My review was written in July 1990 after watching the film on Paramount video cassette.
Women's wrestling is entertainingly depicted in "The American Angels", a direct-to-video feature release backed by Paramount. Future installments seem likely.
Filmmakers Ferd and Beverly Sebastian bering back their leading actors Jan MacKenzie and Tray Loren from a previous Paramount release, "Gator Bait II", to mix convincingly with real-life femme wrestlers here.
Emphasis on depicting highly physical training sessions pays off in defusing the disappointing nature of previous wrestling pics where the fakeness of the matches is crystal clear. In fact, lovely redhead MacKenzie looks to be really taking some bumps and bruises, as the pro grapplers toss her around like a sack of potatoes.
Conventional storyline has go-go dancer MacKenzie, Trudy Adams (herself a pro familiar from the "GLOW" tv series) and Patricia Cavoti trying out to become the newest members of promoter Tray Loren's American Angels wrestling league. The veterans pick on them unmercifully, building to the effective promotion of a grudge match between mean but beautiful champ Mimi Lesseos and MacKenzie.
There's a melodramatic subplot involving a drug dealer who's unwilling to let Adams start a new life, but pic is mostly a fun romp which refreshingly concede the amount of training and team effort that goes into wrestlers putting on a show (rather than the usual pretense that it's "real").
With Sue Sexton as the gals' trainer, the grueling warmup sessions are impressive. Final match in which MacKenzie trots out her finishing hold "The Snap" (taught to her by her legendary grandpa Killer Kane) is okay with Lesseos not killed as expected but recuperating for a happy ending pointing towards a rematch sequel.
MacKenzie, whose short stature has the other wrestlers making fun of her but whose full figure is well-displayed in shower and sex scenes, continues to impress as an effervescent B-movie starlet.
Lesseos, who wrestles under the moniker Magnificent Mimi, shows nascent acting ability and the other grapplers escape embarrassment. It's not a picture to rank with Robert Aldrich's A-movie version "All the Marbles", but still is an affectionate tribute to a much-maligned area of show business.
Women's wrestling is entertainingly depicted in "The American Angels", a direct-to-video feature release backed by Paramount. Future installments seem likely.
Filmmakers Ferd and Beverly Sebastian bering back their leading actors Jan MacKenzie and Tray Loren from a previous Paramount release, "Gator Bait II", to mix convincingly with real-life femme wrestlers here.
Emphasis on depicting highly physical training sessions pays off in defusing the disappointing nature of previous wrestling pics where the fakeness of the matches is crystal clear. In fact, lovely redhead MacKenzie looks to be really taking some bumps and bruises, as the pro grapplers toss her around like a sack of potatoes.
Conventional storyline has go-go dancer MacKenzie, Trudy Adams (herself a pro familiar from the "GLOW" tv series) and Patricia Cavoti trying out to become the newest members of promoter Tray Loren's American Angels wrestling league. The veterans pick on them unmercifully, building to the effective promotion of a grudge match between mean but beautiful champ Mimi Lesseos and MacKenzie.
There's a melodramatic subplot involving a drug dealer who's unwilling to let Adams start a new life, but pic is mostly a fun romp which refreshingly concede the amount of training and team effort that goes into wrestlers putting on a show (rather than the usual pretense that it's "real").
With Sue Sexton as the gals' trainer, the grueling warmup sessions are impressive. Final match in which MacKenzie trots out her finishing hold "The Snap" (taught to her by her legendary grandpa Killer Kane) is okay with Lesseos not killed as expected but recuperating for a happy ending pointing towards a rematch sequel.
MacKenzie, whose short stature has the other wrestlers making fun of her but whose full figure is well-displayed in shower and sex scenes, continues to impress as an effervescent B-movie starlet.
Lesseos, who wrestles under the moniker Magnificent Mimi, shows nascent acting ability and the other grapplers escape embarrassment. It's not a picture to rank with Robert Aldrich's A-movie version "All the Marbles", but still is an affectionate tribute to a much-maligned area of show business.