Angel is well worth your trouble, sure it reaches out to the slimy pervert in all of us, but it makes you think at the same time. Is it ever worth it? To damage one person so severely just to get off?

Terrific movie.