Charlie's Angels (TV Series) Angels at Sea (1977) User Reviews

Frank Gorshin does impressions!

[ColonelPuntridge · 8/10 · 2 February 2021]

Including: Jack Nicholson, Alfred Hitchcock, George C. Scott, John Wayne, Sydney Greenstreet, and Boris Karloff.

Frank Gorshin saves a sinking ship

[kgehebe · 6/10 · 13 May 2019]

Frank Gorshin saves this otherwise silly episode that's full of holes. He rattles off most of the superstars of 20th century Hollywood in less than 5 minutes. (We don't have Hollywood superstars anymore, so there's no one memorable enough to mimic, I guess) Gorshin climatic scene is pure gold. The ending with the Angels disarming bombs with the help of a sweaty, humorless "bomb expert" was the precursor to the later Airplane movies. Where has our pop culture gone?

Borrowing from Starsky and Hutch

[neilclack · 7/10 · 22 May 2023]

I started getting into Charlie's Angels during the 2020 Covid lockdown when it was on late at night on a British TV channel called Great TV, which also repeated a lot of other 1970s USA crime/detective programmes, and not long before it showed 'Angels At Sea', I had also seen, on the same channel, Starsky and Hutch's 'Murder At Sea', which was made in 1975, a year or so before 'Angels At Sea', and which is also set on a cruise ship where murders are happening, and ends with Starsky and Hutch having to de-wire a bomb in exactly the same suspense-filled finale as the Angels, including having to run onto the deck and throw the bombs overboard, seconds before they explode in the ocean. So, it's one Spelling-Goldburg production borrowing directly from another.

Until I read the other reviews on here, I hadn't realised that the murderer was played by the actor (Frank Gorshin) who also played The Riddler from Adam West's 1960s Batman, which was a staple of children's TV in the UK when I was a kid in the 1970s. Also, not being familiar with pre-1970s Hollywood actors, it was completely lost on me, until I read the Trivia section on this IMDb page, that Gorshin was actually doing impressions of famous actors during his mad rant - I just thought that was a lengthy over the top bonkers portrayal of a crazy man having a breakdown.

Overall, I have to say this episode isn't as strong as most of the others in the Charlie's Angels first series. Maybe due to the restraints of being completely set on a ship?

The dewiring of the bombs, with the angels receiving instructions from a bomb squad expert, drags on a bit, as does Gorshin's mad impressions scene

We do see the Angels in some stylish night clothes and dressing gowns though, and poor old Bosley ends up completely naked (apart from covering his private parts with a lifebelt) - Kelly and Jill actively giggle at Bosley in this state, which is a bit inconsiderate given he'd just been whacked over the head by the murderer and almost knocked out. Only Sabrina says, 'Don't laugh at him', but she then joins in with the mickey-taking when they're all back in a room, nursing Bosley with an ice-pack on his head and a cup of tea.

It was quite convenient for the plot that the murderer left three bombs in the deep bowels of the ship, one for each Angel to detonate. However, maybe due to the restrictions of being set on a ship, there aren't enough men to go around for all three Angels, and the final scene is perhaps the most suggestive and risque in the whole history of Charlie Angels as they have to share one man. In a reversal of the usual final debrief, when Charlie is normally entertaining a busty female, this time there is one handsome, sun-tanned muscular l man subservantly serving all three Angels cocktails as they lounge on the deck of the ship. Charlie, on the phone, warns the Angels, who have decided to stay on the cruise, that they will get bored on the ship unless they find an activity. "Don't worry about that, Charlie", they say, with knowing grins, and looking admiringly up at the tall hunk, "we have an activity plan, infact it's one of the best-loved by man". Are they suggesting a threesome? "We'll be gentle", says Kelly as it ends.

Wheeeee!

[robrosenberger · 10/10 · 13 September 2010]

The Angels go on a cruise...never mind that their cover is blown and they receive death threats even before they board. These and other plot points are groaning at the seams, but sometimes you've just gotta bend over and smile, cause it feels so good. We've got a naked Bosley and killer steam! We've got a murderer taking pot shots at them, but they still head off to bed in separate cabins. We've got three simultaneous bomb defusals that put the "max" in climax. And most of all, we have an over-the-top insane baddie by Mr. Frank Gorshin! Wheeeeee! Spinning off Hollywood impersonations like water off a demented duck's back, Frank elevates this one to pop culture nirvana. Let's include this in a Gorshin-a-thon, with his turns in Star Trek, Buck Rogers, and Batman's "Ring Around the Riddler".

