Charlie's Angels: Angels on the Street (1979)
Season 4, Episode 7
6/10
Street Walking Angels
8 September 2021
This is the third episode of season 4 that follows a B-movie plot. The Angels are hired by the father of a music school owner (played by Ford Rainey) whose daughter is beaten and harassed by a mysterious stranger. The school is located in a sketchy part of LA, populated by pimps and prostitutes, and the Angels have to get down and dirty to solve the case.

When the father's check bounces, Bosley and the Angels decide to stay on the case after they encounter a pimp played by Richard Lynch. Lynch was known for villainous roles in B-movies and TV appearances. Here he plays Freddy Jefferson, the pimp who controls the streets where the music school is located. Lynch does his awful best, you really hate his character and want to see him be brought to justice.

Amy Johnston plays the daughter of the music school owner. She's best known for being in the Buddy Holly film opposite Gary Busey. Johnston's role is a dual one, playing Judy Harkins, a young woman with musical and singing talent, and an alter ego named Rose, who works as a prostitute under Freddie Jefferson's influence. The Angels at first don't realize she's two different characters because she wears a wig, harsh makeup, and sleazy outfits.

Kris tries to befriend her at the music school but Judy is quiet and withdrawn. Kelly and Tiffany go undercover as, you guessed it, prostitutes. And not the high class kind of call girls but street hookers.

Nancy Fox plays Sunny, a naïve prostitute under Freddie Jefferson's spell. To date this is her second Angel's appearance, her first being season 2's Angels in the Backfield, where she played Amy Jarvis, the owner and player on a lady's football team. She would go on to make two more guest appearances on the show.

Madlyn Rhue plays Georgia, a waitress at a cheap diner on the strip, who acts as a snitch and look out for Freddy Jefferson. She's known for playing Lt Marla MacGyver on Star Trek's 'Space Seed' episode opposite Ricardo Montalban's Khan.

Without Lynch's venomous performance this might be a bit of a dud, it's honestly kind of silly and mostly beyond belief.

As for the hooker costumes, they don't flatter Jacklyn Smith and Shelly Hack, who are too glamorous and high cheek-boned to ever be taken seriously as a street hooker. To me they're dressed for Halloween.

It's an Edward J Lasko script and somehow he manages to slip one of his second rate songs into the proceedings. The tune is not any different from other Edward J Lasko song, and by that I mean the quality is off off off Broadway. And like a lot of Lasko scripts, this one ends in treacle, with Judy promised she'll get the help she needs. It's a thin melodrama but thankfully Richard Lynch takes the edge off.
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