Angels' Brigade (1979)

Angels' Brigade (1979)- * * *

Directed by: Greydon Clark

Starring: Robin Greer, Jacqulin Cole, Liza Greer, Lieu Chinh, Susan Kiger, Noela Velasco, Sylvia Anderson, Neville Brand, Jim Backus, Alan Hale, Peter Lawford, and Jack Palance

Elaine (Robin Greer), April (Cole), Kako (Chinh), Michelle (Kiger), Terry (Anderson), Maria (Velasco), and their young assistant Trish (Liza Greer) are a special team of ladies assembled to take down drug gangs and evil militias in the L.A. area. All of them take time out from their day jobs when a baddie named Mike Farrell (Palance, not the guy from MASH) starts causing havoc all over town. Using their unique skill sets, and feminine wiles of course, they proceed to take down the bad guys in their own inimitable way. Armed with a high-tech van (it was the 70’s after all), can any force on earth stop the ANGELS BRIGADE?



A light, frothy, and some may say inconsequential bit of fun, this PG-rated actioner was clearly inspired by some of the TV shows of the day, most obviously Charlie’s Angels (Neville Brand plays their “Charlie”, but you can see him), but also The A-Team (hence the van), Wonder Woman, Knight Rider, and The Bionic Woman also come to mind. Even with the alternate titles, Angels Revenge and Seven Angels, the word “Angels” was never dispensed with.

Although clearly inspired by those shows, Angels’ Brigade was also somewhat ahead of its time, as teams-of-deadly-women movies mostly came later in the 80’s and into the 90’s with such films as Hell Squad (1986), Mankillers (1987), and Sweet Justice (1992), among others. The film is also reminiscent of the Cheri Caffaro Ginger series as well as Caffaro’s Savage Sisters AKA Ebony Ivory and Jade (1974). 

There are lots of stunts, shootings, and blow-ups, and it’s all very comic-booky, as reinforced by the “wacky” scene transitions and star-wipes and such. A lot of what we see is in the editing that way, such as the very cool opening credits sequence and a terrific montage as the ladies prepare for battle with their matching outfits and classic 70’s van. We did think, however, that with a little less goofing around the film as a whole could have been stronger. There’s only so many times you can hear the sound “BOINGGGGG!” during a fight scene before you realize the unserious vibe of the whole thing.

The girl power message of Angels’ Brigade is reinforced by the fact that the ladies are not just a formidable fighting force, but they all had good, independent jobs outside of their Brigade duties. There’s no nudity and the exploitation factor is low.


The character of Michelle is a professional singer, for example, and a movie highlight comes when we see her Vegas act, and Susan Kiger performs the song “Shine Your Love On Me” by Patty Foley for a reasonably enthusiastic crowd. Interestingly, Kiger was also in the movie Seven (1979), directed by Andy Sidaris, the same year as Angels’ Brigade. Apparently she felt safe with that number, having appeared in two movies with the number seven in one year. Coincidence?

As if the eye candy wasn’t enough, director Clark also brought on board what are basically a series of short cameos by not just Jack Palance and Neville Brand, but also Alan Hale, Peter Lawford, and Jim Backus, and there’s special mention of “Arthur Godfrey as himself”. Godfrey was an entertainer from a previous era of American history and his appearance in Angels’ Brigade was during the swan song of his life and career. An interesting way to go out, to be sure. 

In the end, while Angels’ Brigade has a positive, upbeat overall feeling to it, and is reasonably enjoyable for what it is (and not nearly as bad as some people seem to think), its one-dimensionality more or less sinks it in the end. But, then again, perhaps we’re overthinking it and it wasn’t meant to be examined that closely. 

For those of you out there seeking undemanding entertainment from the disco 70’s, you could do a heck of a lot worse than Angels’ Brigade. At the very least, it’s a one-time watch.

Comeuppance Review by: Brett and Ty

Cyborg 2: Glass Shadow (1993)

Cyborg 2: Glass Shadow (1993)- * *1\2

Directed by: Michael Schroeder

Starring: Elias Koteas, Angelina Jolie, Billy Drago, Karen Sheperd, and Jack Palance

In the year 2074, two rival companies, Pinwheel and Kobayashi, vie for supremacy in the cyborg-making biz. By this point in the future, cyborgs have reached amazing levels of sophistication and humanity, including having emotions. Pinwheel decides to get the edge in all this corporate intrigue by creating Casella Reese, known by the nickname Cash (Jolie). In her design, her superiors programmed in the directive to go to Kobayashi Corp. and detonate herself, wiping out the competition - permanently. A higher-up named Mercy (Palance) sees what’s going on, and allows Cash, and her human love interest, Colt (Koteas) to escape. Pinwheel doesn’t like this, so they send a psychotic bounty hunter named Danny Bench (Drago) to track them down. But will human-robot love conquer all in this treacherous world?

