#263 - Avenging Angel

Added: 2026-05-16

[00:00:10]I'm Joseph.

[00:00:11]>> And I'm Nick.

[00:00:12]>> This is Fish Jelly.

[00:00:14]>> How are you?

[00:00:15]>> I'm good. How are you?

[00:00:16]>> Okay.

[00:00:16]>> Yeah, I believe it.

[00:00:18]>> This is one of these canned episodes that we are recording well in advance of when it's being published because one of us is on vacation. Yes, we'll be different people by the time anyone else hears this.

[00:00:29]>> So, I don't want to see a bunch of comments about why we haven't talked about Mitch McConnell dying cuz we didn't know he died yet.

[00:00:36]>> Oh my goodness. If you're going to speak anything out into the universe, that's one thing I'll get behind.

[00:00:42]>> Anyway, I want to play a game.

[00:00:44]>> Oh.

[00:00:45]>> Think of any number between 1 and 10.

[00:00:48]>> Do I say it?

[00:00:48]>> No.

[00:00:49]>> Okay.

[00:00:51]>> So, you thought of a number between 1 and 10.

[00:00:53]>> Mhm. Multiply that by two.

[00:00:55]>> Yes.

[00:00:56]>> Now add eight to that number.

[00:00:58]>> Mhm.

[00:00:58]>> Divide that number by two.

[00:01:00]>> Yes.

[00:01:01]>> Okay. So, whatever number you have in your head, subtract the original number.

[00:01:06]>> Uh, okay. Done.

[00:01:10]Use some fingers.

[00:01:12]>> Oh, you have to look at my screen now.

[00:01:14]>> Oh, >> sorry. So, we're waiting for Nick to look. Whatever numbers in your head, which Put in your head which letter it corresponds with. You got it?

[00:01:23]>> Yeah.

[00:01:25]>> Think of a country that starts with that letter.

[00:01:28]>> Okay.

[00:01:29]>> Got it.

[00:01:31]>> Whatever letter you have, go to the next letter. So, if it's B, go to C. If it's D, go to E.

[00:01:37]>> Okay.

[00:01:38]>> Okay. So, you have that letter.

[00:01:40]>> Yes.

[00:01:40]>> Now, think of an animal that starts with that letter.

[00:01:44]>> Uh, okay.

[00:01:46]>> What color would that animal be in your head?

[00:01:48]>> Okay. So, does this statement mean anything to you? There are no gray elephants in Denmark.

[00:01:57]>> That came up close. And I think I might have seen this before, but my country that I picked for D was Djibouti.

[00:02:03]>> Djibouti.

[00:02:05]Wow. Wow.

[00:02:06]>> So close though, girl.

[00:02:08]>> This was rough. Anyway, this will be a truncated episode.

[00:02:13]>> You know, you know, I'm trying to get the the obscure things. That's all that's my brand them references. The secret film this week was my choice and I chose the 1985 action thriller Avenging Angel.

[00:02:26]>> How dare anyone call that an >> What is it about?

[00:02:30]>> Former prostitute Molly has managed to leave her street life with help from Lieutenant Andrews. She studies law and leads a normal life. When Andrews is killed by a brutal gang, she returns to the streets as Angel to find his killers.

[00:02:45]Why did I choose this movie?

[00:02:47]We reviewed the 1984 film Angel on our Patreon.

[00:02:53]>> Mhm.

[00:02:53]>> And this is the sequel, Avenging Angel.

[00:02:57]And there is a line there's a series of Angel movies. I think there are four.

[00:03:02]>> There's four. Yeah.

[00:03:03]>> And there's a line that I think you thought was from the second one that RuPaul likes to reference.

[00:03:09]>> It's in the third one, I think. which which to be to to ramp up some excitement. Robert Vincent O'Neal who directed the first two does not do the third one. So, and Ma Adams is in it.

[00:03:22]>> So, you wanted to watch the third one and I thought, well, we have to get through the second one and that's why I chose this.

[00:03:28]>> Yeah.

[00:03:29]>> And I guess it's good that I'm getting through this, but also I didn't like this movie. I I mean I guess I was in a mood last night because I was howling at the screen, but it is this is painful to get through.

[00:03:41]>> It was hard to sit through >> the first one. For people who are not patrons, >> I would check out this review. That's incentive to join our Patreon.

