The Doll Squad

1973 "An elite army of female assassins...in a race against time and death to save the world from a hideously diabolical mass destruction at the hands of a madman no one had ever seen!"
4.3| 1h41m| PG| en
Details

After a terrorist plot to sabotage a Cape Canaveral space mission is discovered, a squad of attractive and lethal spies have to locate the culprits. On their mission, they use a wide range of secret weapons.

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Reviews

Cebalord Very best movie i ever watch
Fluentiama Perfect cast and a good story
Lachlan Coulson This is a gorgeous movie made by a gorgeous spirit.
Darin One of the film's great tricks is that, for a time, you think it will go down a rabbit hole of unrealistic glorification.
rdoyle29 When a saboteur blackmails the US space program, a squad of female secret agents are mobilized to take him on. I absolutely adore the first half of this film, which pains me to say I really kind of hate the second half. This is not really a "good" film in any conventional sense, but the setup of the plot and assembly of the team entertained the living hell out of me. Then it really descended into one long, badly executed action sequence and my interest in the proceedings plummeted. It's saved quite a bit by the presence of Michael Ansara and Tura Satana, but not enough. Definitely watch the first half if you are fond of Z-grade schlock.
MartinHafer Years ago, French film critics/authors (such as Truffaut and Godard) came up with what's called the 'Auteur Theory'. This states that the director's voice or personality comes out through his work. And, they felt that great 'auteurs', such as Howard Hawks, Jean Renoir and Alfred Hitchcock were to admired, studied and celebrated. However, this auteur theory only emphasized GREAT filmmakers. I have my own auteur theory---the 'anti-auteur theory'--and it emphasizes the absolute worst directors--folks who also, incidentally, usually wrote, produced and edited their films. Why? Because the films were so low-budgeted and crappy, no one else would dare do these jobs and they're mostly, unintentionally funny!! Of course, there are the well-known auteurs in my theory--such as Ed Wood Jr.. But there are also many other filmmakers waiting to be discovered by the lovers of horrible films--with a ton of inept and totally stupid films that reflect the personal vision of the likes of Larry Buchanan, William Grefe, Al Adamson and Ted V. Mikels. All these guys managed to carve out a niche for themselves as the absolute worst in their field. And, unlike the rest, Mikels is STILL working and has managed a difficult achievement--the more films he makes, the worst the results!! In light of my love of the anti-auteur theory, it's not surprising that I'd watch "The Doll Squad". Unfortunately, while it's a god-awful film, it's not as bad as some of his more recent efforts like "Apartheid Slave-Women's Justice" and "Cauldron: Baptism of Blood"--though it's hard to imagine ANY films being as bad as these two! Like any Mikels film, "The Doll Squad" features terrible acting, terrible writing, terrible direction and a laughable plot. But, unlike most of his films, it actually has a couple real actors in the film. Somehow Michael Ansara and John Carter got hooked into this one--and I assume it MUST have been the result of some blackmail scheme! The film begins with the launch of a Saturn V rocket. While it's approaching the outer atmosphere, the Senator receives a call from an unknown voice telling him that he's about to demonstrate his power--and only seconds later the rocket explodes! What does the Senator do? Yup, he calls for the Doll Squad--a group of women with big hair and attitude! In many ways, it's like a grade-z version of "Charlie's Angels" but with even less impressive martial arts skills! And, surprisingly, the film is a bit slow and dull--even with such a wonderfully cheesy premise. Plus, its soundtrack will make you want to rip off your ears--it's so crappy and repetitive! However, because one or two scenes are actually somewhat watchable (such as the exploding guards), it manages to score a 2--an excellent achievement for a Mikels film.By the way, Mikels has directed, written and/or produced some other horrible worst films in history such as "The Astro Zombies", "Girl in Gold Boots" (currently in IMDb's Bottom 100 List), "Blood Orgy of the She-Devils", "The Corpse Grinders", "Children Shouldn't Play With Dead Things" and "The Worm Eaters". Many are available from Netflix and you have to see a couple just to understand how bad these films can be! Although, I must admit, the titles of the films are awfully clever and a clear indicator of the sorts of films you can expect!