The filmmakers behind Cyborg 2 decided to take a different tack from the first one, thankfully. Despite the fact that the cyborg Cash has some sort of implanted memories of Van Damme from the first outing, this particular cyborgian opus has a much different vibe than the first one. We applaud the fact that there are actually some interesting ideas at play here, not the least of which is the nature of humanity. While our normal mode of pondering such weighty questions about life would come from re-watching T-Force (1994), the injection of some much-needed intelligence scores the movie some points. As does the set design and overall look, which is relatively upmarket for a DTV sequel to an Albert Pyun-directed Van Damme movie.

On the bad side, it could have used some more action. The museum fight with Karen Sheperd was way too brief and didn’t live up to its potential, but overall we do get a decent amount of Jolie-Fu, which was nice. All the best scenes in the movie feature Jolie front and center, and it’s easy to see why - she has an almost mesmerizing effect on the audience. That doesn’t stop the pace from becoming slow at times, of course, and a lot of the cooler imagery is undercut by the dinginess of the “future”. So the audience gets yanked in a bunch of different directions, which maybe was on purpose (?) - but, on top of everything else, they found time to have some Punchfighting between Koteas and Billy Drago, which moved things in the right direction. 

As for Jack Palance, we’re glad he’s here, but for 90 percent of his “screen time” it’s just that: a close-up of his mouth on a TV screen. When he does show up in the flesh, he gets by far what is the best line in the movie, so it all pays off. Why visions of him looking forlornly at his lost love were intercut with the Koteas-Jolie sex scene and not placed somewhere else isn’t known, but it’s oddly similar to when David Warner was intercut with a Pamela Anderson sex scene in Naked Souls (1996). That aside, there’s only so much of Palance’s teeth that any normal audience would want to stand.

As per usual, Billy Drago is the baddie, Sven-Ole Thorsen is on hand as “Doorman” , and the computerized corporate intrigue certainly seems modeled after the Apple and Microsoft battles. Maybe one day they’ll use deadly cyborgs to one-up each other. There’s even a Cyborg dog - a cy-dog if you prefer - and we felt that could become a movie in its own right. Tailor-made for the pay channels of the day, this could have played on Cinemax in the mid-90’s right before Nemesis (1992) and right after American Cyborg:Steel Warrior (1993). It all comes to a surprisingly sweet and touching ending. I guess you never know what to expect from the Pinwheel Corporation.

Director Schroeder also was the man behind Damned River (1989) and went on to do the third and final Cyborg movie, Cyborg 3: The Recycler (1994), the following year. Yes, there is a cyborg trilogy. As the main star, a young Jolie is certainly easier to look at than Van Damme, and we appreciated a lot about the overall production, but, as usual, a little more action in the mix would most likely have given the reputation of Cyborg 2 a brighter future. 

Comeuppance Review by: Brett and Ty 

Rulers Of The City (1976)

Rulers Of The City (1976)-* * *

Directed by: Fernando Di Leo

Starring: Jack Palance, Edmund Purdum, Vittorio Caprioli, Harry Baer, and Al Cliver












Tony (Baer) is a young and ambitious guy who is currently working as a money-collector for Mafia boss Cherico (Purdom). But he’s not a bad guy, he dreams of getting out of this racket and traveling to Brazil, a country he’s seemingly obsessed with, probably because it represents his ultimate escape from the grime and seediness of the Italian street life. 

His way of achieving his goal is extremely risky: he hatches a plan to steal a ton of money from the most feared gangster in Italy: “Scarface” Manzari (Palance). To execute his scheme, he calls in his buddies Rick (Cliver), and the eccentric Napoli (Caprioli). Scarface is obviously not happy about this so he releases all his goons to stop our three heroes. But is there a personal vendetta between Tony and Scarface? Find out today!

Rulers of the City is an excellent and highly entertaining movie from the golden age of the Italian-made action/gangster drama. Fernando Di Leo is a top-quality director who only now seems to be getting his long-overdue recognition. 

Thanks to his skill, the movie is not only well-directed, it’s also well-shot, in the Italian style, with very cool locations and a magnificent score from another underrated genius in his field, Luis Bacalov. Put that all together with some fistfights, shootouts, and car chases, and you have a total winner on your hands.