[00:03:51]>> Yes.

[00:03:51]>> But I thought the first one was somewhat heartwarming. It definitely took itself more seriously.

[00:03:59]>> Oh yeah.

[00:03:59]>> This one, I'm assuming the first one made a little money and that's why they came along with this one. But they really ramp up the ridiculousness of it all >> in a way that's grading.

[00:04:12]>> I just wanted to someone to come through with a flamethrower and end it for all of them.

[00:04:16]>> The biggest issue is the titular character, Angel, that's her hooker name. Her character's real name is Molly, is portrayed by a different actor in Avenging Angel.

[00:04:31]>> Yes. In the first one, it was an actor named Donna Wilks.

[00:04:37]>> In this one, Molly/ Angel is portrayed by Betsy Russell, >> who contemporary viewers probably know, she's in several of the Saw films, >> which when you told me, I didn't recognize her. A beautiful woman.

[00:04:53]>> Yeah.

[00:04:54]>> But the way this character is written and performed is so dull and flat. She is so aggravating but but pretty. She looks she reminded me of Ali Sheety and then there's something in how her inflection that reminded me of Shawn Young as well. But >> sure, >> Shawn Young is a much better actor.

[00:05:15]>> So Molly has left behind her past as a teenage sex worker and is now a college student at UCLA studying law, living a more quote unquote respectable life.

[00:05:27]>> We get a scene of her doing a like mock trial.

[00:05:32]>> Well, that seems important because in the middle of this mock trial, some random person walks in and hands her what looks like a telegram.

[00:05:40]>> Yeah. Why did they know to give that to her there?

[00:05:42]>> And the telegram reads that her mentor, Lieutenant Andrews, >> has been murdered while investigating a child prostitution ring.

[00:05:54]And we had seen him visit her on campus earlier that day.

[00:05:59]>> Yes.

[00:05:59]>> Of course, she gets very emotional and decides that she is going to return to the streets as Angel, a hooker, to figure out who's responsible for the death of her mentor. To do this, she reconnects with her old crew. But before I get into that, it's important to know Lieutenant Andrews is portrayed by a different actor. In the first film, it was >> the great Cliff Gorman.

[00:06:26]>> In this one, it's just some guy.

[00:06:28]>> Oh, no. It's Robert F. Lions character actor. He's also notably in Deathwish, too.

[00:06:32]>> Oh, Angel hits the streets and immediately connects with Yo-Yo, this Charlie Chaplainesque street performer.

[00:06:40]>> Yeah. Yo-yo Charlie, Steven M. Porter.

[00:06:44]and he takes Yo-Yo to Sie and Sie Yo-Yo's from the first film and so is Sie played by Susan Tyrell >> and she's that eccentric lesbian artist.

[00:06:57]>> Yes, but apparently she has New Digs on Hollywood Boulevard.

[00:07:01]>> Well, she seems to own an entire building cuz her name's on it. I don't know.

[00:07:05]>> That was spelled different. They spell it >> her name is not spelled correctly, I guess. No, cuz in the opening credits it says Susan Tyrell is Sally Mosler and then Sie's apartment is spelled different >> unless she moved into a building just called Sie that has nothing to do with her. It's kind of like the Jackson family when they lived in Gary, Indiana.

[00:07:24]Their address was on Jackson Street >> and that was just a coincidence. So maybe Sally lives in a building that's coincidentally >> spelled similar to her name.

[00:07:34]>> Jackson's a little more of a common last name, but but sure. Okay. Mhm. Either way, Angel is telling Sie she needs help figuring out what happened to Lieutenant Andrews.

[00:07:45]But then Sie tells Angel, "Oh, Kit Carson, who's from the first movie, this sort of flamboyant cowboy wannabe cowboy. This rickety old man played by Rory Calhoun." Yeah.

[00:08:00]>> Angel thinks he might be dead and Sullie says, "No, even worse. He's in the sanitarium."

[00:08:06]So, we get this extended scene that feels like it's straight out of some sort of slapstick comedy.

[00:08:12]>> Yeah.

[00:08:13]>> Where Sie, Yo-Yo, and Angel break Kid Carson out of the sanitarium.

[00:08:20]>> Yes. And there is a nurse there played by Liz Sheridan from the series Elf.

[00:08:27]>> That's right.