tomgillespie2002 The Doll Squad pre-dates the hugely successful television series Charlie's Angels (1976 - 1981), and it's intentions are similar. After a catastrophic space shuttle launch, the clandestine group of government agents, must form to conquer this criminal conspiracy. Sabrina Kincaid (Francine York) is called to gather the scattered doll squad, a group of female agents. Practically all American films and television in the 1970's that involved crime were embroiled in conspiracy, from Starsky and Hutch (1975 - 1979), Police Woman (1974 - 1978) to The Amazing Spider-Man (1977 - 1979), and this film seems to have paved the way. It's certainly true that the producer of Charlie's Angels (Aaron Spelling) did go to the premier of The Doll Squad.The films production is obviously incredibly low budget. Ted V. Mikels was previously known for the grindhouse cheapie's The Corpse Grinders (1971) and Blood Orgy of the She-Devils (1972), but this film's production values certainly rise above the limitations, and also look a lot better than the horror films. Where the film really fails is in the pace. It struggles through several clunky dialogue scenes, and often uses a piece of funky, disco-esque soundtrack (which is used far too much throughout the film) seemingly to attempt to give a dull scene a bit of pep - such as what appears to be either a fast walk down a long corridor, or a slow walk in a short one.However, when the action does heighten, and that same piece of music is used appropriately, the film does have its moments of fun. It's always good to see the heavily made-up, statuesque '70's women beating up the weak men, from the women in prison movies, to proto-punk Switchblade Sisters (1975) - and of course their raison-d'etre, seduction. The film also boasts an appearance by Tura Satana, who was electric in Russ Meyer's Faster Pussycat. Kill! Kill! (1965). Whilst the film has it's lagging moments, and tedious dialogue, it doesn't ever really become boring. All the limitations actually function well within the context of the ludicrous scenes, and gives the film humour. A lasting example would be, of course, the technical effects for explosions. Mikels's solution? Superimpose a flare of red over the exploded object, then cutting object out: ridiculous, cheap-as-chips, hilarious!
Red-Barracuda This highly entertaining action flick is from the legendary Ted V Mikels, director of The Astro-Zombies and The Corpse Grinders. The Doll Squad is a laugh-a-minute cheese-fest of the first order. Mikels apparently sued Aron Spelling for nicking his idea and creating Charlie's Angels. Well, I don't know about that, but what I do know is that I would've been perfectly happy if there had been a series based on this movie. The basic premise is one that really you cannot go wrong with – a group of sexy action chicks take on an evil genius and his army of boneheads and save the day. It's a perfect recipe. What makes it so much fun is that the cheese-factor is in hyper-drive.The film is ram-packed with action from start to finish. Lots of machine-gun toting babes, girls high-kicking men in the face, amazingly fake looking explosions and an array of ludicrous gadgetry. We have bad guys who blow up after drinking explosive vodka, an evil character who has his face set on fire by a cigarette lighter flame thrower and an undercover agent with fake face who is unmasked in a hilarious Scooby Doo style fashion. And for some reason the bad guys travel around in cars sitting on the bonnets, while the Doll Squad navigate the rough terrain of the island in high-heeled boots. Everything is accompanied by the most 70's soundtrack ever recorded. The film is just an endless succession of seriously silly events.The only member of the cast I recognized was Tura Satana from Faster Pussycat! Kill! Kill! fame. She is strangely subdued it has to be said but it's always nice to see her. The rest of the Dolls are completely unfamiliar to me but they all just get stuck in and kick butt at every opportunity. There is a perhaps surprising lack of nudity but it doesn't really matter. The Doll Squad is a blast from start to finish and I strongly disagree with the view held by some that it is boring at all. It's loads of fun.