This week’s Bad Movie Friday entrant bends the rules a bit: it’s actually a network mini-series, a once glorious TV genre that has sadly fallen out of favor in the modern era. Rage of Angels: The Story Continues was one of many Sidney Sheldon potboilers to appear on the small screen during the 1980s, and it possesses the same overcooked quality as the cafeteria carrots of yore. As you can see in the clip above, the writing is big on emphatic declarations uttered by gun-wielding members of the global elite. This vintage New York takedown cites some other howlers:
I will forever treasure one snide line: “I’d kill you, Margot, if you hadn’t already died of face-lift poison.” But it won’t make up for “I gave you a son, I can’t give you a home.” Or “I cry for Catherine, my tiny, wounded Madonna.” Or “It’s strange, Adam—the places we remember best are the ones we never see.” Or “I’ve been unfaithful to my life. I’ve used our love as a substitute for living.” Or “What’s left after tears, Jeremy?” Followed by “I don’t know. Dignity, maybe.”
And then:
You will think that the first fifteen minutes of Rage of Angels: The Story Continues flaunts the worst acting you’ve ever seen on prime-time television, but that’s because you haven’t watched the next three hours and 45 minutes.
Terrible acting and writing, perhaps, but you can’t argue with the film’s morals, as articulated in our chosen clip: It is, indeed, not right to kill the vice-president.
scottstev // Oct 29, 2010 at 11:01 am
Nobody can do creepy like Brad Dourif. My favorite role of his, is still “Dune”
Jordan // Oct 29, 2010 at 1:20 pm
Speaking of mini-series and “Dune”, it’s a shame that even with that extended running time, the Dune mini-series was still terrible. Most emo Paul Atreides ever.
scottstev // Oct 29, 2010 at 4:21 pm
Jordan, totally agree. Give David Lynch 8 hours and that movie would have been incredible. I recently saw the theatrical release on Netflix instant, and it still holds up very well, despite the butchery in the cutting room.