[00:08:29]Now that Kid Carson's been broken out of the sanitarium, they begin the work of figuring out who killed Lieutenant Andrews. And spoiler, it's Robert Duval.

[00:08:40]>> No. Uh, >> it's not Robert Duval, but the actor playing him, I swear, looks exactly like Robert Duval.

[00:08:45]>> Well, he's old and decrepit. It's Paul Lambert is his name. Also character actor in a ton of stuff.

[00:08:50]>> He's this crime boss who's basically trying to gentrify Hollywood Boulevard.

[00:08:57]>> Yes. But he's doing it in an illegal way by harassing people, threatening people to sell their property.

[00:09:04]>> Yeah. Basically, anybody that doesn't sell, he's assaulting or murdering.

[00:09:09]Yeah.

[00:09:09]>> And for some reason, in addition to some of the property owners who feel like they need to do something, we get all this street trash trying to help out.

[00:09:21]>> Um, somebody on letter box wrote, "This is street trash collectivism." And I think that's a perfect way.

[00:09:29]>> It would be like if I'm at the city council meetings trying to get speed bumps put on our street and all the homeless people who are around join me in that. It's like thanks but also can we get rid of you too? I don't >> Well, yeah.

[00:09:46]>> All these hookers and bums and [ __ ] blocking Hollywood Boulevard. It's like they're there saying like, "Yeah, let's keep it the same." Well, because but the previous film is about how the criminal intent in that area has allowed for a serial killer to kill sex workers. So, yeah.

[00:10:02]>> Right. So, the messaging is kind of odd.

[00:10:05]Yes. But >> of course, everything culminates in a showdown between Angel and her crew against Robert Duval and his crew.

[00:10:14]>> Well, it's and his son played by Frank Double Day, who I was I thought he was giving like a kind of a William H.

[00:10:19]Macyish presence. We'll get back to the son, but of course they dispatch Robert Duval and all is well that ends well. I guess Angel can go back to UCLA and pass the bar exam.

[00:10:32]>> There's also a infant named Little Buck.

[00:10:36]>> Oh, we're going to get to the infant.

[00:10:37]>> Okay.

[00:10:38]>> But I wanted to start with the opening.

[00:10:40]It was promising because we're on Hollywood Boulevard. The aesthetic is very appealing cuz it's still 80s grungy.

[00:10:49]>> Oh, yeah. Sleeves. sleazy and then a Bronky Beat song called Why is playing >> of a a queer anthem. Yes.

[00:10:57]>> Well, let's talk about it because it's not just like a snippet of the song.

[00:11:01]>> The whole like the extended >> they play the 12 inch record like it is eight minutes like the full extended dance mix of this song while we see some bad guys kill some people. We see these mafia dudes going to it's juxtaposed with Lieutenant Andrews being alerted that this undercover cop as a prostitute who's getting ready for the night in some Hollywood apartment building that she's apparently renting from some elder couple and they all get brutally gunned down.

[00:11:34]>> Yeah.

[00:11:35]>> Oh my god.

[00:11:36]>> So that was interesting.

[00:11:37]>> Mhm.

[00:11:38]>> Okay. Can we talk about when Lieutenant Andrews goes to visit Molly/ Angel at UCLA?

[00:11:45]>> Mhm.

[00:11:46]>> The way she's holding on to him and talking to him was like he was her girlfriend.

[00:11:51]>> Yeah.

[00:11:52]>> Cuz they're having like a gab sesh and she's talking about some guy like, "Oh my god, isn't he cute? Isn't he cute?"

[00:11:56]And Lieutenant Andrews is like, "Yeah, he's a cute guy."

[00:12:01]>> And all I kept thinking is this man wants a piece of Molly. Like it just feels so inappropriate.

[00:12:06]>> It's four years later she's legal now.

[00:12:10]At a point, she's trying to have a heart-to-heart with her mentor, Lieutenant Andrews, and she says something about how she feels lonely because she can't tell everyone about her past.

[00:12:22]>> And I thought, why would she want to tell everyone? No, people don't need to know.

[00:12:27]>> Everyone doesn't need to know that you were a child prostitute. Okay. Like, >> it's fine. Mhm.

[00:12:32]>> You've moved past that. You're a respectable young woman. Like I mean maybe maybe your next serious boyfriend should know why your club's all shot up, but like I don't know why everyone around you just to make friends needs to know your traumatic past, >> right? Also, I'm unclear where she's living.

