Rory Calhoun, Susan Tyrell, and Steven M. Porter are back in the roles they played in the first Angel movie. Moving into the title role because it's now years since the teen was hooking on Hollywood Boulevard is Betsy Russell. After going through college and law school Russell is back on the street with a vengeance because her savior and mentor from the first film now played by Robert F. Lyons is killed in a shootout with some mobsters. Even though it has only been one calendar year since the first Angel film and no disclaimer about this being sometime in the near future.

Lyons was on to a scheme for the mob to buy with their usual tactics of persuasion for the owners huge parcels of real estate on Hollywood Boulevard. But the denizens there like their seedy street the way it is. Never mind that Russell and her posse are going to take matters into their own hands if the law doesn't do anything about a cop killing which I find hard to believe.

Angel was a delicious and campy bit of sleaze and this one follows in the tradition. I have to give big kudos to Rory Calhoun who looked like he was having a great old time burlesquing his own western hero image. A lot of Rooster Cogburn in Calhoun's portrayal, all he needed was the eye patch.

Avenging, sweet and fun trash.

Betsy Russell stepped into the role of Molly "Angel" Stewart for the second movie in this series as the producers could not meet Donna Wilkes' salary demands. This would start the trend of a new Angel in each movie.

This time, our little girl has grown up and is in law school. She learns that Lieutenant Andrews (no longer played by Cliff Gorman, now it's Robert F. Lyons),the cop who got her off the streets, has been killed. Luckily, her old street family are all around and played by the same great performers as the original, with Steven M. Porter as Yo-Yo Charlie, Rory Calhoun as Kit Carson and Susan Tyrrell as Solly.

Only one person knows who killed Andrews and that's another street performer named Johnny Glitter (Barry Pearl, Grease). It turns out there's a scheme to buy up Hollywood Boulevard and Andrews got caught in the middle. Solly also has a baby that she found and that infant gets caught up in the craziness, nearly getting killed in a shootout and then almost thrown off a building. Avenging Angel has no qualms about being a neon-soaked nightmare world of street people with hearts of gold shooting, killing and playing Weekend at Bernie's with dead mobsters, much less babies being constantly in death's grasp.

There's also product placement - in an exploitation movie! - for Adidas.

Avenging Angel was written and directed by Robert Vincent O'Neil, who in addition to writing the first movie, also wrote Vice Squad, which is a thematically similar and perhaps better movie, as well as Wonder Women, Deadly Force and the third film in this series. He also directed the first film in this series and Blood Mania.

Here's a more racier, livelier product, than the well intentioned, melodramatic, dull, tamed vehicle that preceded it. Four years on, Angel has a new life, champion runner/lawyer. The murdered cop who saved her in the first one, is the catalyst which drives her back to LA, to track down, and kill the nasty culprits, a mob organization, greedy land developing SOB'S, who are taking down Hollywood Boulevard with whole new plans, set for the streets. We are reunited with some old characters and new ones, including a key witness, and glitter man, who aids Angel and her avenging team to hunt down these cruel people who like to play rough, not just on the streets You never get bored in this, and AA, is an unintentional slick pic in the Angel series, and the movie has pump and testosterone flowing through it, the legendary Calhoun proving he is a real saviour and cowboy in the finale, and I was glad, he stayed aboard for this one, as I was with Tyrell's foul mouthed Solly. Slick B grade camp, as bright as the lit up neon of the city streets. A lot of funny, with some roll eye moments too, doesn't hurt here.