Change Your Image
I_Love_Hutch
Reviews
Charlie's Angels: Hellride (1976)
Typically solid Season one episode....
"Hellride" is from the show's fantastic 1st season and that is almost endorsement enough. The Angels all work well together. The opening murder is hard and cruel, with a nicely unfolding plot.
Farrah has the best scene in this episode playing the nosy, carnal preacher's daughter during a game of poker. Kate has a good bit at the end when she slaps the side of the conquered villain's head "Good job, Mary!" and Kelly is lovely as always, even though Smith is not yet comfortable in front of the camera.
Charlie's Angels: Winning Is for Losers (1978)
Slightly above average Season 3 efforts, plus a pre-Halloween Jamie Lee Curtis!
'Winning is For Losers" (clever title) is a strong enough Season 3 entry. It's always nice when the villain's motivation is credible and it is here. I like seeing a young JLC. That's fun. Though, I found the alligators attacking Kris more silly than campy.
And Season 3 still has Sabrina and for me, that is sometimes the main thing. I love the Sabrina character, and I love Kate Jackson's acting. My favorite part has her following the man into the broom closet and giving him a shake-down. It was the little gestures and reactions that Kate put into her performance that were often times the most exciting part of the show.
Charlie's Angels: Angels in Chains (1976)
Excellent episode, classic CA formula...
The show's most famous episode is well-known for a good reason. It has all the elements of a low-budget women in prison 70s flick. It is a very fast-moving episode with some genuine tension. The victim's demise at the beginning of the episode was quite brutal, I thought. Supporting cast is fine, with Mary Woronov especially well-cast as lesbian warden named Maxine!
The climactic potato truck chase (sounds very silly when I read those words back) is actually quite exciting, and I happen to love watching Jill and Kelly climb out the side of the truck going 60 miles an hour, dodging bullets! Jill's cavalier attitude towards danger was her most charming trait and lovely Farrah pulled it off beautifully.
Charlie's Angels: Angels Go Truckin' (1979)
A competent Season 2 effort
"Angels Go Truckin" is a likable episode, with a not bad storyline as the later season episodes go.
I like seeing Kris and Tiffany together, but this was when (for me, at least) Cheryl Ladd's abrasiveness begins to surface. When Sabrina was still around, there was no question who was the leader, just as there was no question who was the show's best actress. Now, I like Kelly just as much as any Angel-lover, but let's face it, Jaclyn Smith was not a very good actress and she also probably was feeling disheartened when the forceful and charismatic Kate Jackson off the show. And I think Ladd saw this as her opportunity (or duty) to step up to the plate and take over as the strongest personality. Unfortunately, Ladd did not have the natural reserves of humor that Jackson did and without the humor, the show suffered. So, the more than competent Ladd became harsh and less likable than what she had started out as two years earlier.
Other than that, Joanne Linville is fun and engaging as always as the client; the guy Kris and Tiffany pick up, along with his contraband peaches, is VERY cute; and Kelly's hair looks awful, though Smith handles the Southern accent not too badly.
Charlie's Angels: Pretty Angels All in a Row (1977)
"Charlie's Angels" ventures into satire territory and pulls it off beautfully!
"Pretty Little Angels All in a Row" (clever takeoff on the 1971 dark comedy-murder mystery "Pretty Little Maids All in a Row") is a near perfect blend of mystery and humor. The writer and director balance the two elements very well and the episode is a very entertaining early Season 2 effort. Patricia Barry is very funny as the talkative "old biddy" who does not inspire hope in Sabrina, who is kidnapped along with her.
There is a line of dialogue by one of the doofus (but cute) kidnappers, who remarks of the Barry character, "She's already got us by the short hairs, she talks so much!" I am pretty sure that is a reference by a woman who's got a man by the balls! Wow. Funny. I enjoy it when a line of dialogue somehow makes it past the censors.
Charlie's Angels: Stuntwomen Angels (1981)
Dull and stupid don't make for a good combination...
There were a couple of not bad action sequences and the part where the three Angels have to try out as stuntwomen by jumping off a 75 foot scaffolding was amusing, but that was about it. The plotline was not all that compelling to begin with and the denouement was particularly lame.
And the laziness of the writers' later season efforts, utilizing "Angels" into the episode titles is glaring. "Stuntwomen Angels"? Really? I'm surprised Ed Lakso didn't decide to have "Mr. Galaxy" titled as "Bodybuilding Angels", instead.
Charlie's Angels: Angel on the Line (1981)
MARGO!!!
I'm not even going to go into the plot here, except that the setting at the hotline club lends an air of mystery with the dim lights and the telephones lighting up on tables all over the place.
Forget it. This episode is all about the Psycho Tranny dressed up like Big Bird from Sesame Street. Bruce Watson plays his role with campy aplomb. I can't believe how easily Kelly falls apart in this one, though the big reveal at the end did have some genuine tension. This episode came out in 1981, one year after Brian De Palma's terrifying "Dressed to Kill". Margo is like Bobbie's disgruntled little sister. The ending where she is foiled by a mud puddle is the funniest thing that ever showed up on primetime. I was an insecure 11 year old gay boy and was ecstatic to stumble across something like this. Biggest laugh of the year.
Charlie's Angels: To See an Angel Die (1980)
Season Five take on ESP!
Each season had one episode devoted to the supernatural/metaphysical, etc. Season one had "The Seance", Season 2 had "Unidentified Flying Angels", Season 3 had "Haunted Angels" and Season 4 had "Of Ghosts and Angels: (my favorite of the bunch)
This episode manages the ESP element pretty well at the beginning, but when "Hansel and Gretel" becomes part of the plot and the kidnapped Kris herself is suggested to have some ESP capabilities, it was too silly.
But the episode is not boring. Cameron Mitchell always plays dark and creepy well and Jane Wyman is warm and sympathetic. I think her performance is my favorite part of this episode. Not the most shining endorsement for a crime drama to say that Jane Wyman is the highlight. Oh, well. 7/10.