Intensity	Stupidity:Nudity Ratio 7:4	Budget Medium

Angel was released in 1984 taking cues from 1976's "Taxi Driver" and various serial killer movies of the time. It would go on to spawn two more sequels (Avenging Angel with Betsey Russell and Angel III; The final chapter with Mitzi Kapture) but neither of these would have the raw edge and dark side of the original.

As the movie opens we see Molly Stewart (Donna Wilkes) getting on a school bus on her way to a prestigious high school. After a few establishing shots, Molly goes home and changes into her work clothes consisting of a silk shirt, black leather mini-skirt and heels. Apparently she is a hooker, going by the name of Angel, though we only see her go off with a john once. We are introduced to Kit Karson (Rory Calhoun) and Mae (Dick Shawn) who immediately steal the show and manage to bring some life to what should be tired cliches. As it turns out someone is killing the local hookers and almost immediately one of Angel's friend is killed by the guy. A police detective talks to the group of hookers and buskers without much success. When another of her friends goes off with the killer, Angel gets a brief glimpse of him. A police sketch is made and the owner of an adult theater recognizes him. The cops quickly nab him and bring Angel in to identify him. Just as she recognizes him, he grabs a gun from a cop and shoots his way out of the police station (and the cop wonders why the hookers don't think much of the police). Having been identified, the killer cuts off all his hair so that he can blend in with a bunch of Hare Krishnas and heads off to Angel's apartment where he kills Mae. Angel comes home to find Mae's body and then wanders along Hollywood Boulevard with a big honking gun until she finds the killer, chases him down and narrowly avoids being killed by him. Kit Carson saves the day again by gunning down the killer despite being shot in the stomach himself.

Angel has a pretty grim underpinning for what seems like your basic exploitation movie. Attempts are made to flesh out all the characters with Rory Calhoun's character getting almost as much backstory as Angel. Calhoun and Shawn were both strong character actors (though Calhoun did a lot of leads) and they bring a solidity to the film. Donna Wilkes has relatively little screen time for a lead character and that is probably just as well. As her character is only supposed to be 15 years old, Wilkes has to play her somewhat innocent and her voice is a little too thin for some of the meatier dialogue. Wilkes was 25 when the film was made and was waifish enough to mostly carry it off. Jodie Foster was 14 or so when she made Taxi Driver but was able to play her character with a lot more depth. Though to be fair, the characters are not quite the same. Foster's Iris had given up all pretense of innocence by the time we meet her, while Wilke's Angel tries to hold on to some shreds of childhood and a dream of a normal family life. Taxi Driver featured a lot of street people and low lifes that were desperate and cruel, This film looks at them as choosing to live that way. There is a sense of family to the core characters that is neither subtle nor likely. All of the characters are deeply flawed in that they have a disdain for "normal" life but display a strong code of ethics and are very moral in their own way. The one time we do see Angel go off with a john, she meets him not on the street, but in a hotel lobby where she is apparently doing her math homework.

I have a bit of a problem with the part of the storyline that puts Angel's age at 15 and her introduction to prostitution at 12. Aside from the fact that the cops would almost certainly have picked her up and put her in a home right away, we are expected to believe that at 12 she was able to fool any number of adults at the apartment building and at school. I'd have pushed the ages to 15 and 17 to not only avoid the creepiness factor (though I think the writer really was going for a bit of a shock here), but you have a better backstory with Dad leaving, then Mom being unable to cope with life and dumping adult responsibilities on Molly. Then when mom also leaves, Molly has had some experience at dealing with paying bills and lying to school officials.

The killer gets no respect here at all. First of all we are introduced to him right away. He is listed in the credits as Billy Boy but I don't remember anyone actually giving him a name. Right after the police deceive speculates that the killer might be impotent and probably used to have sex with his domineering mother, we get to see the killer working out in his apartment and the camera focuses on a picture of him with his mom. If this is not bad enough, even though the movie makes a point of showing that the killer is really buff and in great shape, he nearly loses his fight with Mae; a chain smoking, cross dressing, 50-year-old prostitute. Shortly after this there is a Pepe Le Pew chase scene where he cannot outrun a 15-year-old girl, in high heels.

Dick Shawn who plays Mae actually plays the role in a fairly constrained way. Of course, you have to remember that his character's name in "The Producers" was L.S.D. In a movie loaded with great, enthusiastic performances Shawn's stands out. In Angel he is paired with Susan Tyrrell in a couple of great scenes (and a really sappy death scene). It is easy to believe that Mae does care about Molly because of the depth that Shawn brings to his character. When the time comes to be honest and tell the truth, Mae pulls off the wig and drops the drag queen personae in a surprisingly believable way.

The film is reasonably well lit and shot throughout with the nighttime scenes fairly grainy and contrasty. This contrasts nicely with the school scenes that are brightly lit and colorful but the director did not take full advantage of this. Certain scenes when Molly's secret comes out could have been played in shadows which would have brought her hidden life into her regular life.

Angel is a pretty good movie that is worth seeing. I would guess that one of the reasons this movie is remembered is the characters created by Dick Shawn and Rory Calhoun. Those guys could really act and their characters were very well developed for non-leads. In fact they are interesting enough to take your mind of the rather unbelieviable premise of the movie and the coincidence laden plot.

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