Vampiro

 

 (imdb)

VAMPIRO: WARRIOR OF THE NIGHT-1993-Pro wrestler Vampiro (the real life wrestler aka Ian Hodgkinson) is captured by a cartoonish mad would be ruler of the world. He's after some-thing called "the nitro weapons". La Rosa, a masked alien wrestling woman and her Ewok like pet, also search for them. The atrocious dubbed dialogue makes it hard to tell if it's supposed to be a straight forward comedy or not. Vampiro (who's voice is dubbed) dis-appears during the final battle but shows up at the end to lament La Rosa's departure. 

Crazy low budget action thing made to cash in on Vampiro's popularity in Mexico (where this was filmed). The '80's synth soundtrack doesn't help. Some real life wrestlers also appear: King Haku, Norman Smiley, Ultimo Dragon and Negro Casas among them.

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Bond Take-Off

KISS THE GIRLS AND MAKE THEM DIE-1966-Mike Connors is Kelly, an international James Bond like CIA agent in this tongue in cheek spy drama with comedy overtones, a co-production between Columbia Pictures and Dino De Laurentiis.. 

Kelly is in Brazil tailing a rich industrialist named Ardonian (Raf Vallone) and his connection with some missing women. Ardonian is in league with Red China in a plot to sterilize the US but in actuality he wants to sterilize the whole world except for himself! The missing women are kept in suspended animation until he needs them. Dorothy Provine (THE 30 FOOT BRIDE OF CANDY ROCK) is Susan Fleming, Ardonian's bimbo girlfriend who wears some really weird outfits and has a Rolls Royce with Aston Martin like features. Terry Thomas is her chauffeur who beats up 5 guys. Later, after it's revealed she is with British Intelligence, she and Kelly team up. They wind up in an underground lab where Provine ends up on a rocket. There's some dumb humor (including a slip on a banana peel) but the real highlight of this movie is Ardonian's massive desk and multi-screen TV monitoring system in a couple of scenes. There's great shots of Rio though. 

Beverly Adams (HOW TO STUFF A WILD BIKINI, TORTURE GARDEN) is one of the victims. Connors would star in the long running TV series MANNIX the next year. Co-director Henry Levin made a similar secret agent satire the same year, MURDERER'S ROW with Dean Martin as Matt Helm (which according to Mike Connors he almost played). 

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Mikels' Angels?

THE DOLL SQUAD-1973-A senator and a government agent named Connelly watch a manned space rocket explode after a mysterious voice intones "perhaps next time you'll listen". A computer ("Big Bertha") suggests bringing in members of "The Doll Squad", a lethal all female group of agents lead by Sabrina Kincade (Francine York from Larry Buchanan's CURSE OF THE SWAMP CREATURE). Unfortunately, her first two picks are killed by assassins. It turns out Sabrina's ex-husband Eamon O'Reilly (Micheal Ansara) is behind the destruction in his mad plan to release the bubonic plague on the world! They try to get Sabrina but she burns one guy with a special cigarette lighter. While skeet shooting the senator (John Carter), Connelly (Anthony Eisley) and Sabrina have a big discussion (she says "sex and security just don't mix") and she shows off her min-arsenal. Sabrina eventually recruits an Olympic swimmer (Leigh Christian), an exotic dancer (Tura Santana) and a carnival ticket seller (Jean London).

This was obviously ripped off by Aaron Spelling to make the TV hit CHARLIE'S ANGELS but DOLL has more violence, blood, bad acting and the leads in more revealing clothes. If the TV show had been like this I would have watched every week!

The presence of Ansara brings the movie up a notch. Both he and Eisley were busy TV actors at the time.

It was co-written, directed and produced by TV Mikels a year after BLOOD ORGY OF THE SHE DEVILS. The fights are pretty badly staged but it's far more entertaining than most reviews give it credited for. It also features exploding bad guys, a few gadgets, Rafael Campos and Mikels regulars Herb Robins and William Bagdad. Except for the seldom seen ALEX JOSEPH AND HIS WIVES in 1976, Mikels next low budget exploitation movie would be TEN VIOLENT WOMEN in '83!  Theme song sung by Solomon King.

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