[00:12:52]>> Don't know where. Well, we're going to get to that, too. But in the opening when we see those mafia guys shooting that family, those guns were like they were almost like bazookas. Did you notice they had flames coming out?

[00:13:07]>> Oh yeah, there some semi-automatics.

[00:13:09]It's like this [ __ ] is you it's overkill.

[00:13:12]>> It's over it's so these bullets are so forceful that we see them hit things like pillows and the pillows light on fire.

[00:13:19]>> Like god, >> I thought that was fun.

[00:13:22]>> Bodies getting blown into walls. Yeah.

[00:13:25]>> Would a college student in 1985 receive a telegram in the middle of class?

[00:13:30]>> Uh, no.

[00:13:31]>> Well, I don't know. Like if you call, first of all, who called the school to tell her about Lieutenant Andrews, >> right?

[00:13:38]>> And like you said, where does she live?

[00:13:40]Does she not have an answering machine or why couldn't they just call her? I thought that was so weird. As Lieutenant Andrews is dying in the middle of the street, this street performer named Johnny Glitter witnesses it.

[00:13:54]>> I loathe this character.

[00:13:58]>> This character bothered you more than he did me. I was more confused with what Johnny Glitter is because initially I thought, "Oh, Johnny Glitter is like a prostitute, >> the brother of Gary Glitter."

[00:14:08]>> And he witnesses Lieutenant Andrews be shot and killed. And Lieutenant Andrew's dying word is angel.

[00:14:17]>> What?

[00:14:18]>> Oh, okay.

[00:14:19]>> And then Johnny Glitter's like, I'm no angel, man. The Johnny Glitter gets no costume changes. You know, he smells >> He looks like he stinks.

[00:14:27]>> He looks like he smells funky, >> but I don't think he's a prostitute because he acts like his job is to spread good vibes.

[00:14:35]>> He's got like a Rick James Marie Antuinette wig on. I hated how >> also he carries around an endless supply of glitter. So in every scene he's in, he sort of throws his fairy dust.

[00:14:48]Even at points where it's so in inappropriate that you would throw this glitter.

[00:14:52]>> Why are you I hate glitter. Okay. You cannot It's It's everywhere. You can't get rid of it if you're exposed to it. I I don't like it. By the way, played by Barry Pearl, who many might know from Greece. As we're walking around Hollywood Boulevard, there's a movie theater and we see Purple Rain is playing. That was cute.

[00:15:10]>> There are also several mentions that I think that were deliberate to acknowledge that a different actor is playing Angel >> because when she first bumps into Yo-Yo, he tells her, "You've changed, but for the better."

[00:15:26]>> And then when Yo-Yo is taking Angel to meet Sie, Susan Tyrell's character, he says, "She won't even recognize you.

[00:15:37]Oh my gosh, Kit Carson in this sanitarium. He looks so rickety. That wig they have on him and that mustache they glued onto his face.

[00:15:48]>> It's It's alarming. And I was like, "When did Rory Calhoun die?" This [ __ ] >> We're on the podcast. You can't use the f word.

[00:15:56]>> This This man, >> if you want to hear Nick use the f word, you have to join the Patreon.

[00:16:01]>> I does. I do drop that word a lot. I like it. It's like a little spice. Uh he lived till 1999, 14 years after this.

[00:16:10]>> Well, bless him. They make their way into the sanitarium by pretending to be a nurse going to pick up kid Carson's dead body.

[00:16:20]>> Mhm.

[00:16:20]>> And the security guard is saying, "Oh my gosh, I'm so sorry, but I don't see you on the list." And they have Susan Tyrell Sie dressed as the grieving widow >> screaming, crying. And so, of course, the security guard's like, "Okay, fine, fine. Just go. Just go." So, they let them in. But upon investigating the hearse that's labeled cemetery, but then the security guard notices an irregularity on the signage of the vehicle and pulls off this sticker. And really, it's for the pet cemetery. That was so stupid.

[00:16:54]>> Dumb. Dumb.

[00:16:55]>> First of all, where did they get a pet cemetery?

[00:16:58]>> Where's the pet cemetery in Hollywood?

[00:17:00]What pet cemetery has a hearse? But okay, >> which of course is stupid funny.

