Bad movies can be fun, especially when the script is so bad you can't help but laugh at it throughout. Any film that starts with a seemingly fresh off the boat Chinese immigrant (Evan C. Kim) singing in bad English who actually turns out to be a vice squad cop chasing a Hollywood Boulevard drag queen hooker will immediately get your attention, and it continues with poor veteran character Marvin Kaplan ("Alice") playing a potential john for undercover cop Carrie Fisher. The serious storyline involves desperate mother Trish Van Devere searching for daughter Robin Wright, no princess bride here, and under the control of nasty pimp Frank Gorshin. Poor Kim not only has the indignity of having to utilize a phony Asian accent but also getting involved in some stunts that makes his character a complete buffoon.
With people like Ronnie Cox, Leon Isaac Kennedy and Joey Travolta, it reeks of old exploitation style films with a fairly modern style and a typical '80s soundtrack. The issue is that there are simply just way too many storylines, the girls of the street are far too polished (as are the boys in drag, even the one with the snake in a jail holding cell), and at times, that makes this feel not very realistic even though there are some edgier older ladies of the street including the repulsive character played by "Goddess Bunny" who seems like someone ripped out of a John Waters movie.
This film goes far off Hollywood Boulevard into residential neighborhoods rarely filmed in, and even on the boulevard, you will get to see businesses long gone. While there are definitely a few genuine laughs, they are at the expense of the film because while this certainly could have taken a serious look at the world of vice before Hollywood was cleaned up (and I remember from living there the before and after), it ends up being a film with multiple personalities that couldn't be cured through years of therapy. It was fun for the laughs, but I certainly couldn't recommend it for anything resembling art. There is an unseen character named China White which indicates this was definitely ripped off in part from "Crime of Passion". A few decent chase scenes added to the overall rating which didn't add much. Even trash with class had a use. I wouldn't use the DVD as a frisbee.
With people like Ronnie Cox, Leon Isaac Kennedy and Joey Travolta, it reeks of old exploitation style films with a fairly modern style and a typical '80s soundtrack. The issue is that there are simply just way too many storylines, the girls of the street are far too polished (as are the boys in drag, even the one with the snake in a jail holding cell), and at times, that makes this feel not very realistic even though there are some edgier older ladies of the street including the repulsive character played by "Goddess Bunny" who seems like someone ripped out of a John Waters movie.
This film goes far off Hollywood Boulevard into residential neighborhoods rarely filmed in, and even on the boulevard, you will get to see businesses long gone. While there are definitely a few genuine laughs, they are at the expense of the film because while this certainly could have taken a serious look at the world of vice before Hollywood was cleaned up (and I remember from living there the before and after), it ends up being a film with multiple personalities that couldn't be cured through years of therapy. It was fun for the laughs, but I certainly couldn't recommend it for anything resembling art. There is an unseen character named China White which indicates this was definitely ripped off in part from "Crime of Passion". A few decent chase scenes added to the overall rating which didn't add much. Even trash with class had a use. I wouldn't use the DVD as a frisbee.