Anjo - Inocência e Pecado

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.

Wilkes is honer student by day at an expensive prep school, hooker by night. This movie was unfairly tossed and not given a chance. An underrated gem of a movie. The film is filled with colorful characters and fairly well done. Wilkes is very appealing as Molly/Angel. Seek this movie out. I gave it an 8/10.

"Angel" can be summed up in one word "entertaining", and nothing else really matters. The story has all the makings of a lurid sexploitation film, with it's high school honor student, hooker, connection, plus a little necrophilia thrown in for good measure. It would be a mistake however to dismiss "Angel" as just another catering to "old men in raincoats" movie. Supporting characters Dick Shawn, Rory Calhoun, and Susan Tyrrell, add immeasurably, as do the seedy Hollywood Boulevard locations. Many movie stereotypes are represented including, female revenge with a big gun, gratuitous nude shower scenes, high school jocks and geeks, but it all pulls together with witty dialog and excellent character development. Even the killer, who doesn't speak until the end, is memorable. - MERK

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

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.