Lost at Sea: Seafaring Angels Anchored By Lousy Script

[moonspinner55 · 5/10 · 10 October 2011]

One of the weaker episodes from the detective series' otherwise sterling first season concerns an unknown, disgruntled cruise ship employee who is killing off innocent passengers, thereby giving the cruse-line a bad reputation and putting them in financial straits. Charlie warns Sabrina, Jill, and Kelly that taking on this assignment--as passengers, and potential sitting ducks--may be the most dangerous mission they've ever had...the ladies even vote whether or not to accept! They do, but new identities are not needed: someone pins a dummy with a warning message to the office door (which is never cleared up by the end, but never mind). The writing here is so thin that there's really no question who the maniac is, but the Angels still look good in their bathrobes rushing around shipboard corridors with their guns drawn. That's the main appeal here, not the camp-twist with Frank Gorshin as a clairvoyant and celebrity impressionist. Gorshin seems to think he's mining Emmy gold with this hammy performance, and the camera just sits on him while he goes into his schizoid arias. Jaclyn Smith (in an all-black leotard) gets to play dead at one point, which is fun, and Bosley's brief encounter with the killer leaves him stripped to the buff. The big finale involves three very intricately-designed time bombs (one for each Angel to diffuse!), but no one ever asks how the killer managed to construct such devices, not to mention bring them aboard ship and hide them in strategic places. For that matter, how exactly do doors open and close (and lock) all by themselves, and why doesn't one unfortunate couple do what Kelly does when the doors shut: climb up through the ceiling? The likable camaraderie between the Angels keeps this episode together. Really, you can't fake chemistry on the screen--the camera is too sharp--and Kate Jackson, Farrah Fawcett-Majors and Jaclyn Smith appear to have a friendship that goes beyond turgid scripts like this. They transcend the tackiness, although this episode nearly leaves them all at sea.

Should have been done differently

[whitecaps · 4/10 · 28 June 2018]

I usually don't like it when film reviewers complain about the choices the director or writer makes and says 'they should have done this instead.' My attitude to that usually is 'I'd prefer it if you review the film actually made and not the one you wish was made.'

However, other people have already reviewed this episode as it is. There are two problems here with the episode as written:

1.They came up with a potentially great story of a serial killer (this term wasn't used in the episode) and then dispensed with it about half way through to turn it into a bomb disposal episode.

They could have made a great episode about how they figured out how the killer was able to do all the things that he did (which have been mentioned like his closing the doors) or they could have had a killing gang which would have made this much more possible. I even thought up the idea that everybody on the ship were the killers in that it was all a plot to lure The Angels on board because everybody was placed in jail by Charles Townsend and they were looking to get even with him. (I have no idea how that could have played out.)

2.The way Gorshin, who played The Riddler on Batman, gets caught is, as previously mentioned, that he falls for the ruse that Kelly was killed. I realize his clairvoyance might not work all the time, but it must have worked enough for him to have committed the murders, and this sure was an inconvenient time for it to fail on him.

Or, did he not really have clairvoyance...Don't want to take this episode too seriously.

Angels Overboard

[adamcshelby · 2/10 · 24 May 2021]

Easily the worst first season episode. Not a single thing the killer pulls off makes a lick of sense. Frank Gorshin is so over the top as a crazed impressionist/comedian working for the cruise line that the Angels reaction shots to his epic scenery chewing resemble frustrated eye rolls that the scene kept dragging on interminably. Yeah, this one was awful.

Beyond the horrible script and hammy acting, the episode has a drab look, with the cruise ship's interior coming off as a cargo vessel rather than a luxury cruise ship. Definitely no Love Boat vibes here.

Gorshin's villain is able to accomplish feats that defy belief, like blowing the Angels cover before they even get on board, to say nothing of his ability to run around the ship (unnoticed) killing passengers in fantastical fashion. Gorshin, from an acting standpoint, is given far too much room to prattle on. One scene, shot mostly in closeup, seems to stretch for fifteen minutes. It's the first time all season that I wanted to fast forward an episode.

The finale involves each of the Angels diffusing a bomb while receiving instructions over the phone from a bomb expert. The show closes with the Angels lying on deck chairs while they tell Charlie they plan on enjoying the rest of the cruise. In keeping with the episode's poor writing/directing, the scene appears shot on a soundstage and lacks the atmosphere to convince anyone that they'd want to stay on that ship for a second longer.