Di Leo was always trying to achieve a certain level of realism in his films, and it is quite fascinating to see the gritty, underground Italian street life of the day. But the movie isn’t without humor, either; it seems no ingredient was left out in its quest to totally entertain the audience, and we respect that. Thus, the movie never stops being good or entertaining. 

Even the decor of Tony’s apartment, and his awesome dune buggy provide food for discussion and interest. Naturally, it all comes to a head not in an abandoned warehouse, but at an abandoned abattoir. The ending is great and gives you what you want. It’s nice to feel you’re in the hands of experts who know what they’re doing when you’re watching a movie.

As far as the cast, Di Leo was, interestingly enough, trying to go for an international one with the British Purdom, the American Palance, the hometown Italian cast, and the Germans Baer and Gisela Hahn. Hahn was in a movie called White Pop Jesus (1980), in which the description is “Disco Jesus comes back to earth and takes on the Mafia.” Has anyone out there seen this movie? Can you get a hold of a copy? This seems like something that must be seen.  Digressions aside, the whole cast totally works and it’s a joy to watch.

Now, you would never know any of this if you based your sole viewing of this movie on the Vidcrest VHS or any of the budget DVD’s floating around out there (most of which are under the title Mister Scarface). 

To properly see Rulers of the City, you must get the Raro DVD. We had previously seen the Vidcrest tape, but seeing it again in the Raro version was like seeing it for the first time. It’s widescreen with subtitles, and it looks great and feels like a real movie, unlike the dubbed, pan-and-scan Vidcrest abomination. So make sure you see the right version, it makes a world of difference.

We definitely recommend Rulers of the City.

Comeuppance Review by: Brett and Ty

Also check out a write-up by our buddy at The Unknown Movies!

One Man Jury (1978)

One Man Jury (1978)-* * *

Directed by: Charles Martin

Starring: Jack Palance, Chris Mitchum, Pamela Shoop, and Joe Spinell











Lt. Jim Wade (Palance) is an L.A. Cop On The Edge who hates scum. Imagine if a John McCain/Clint Eastwood-type (hmmmm....) grumpy older man who continually told the neighborhood punks to get off his lawn not only had a gun and a badge, but teaches police school at night! His partner is Sgt. Blake (Mitchum) and together they’re hunting for a serial killer plaguing the city known as “The Slasher”. In order to get closer to The Slasher, Wade makes some underworld dealings, mainly with gangster Abatino (Spinell). But Wade is tired of the legal system that gives both serial killers and gangsters slaps on the wrist, so he takes the law into his own hands and becomes a ONE MAN JURY.

Now this is what 12 Angry Men (1957) should have been! Just One Angry Man. But in all seriousness, this is a decent-enough cop drama that will entertain you throughout the majority of its running time. It’s great to go back to the days when cops had wide ties, three-piece suits and smoked cigars anywhere they pleased. In many ways, One Man Jury is kind of old-fashioned...it plays as if an older director, whose career goes back to the 1940’s,  was asked by a production company to make a Dirty Harry (1971) knockoff. And indeed, this was writer/director Charles Martin’s last movie, dying a few years after its completion. None of this is meant to come off as negative, One Man Jury is still worth seeing.

Plus it’s great to see Chris Mitchum and Jack Palance team up as cops. Especially when they’re chasing after the great Joe Spinell, a Comeuppance Reviews fan-favorite actor. Pamela Shoop plays the classic liberal counterpart to Wade as well as his love interest, and Angel Tompkins appears for a few short minutes. Jim Wade truly was the Marion Cobretti of his day. Based on his love of crime statistics, anyway. But truly the star of the show is Palance. Here we must quote from the back of the Star Classics VHS box (keep in mind this is on the back of the box - pretend you’re in a video store in the 80’s and you want to know the plot of this movie):

“Jack Palance is one of the very few talents who has the capacity to convey the full spectrum of emotions in this film. At six foot four, two hundred pounds, features chiseled in solid granite, and a soft, yet threatening-as-thunder voice, he’s everyone’s image of what an uncompromising avenger should be.”

Well, now that you know Jack Palance’s weight, that should firmly convince you to see this movie post-haste. But One Man Jury is one movie that has the guts to have the message of “violence IS the answer!”

So if that floats your boat, and we’re guessing that if you’re reading this site right now that it does, One Man Jury should fit the bill. But be advised that it’s not very “extreme” - a lot of its charm comes from its old-school ways.

 Comeuppance Review by: Brett and Ty

Also check out a review from our buddy Keith at The Unknown Movies!