[00:17:06]>> You're right.

[00:17:07]>> But this is where the film really loses me is the tone. It's all over the place.

[00:17:14]>> Oh yeah. Go.

[00:17:14]>> That it was giving me a headache.

[00:17:16]>> The score and that the scene where they get Kit Carson takes so long.

[00:17:20]>> It was giving Weekend at Bernie's.

[00:17:22]>> Oh.

[00:17:22]>> And there's towards the end we get another plot point that feels like Weekend at Bernie's. Yeah. The vibe is so off and the score I think the score in this film covers every genre of film, >> right?

[00:17:36]>> Yeah. Like but it's like so what are you who are you trying to satisfy with this?

[00:17:41]>> You mentioned the baby. So when Angel first goes to see Sie, she's working on her artwork, but we also hear a baby crying. And we find out that some hooker had a baby and was found dead. owed Sally rent and left.

[00:17:57]>> So Sally's been caring for this baby who's like a few months old, I guess. So when they go to rescue Kid Carson from the sanitarium, and I don't know that rescue is the appropriate word. I feel like Kid Carson might belong in a facility. So they should have left his ass there. But >> of course, someone needed to watch the baby. We see that Sie has these two trans women watching the baby who are in full glam. Full beat.

[00:18:25]>> They look fabulous.

[00:18:27]>> They were kind of giving me a softer Patrick sees and Tu Wong Fu.

[00:18:31]>> Oh yeah. Yeah.

[00:18:32]>> They were pretty vetos.

[00:18:33]>> They look great. It also reminded me of the trans women that are assaulted and cruising by the cop. But and they're wearing each of them is wearing these really short like night gowns kind of or robes.

[00:18:50]>> They look too good to be in Sie's sort of creepy building watching this baby >> to just endlessly watch the baby.

[00:18:59]>> Okay. Johnny Glitter has been kidnapped by Robert Duval's people because he was the only witness to the crime and they want to silence him. So then the movie goes from Angel learning of the devastating news her mentor has died to wanting to figure out who's responsible to then turning into this Beverly Hillbillies episode of Saving Kid Carson to now we have to find Johnny Glitter.

[00:19:26]Plus, it's a social issue film and and basically she's Aaron Brochovich going to city hall getting records to prove that >> exactly >> I when she's like I want to see every transaction on Hollywood Boulevard from 1982 to 1985 >> dressed as a hooker.

[00:19:43]>> Dressed as a hooker distracting everybody in this >> Well, yeah. And then we see her in this library looking up all these penal codes and it was so boring. Like she's so boring.

[00:19:54]But I have to say, Kit Carson drives this Beverly Hillbillies pickup truck >> that the score whenever he's driving it and then the engine and it keeps backfiring. I just hated that.

[00:20:08]>> Mhm.

[00:20:09]>> It feels like I'm in an entirely different film.

[00:20:12]>> Yes.

[00:20:13]>> It's so I mean, am I crazy? It was giving me a headache how jarring from scene to scene everything feels. Mhm.

[00:20:19]>> So now we have Angel doing her street activism and passing out.

[00:20:27]They make a sketch of an accomplice to the murder of Lieutenant Andrews.

[00:20:32]>> Mhm.

[00:20:33]>> And so they have this sketch drawing that they're passing out on the streets and these prostitutes get arrested. So they're taken to jail.

[00:20:42]>> There's this raid. Angel walks right into the cop.

[00:20:46]>> Yeah. Like all of these ladies could have gotten away so easily. They were they run right. It's like they just popped right in.

[00:20:52]>> They get taken down to jail and they're all in the holding cell when Angel starts paddling off all these penal codes and how they weren't offered due process and next thing we know she's in Azie Davis's office.

[00:21:09]>> Azie Davis, what are you doing here?

[00:21:12]>> He's the police chief.

[00:21:14]>> Yeah. and he says, "Well, she's right.

[00:21:16]You have to let them all go." And then she's lecturing him.

[00:21:20]>> Aussie Davis is like, "Don't you tell me how to do my job." And then the next scene with him, "I'm just doing my job."

[00:21:28]>> Because there's a crooked cop also. That that that also is folded in here. What's his name? Baylor.

[00:21:34]>> That's the one who the sketch.

