Woodyanders Seven fetching young ladies form a special squad so they can wage war on dope pushers. Of course, the gals incur the wrath of ruthless local drug kingpin Burke (neatly played with slimy élan by Peter Lawford). Director Greydon Clark, who also co-wrote the derivative, yet serviceable script with Alvin L. Fast, relates the entertainingly silly story at a zippy pace, maintains an engaging breezy'n'easy lighthearted tone throughout, milks plenty of amusing goofy humor from the delightfully campy "Charlie's Angels"-type premise, and stages the explosive action set pieces with gusto to spare. Singer Susan Kiger, endearingly ditsy school teacher Jacqueline Cole, feisty stunt woman Sylvia Anderson, petite karate expert Lieu Chinh, spunky teen Liza Greer, tough cop Robin Greer, and foxy model Noela Velasco are all quite sexy, vibrant, and appealing as the titular dynamic heroines. Moreover, the lively acting from a bang-up cast of dependable veterans keeps things humming: Jack Palance as smooth hit-man Mike Farrell, Neville Brand as cranky police chief Miller, Jim Backus as bumbling right-wing fanatic Commander Lindsey March, Alan Hale Jr. as jolly manager Manny, Pat Buttram as an amiable car salesman, and Arthur Godfrey as himself. In addition, Clark movie regular Darby Hinton has a funny secondary part as wormy drug dealer Sticks. Dean Cundey's slick cinematography boasts all kinds of snazzy stylistic flourishes and provides a pleasing sunny look. Both Gerald Lee's funky-throbbing score and the bouncy soundtrack hit the get-down groovy spot. An immensely fun flick.

lemon_magic Brain-dead jiggle-fest? Why, yes indeed, you've come to the right place.Angel's Revenge/Brigade is basically "Charlie's Angels" with twice the number of cast members (six women - plus a 'high school teenager' - instead of three) and approximately 1/10th of the talent. Would be first time viewers should adjust their expectations accordingly.Look, no one is ever going to list Kate Jackson, Farrah Fawcett, etc., among the great actresses of the '70s, but the original Angels had a lot of charm and charisma, and they could deliver their lines, interact with each other, do their stage business and blocking, and hit their marks like the professionals they were. It was all facile dreck, but it was professional level dreck.On the other hand, "Angel's Brigade" features seven of the stiffest, most unconvincing and grating actresses on the planet. The women are moderately hot (except for the lanky black actress, who is saddled with a huge afro that makes her look like a human dandelion ), but they simply C-A-N-N-O-T deliver convincing readings of their lines. The director seems to realize this, and so he dumbs down the proceedings in an attempt to avoid making the girls show any kind of recognizable human emotion...and the resulting screenplay is so bad, so lame, that it takes genuine talents like Jack Palance, Peter Lawford, and Arthur Godfrey (and several longtime character actors like Jim Backus) and simply embarrasses them with idiotic throwaway parts that completely waste their talents. Lawford, Godfrey, and Backus, especially, all appear to be hammered out of their skulls..it's as if they couldn't be bothered to sober up long enough to appear even in the briefest scenes.God, the whole thing is just so inane...I know this thing is not meant to be taken seriously, that it is just a goof, but it's so damned careless and annoying. One Angel disables a thug by opening a beach umbrella in his face. Another Angel takes out a thug with a back-fist accompanied by a Hanna-Barbera 'BOINK!' sound effect.A third Angel takes a hit to her, um, talents, but she has a life raft tucked under her shirt which protects her and she makes an indignant face and pulls out the raft and bonks the thug over the head with it...it's not funny and light hearted, it's just STUPID.MST3K struggled mightily to have fun with this one, and their commentary is almost enough to turn this into a watchable experience. I can't imagine trying to watch this one 'straight'.Avoid the original version like the plague. Even the jiggles and the jumpsuits aren't compensation enough for the pain of the performances and the screenplay.

Lee Eisenberg "Angels' Brigade" is about as angelic as a root canal. Seemingly produced for a bunch of men whose hormones outweigh their body mass, the movie follows a bunch of big-breasted women who set out to bring down a drug kingpin's empire. Since there's not really any plot, the movie is mainly noticeable because it stars two "Gilligan's Island" cast members: Alan Hale and Jim Backus (and wouldn't you know it, they don't even get to share any scenes). Although I gave the movie one star, it gets five out of four stars when shown on "MST3K", and that's only because it gives Mike, Servo and Crow an incentive to come up with some great comments. I'd say that that episode was their most "Gilligan's Island"-related, not just because "Angels' Brigade" stars the Skipper and Mr. Howell, but also because certain scenes prompt Mike and the 'bots to mention Bob Denver, Natalie Schaefer and Tina Louise (what, no Russell Johnson or Dawn Wells?).

Xarathos I recently realized that I miss Mystery Science Theater 3000, a show where a guy and two robots watch bad movies. I realized that I had either tossed or thrown out all my episodes years ago. Fortunantly, I found a tape and this one was on it. The movie is about a school teacher who enlists the help of a group of crime fighters with some support from a Las Vegas pop star to blow a drug lab. That's it. With Mike and the Bots fun as had by all. Even through the opening and closing credits. The move is incredibly bad with stale acting and Jack Palance who plays the drug ring middle management guy who has to help the idiot drug pusher employees like Sticks. Sticks is an idiot who get captured by the chicks. The 'seven' first have to get an armored car from Mr. Haney (from Green Achers) and steal weapons from Thirston Howell the third, who is leader of a right-wing militia group. Even though only is it an embarrasing role for Jim backus, his uniform is better than most real militia members. Add in Alan Hale Jr as the singers manager and a song called 'Shine Your Love' and it tops off this horrendous film. Oh, Peter Lawford is the drinking drug kingpin who dies in a pool. Crow (from MST3k) adds his comment:"By this time my lungs were aching for booze." as Lawford lies dead in a pool.Angel's Revenge (as it was called on MST3K) is a incredibly bad movie. The MSTIE crew really had funny comments through out the film. It's really one of their best in my opinion. My best review of the actual film can be summed up by Mike Nelson when he said of the film: "Oh, this is offending one-celled animals" It was great to see all the seventies references for them to riff on. So only see this film with MST3k. It's Hilarious.