[00:21:36]>> Yes, Sergeant Baylor. Who has that vigorous even in the low res quality we watch that hair is >> His hair is too dark. Sir, >> there's a point when Angel shows that sketch of him that we were scraping like >> because they go to this tattoo artist who's also been that the the mob is trying to shake down and his little his little establishment. I'm like, you might as well just bulldoze that.

[00:21:59]>> We get a random scene where they end up at this mobster's apartment where he has these prostitutes he's beating up and they overhear it so they want to save them.

[00:22:09]And there's a moment when that mafia guy is chasing them and they pour soapy water on the floor. Also, these apartments in Hollywood are still standing and I've been in a few and you've never >> seen a cleaning lady in any of these buildings.

[00:22:24]>> There is no cleaning poor with a little uh handkerchief on her head scrubbing the floors. That's not happening. But they pour her mop bucket and this mafioso guy slides down the hallway.

[00:22:36]Literal slip and slide and flies out the window, which was funny.

[00:22:40]>> Yes. And lands on the car that Johnny Glitter. Oh. So they had to track down Johnny Glitter, >> right?

[00:22:45]>> The street creature. A street freak they call him. And they go to this flop house that Do you remember the movie Action Jackson?

[00:22:55]>> Yes.

[00:22:55]>> Where they also >> Oh, yes. And where where they had room service?

[00:22:59]>> Yes. in a flop house, >> but with Vanity who's trying to find drugs in the flop house. But that's what that that looked out and I wrote in large letters in my notes hobo camp cuz that's what it feels like.

[00:23:09]>> Well, that's an important scene because that's when we get a sense of what Johnny Glitter does because you think he's in a crack house and he's appears to be surrounded by crackheads, but he's just giving out positive vibes.

[00:23:21]>> Street preacher. He says, "I spread happiness and joy." Ew, go away. But do you make well clearly doesn't make many money doing it, but we then get to Robert Duval and he's with his son explaining that they need to take out these people and they're going to ruin their plan.

[00:23:38]The son I thought looks older than the dad.

[00:23:42]>> Yes.

[00:23:42]>> He looks like an old twink who's wearing a toupe that there wasn't enough gray in that hair. Like that man looked elderly.

[00:23:50]>> He looks like Malcolm McDow's sickly cousin. Yeah.

[00:23:54]Oh my gosh. At a point, Angel's being chased through a parking garage >> when she's running that curb >> where she's bending curves in the high heels. That was funny. It's so stupid.

[00:24:05]>> So dumb.

[00:24:06]>> And then Aussie Davis just pops out of nowhere.

[00:24:08]>> Well, that crooked cop is about to shoot and kill her when Aussie Davis is hiding behind a column and just shoots the cops.

[00:24:14]>> Ain't no way Aussie Davis is lurking down there.

[00:24:18]>> So Aussie Davis shoots the crooked cop who they made the sketch of while Angel is just standing there looking dumbfounded.

[00:24:24]Aussie Davis walks up to the his cop, you know, this cop works for him. And that cop tells Aussie Davis, "You didn't have to do that." And Aussie Davis says, "I'm afraid I did have." Huh? I'm afraid I did have >> this script, Aussie. He Aussie directed good movies.

[00:24:43]Cotton Comes to Harlem. I mean, he knows this is bad. So, Robert Duval is at his wit's end and decides also his son has been taken. Actually, the son's been killed, but he doesn't know that. So, he's like, "How can I stop these people and get my son back?" He has that little baby kidnapped.

[00:25:03]>> Little Buck.

[00:25:04]>> And in the process of little Buck being kidnapped, those two trans ladies are killed.

[00:25:09]>> They brutally >> like they get blown to smitherines. I mean, they but >> it's not funny, but >> they do give the perpetrators a run for their money.

[00:25:19]>> So, the setup at the end is Robert Duval saying, "Okay, I have little Buck. Let's meet and we'll exchange. You bring me my son, I'll give you back the baby." But these fools already killed the son, but they're like, "Okay, we'll bring your son back." So then it's weekend at Bernie's again because they put this dead body in a wheelchair and he was killed by being shot in the forehead. So they put a band-aid over the bullet wound. And this man fully looks like a corpse.

[00:25:48]>> I mean, well, he already did. So, you know, >> he already did look bad, but he was looking kind of gray. And they bring him to the building where Robert Duval is.

[00:25:58]>> And they're about to make the switch when the band-aid falls off and someone screams, "He's been shot.

[00:26:05]So, Robert Duval and it's a high-rise building.

[00:26:08]>> Mhm.

[00:26:08]>> That actually when I lived in lower town in St. Paul, there was a building next to me that had a popular Thai restaurant, but that building looked exactly like the building in this movie where it's like the center. It goes up several stories, but it's open.

[00:26:26]>> Kind of like the old French Quarter restaurant we used to like.

[00:26:29]>> Yeah. If it were like >> 10 stories high. Yeah.

[00:26:33]Robert Duval takes that baby and hangs it over the edge like like I'm going to drop this baby >> like it's blanket.

[00:26:39]>> That was so stupid. Be Yes. Like it was blanket be that that's a Michael Jackson reference because if it were me, you can go ahead and Well, I shouldn't say that.

[00:26:48]I wouldn't say drop the baby. But the way Susan Tyrell acts is like I'm confused why she's riding so hard for this baby cuz she was acting like she didn't want it. She's kind of, you know, you criticize Sigourney Weaver in Ghostbusters 2 for seeming like a negligent, disinterested mother. That's kind of how Susan Tyrell seems in this.

[00:27:06]>> Well, yes, except that in Ghostbusters 2, I mean, that her portrayal as a mother seems more serious.

[00:27:12]>> It is.

[00:27:12]>> So, it's like, gosh, she seems so uninterested. In this one, Susan Tyrell seems like a psychopath.

[00:27:18]>> Screaming. It's Tira Satana mode for her. She's screaming every line.

[00:27:22]>> Speaking of screaming, Robert Duval is saying, "I got the baby. I got the baby and he's about to drop it. So, Angel gives up her weapon. Like, okay. Well, either way, he's either going to drop the baby and run or someone needs to kill him. And Sie does. She shoots Robert Duval and he drops the baby. And this scene was wild as hell because we see this baby falling not only in slow motion, but when the baby's falling, it's falling legs first and then we see it falling head first.

[00:27:53]>> It's a bridge. It then switches back to legs first and Kit Carson catches the baby.

[00:27:58]>> Man, that man I would have loved if the baby fell on it killed Kit Carson by falling on him, but >> that would have been funny.

[00:28:04]>> Survived.

[00:28:05]>> That would have been funny that the impact of this uh 10 lb baby falling eight floors.

[00:28:11]Turned Kit Carson into dust.

[00:28:13]>> Can I just I want to mention an earlier scene. I wish I'd written down the line, but it's when Dum Dum Angel gets hemmed up in jail on the patty wagon and we hear snippets of these other sex workers in their dialogue cuz there's this other woman that cuz cuz there's another prostitute that Angel recognizes. She's in that black and blue thing with her large breasts and then there's this 13-year-old character.

[00:28:40]>> That's right. But you you hear some somebody saying like, "And he he only did that after I stabbed him."

[00:28:48]>> It's so unfortunate because there are so many elements of this movie that would make you think it's a campy good time.

[00:28:54]>> Mhm.

[00:28:55]>> But >> but it's not.

[00:28:57]>> Oh god, it was so It really is the actor and the character of Angel. That performance just every time she opens her mouth, every time she's on screen, >> I'm uninterested. She doesn't. Not one line delivery is good. Not one.

[00:29:13]>> And it's all dubbed, so that doesn't help.

[00:29:16]>> No.

[00:29:17]>> Kid Carson just feels like this.

[00:29:20]I don't know. I feel bad, but it's just like this decrepit old man who thinks he's a cowboy. That bit in the first movie worked better because it's peppered throughout, right?

[00:29:32]>> But in this one, we just spend way too much time with him >> and Susan is on the back burner for a bit and then she pops up again at the end. You know, at least they give her filled in eyebrows.

[00:29:41]>> She does look >> She Well, >> she's a little less heroin chic in this.

[00:29:46]>> She looks different.

[00:29:48]>> Okay. The themes I mean, vigilante justice. Sure. Cuz we have this, what did you call them? Street trash.

[00:29:56]>> Street trash collectivism.

[00:29:58]>> So, you know, also Molly as this law student who's trying to advocate for this community. Although the there's a disconnect because what's happening is land owners on Hollywood Boulevard are being pushed out.

[00:30:14]>> She's not really connected with the land owners. She's connected to the vagrants who are a nuisance to the land owners.

[00:30:21]>> Is she new to the streets?

[00:30:22]>> So, I mean, I guess that's great that I don't know. That would be like if we had mice, but then the mice like mop the floors. I mean, I don't know. It's like I would rather just mop my own floors, but okay.

[00:30:36]>> Like we can make friends with them like Michael Jackson in the the miniseries.

[00:30:41]>> Of course, there's an element of chosen family in the first film. That theme is much stronger and works better.

[00:30:49]>> We had May.

[00:30:50]>> You have May, this drag queen >> who paired with Sie works really well.

[00:30:55]>> They just didn't even bring May back.

[00:30:57]>> Well, May died, remember?

[00:30:59]>> Oh [ __ ] She was killed by the Hari Krishna sexy bald serial killer.

[00:31:03]>> That's right. She got stabbed to death in that bed. That was >> So in this one, it's like, well, the heart of the film is Molly's oddball crew. Sure. Except that these people are >> raggedy.

[00:31:15]Oh, also in the scene where the trans women get brutally murdered, that one heavy they they make a point to have a shot where there's a mannequin with a wig on it and he mistakes that as somebody he needs to kill. Do you remember that? Yes. He rips that wig off the mannequin.

[00:31:33]>> There's an element of exploitation that it's there. Again, it's not because you kept saying this feels like a Rudy Ray Moore production like how those side characters are just horrible actors except it's everyone.

[00:31:48]>> Yeah. Yeah.

[00:31:49]>> In a movie that has real production value >> cuz at least we had Rudy Ray Moore.

[00:31:53]Dolomite is the fun every like >> right. He's charming and fun to watch.

[00:31:57]So even if the production's raggedy, it's still a good time >> because you know those those black exploitation films how they how they characterize a lot of the awful white people is like this is just bad.

[00:32:08]>> And I don't know that I would call this camp as much as it's just absurd. It's trying too hard to be weirdly comedic and over the top.

[00:32:17]>> Well, because it's like the first film's in ' 84 and I guess turned enough of a profit to turn this sleeves out. But could could you give it a minute? Did you think of something better?

[00:32:26]>> Comments I read say that people feel like Kid Carson sort of carries this movie.

[00:32:33]>> He's in it more, but I don't know that he helps.

[00:32:36]>> Well, the the thing is Angel is played by what's her name? Betsy Russell, >> is so bad it's destabilizing. So that forces us as humans dealing with trauma to latch on to the next best thing to keep us afloat.

[00:32:53]But as an 80s crime, you know, gritty exploitation movie, I guess it does check a lot of boxes because you have like corrupt police, you have this sleazy crime boss, urban decay, and then this idea of like a lone vigilante, even though it's sort of a crew.

[00:33:16]>> I mean, this makes Death Wish looks like The Godfather.

[00:33:20]>> Yeah. And I like the death wish films, but you know those have uh diminishing returns as you get to number five.

[00:33:26]>> The first film is called Angel in 1984.

[00:33:29]This one is Avenging Angel 1985. The third one is called Angel 3: The Final Chapter 1988.

[00:33:37]>> And then I always think it's funny when it's like the final chapter and then it's like, oh, there's Angel 4 undercover.

[00:33:41]>> Hold on a second. Wait, >> wait. We were just kidding.

[00:33:43]>> Just >> And that's in 1994.

[00:33:46]So, I think Angel 3, the final chapter, we'll get to at some point. Maybe someone will make that a Patreon.

[00:33:52]>> You know, Ma Adams, who was the head witch in Silent Night, Deadly Night 4, which remember that which we both really liked. I think I'm I I think that she might be bringing some of that same weird flavor. Well, I understand each one gets progressively more absurd, which I can't imagine anything being more ridiculous than this one, but what would you give Avenging Angel?

[00:34:16]>> Five.

[00:34:18]>> I can't give it.5 because I do think there was some thought and and it does it feels like for the budget it had, it's a pretty decent production.

[00:34:28]>> But I did not enjoy this film. I would give it one out of five.

[00:34:32]I don't know what we have coming because I don't know when this is being published, but hopefully everything's good and everyone's well.

[00:34:41]>> Hopefully it's all copacetic.

[00:34:43]>> Anything else? No. Tata.