User Reviews

I can't see why I ever liked this movie--and even recommended to family and friends. Maybe I was reading too much Camille Paglia when I saw it on HBO in the early '90s--although it was a TV movie made in 1984. It's very '80s by the way.

Amazons seems to take itself a bit too seriously. In what world would there be an underground group of Amazons, trying to kill off the male "race" one powerful rich dude at a time? Okay, I guess it does make it a bit fun.

Amazons could have been better. Starksy (director Paul Micheal Glasser) does a good job at times with the images and music in the film. But there is too much time with the doctor, played by a pre-famous, pre-plastic surgery (?) Madeleine Stowe, who discovers the evil Amazons and becomes the only good woman in this movie. Too many hospital scenes and scenes with Jack Scalia are just stupid, typical TV movie fare. One unbelievable scene is unintentionally funny, in which the cop, Scalia, tells Stowe about his fear of going after the Amazons because his partner killed himself for messing with the wrong person (a senator.) Jennifer Warren is good as the hospital administrator (and leader of the Amazons.) There is a very good scene where she threatens a hunky man who she just had a one night stand with, with a letter opener--he was bad mouthing Amazons, dismissing them as a myth!

Amazons ends with a confrontation at the Amazon's Helena office. Stowe throws some beakers of chemicals that amazingly start a fire that kills off the Amazons--but Scalia and Stowe somehow survive. The ending shot is the president winning with the female vice president--who is wearing the Amazon symbol, the cross-bow bracelet--but, wait, police come in and arrest the VP. It would have been kind of cool if they left it up in the air--what if the Amazons were still out there, waiting to destroy mankind--but they didn't. How much influence could a vice president have anyway? Only seek this movie out if you are really, really bored.

A secret society of deadly warrior women plan on taking over the world by placing fellow females in positions of power after killing off various important and influential men. Sound cool and exciting? Well, this teleflick fails to realize the complete potential of its fun premise thanks to Paul Michael Glaser's competent, but dry direction, sluggish pacing, David Soloman's blah and talky script, and a too serious tone that surprisingly avoids any possibilities for campy humor. Fortunately, the sound cast keeps it watchable: Madeline Stowe makes for a personable heroine as the sweet and spunky Dr. Sharon Fields, Jack Scalia contributes an engaging turn as the hunky and persistent Lt. Tony Monaco, Jennifer Warren does well as ruthless, yet pragmatic and sympathetic lead villain Dr. Diana Cosgrove, Tamara Dobson provides some much needed (and appreciated) spark and thus steals the show as the lethal Rosalund Joseph (Dobson shows off her impressive martial arts prowess in a couple of scenes), Stella Stevens makes the most out of her supporting role as the glamorous Kathryn Lundquist, and veteran character actor William Schallert has a nice bit as the ill-fated Congressman Stanford Barstow. There's some decent action in the last third, but it's too little and too late to alleviate the general tedium. Both Dean Cundey's sharp cinematography and the moody score by Basil Poledouris are up to par. An okay time-waster.

"Amazons" has some effective moments, but they are spread pretty thin. There are potentially exciting scenes (like when the Amazons stop training and start armwrestling each other in pairs!) that don't meet their potential. And the Amazons should really have been more careful about where they hold their gatherings - out in the open air in the middle of the day simply won't do! The film takes forever to unspool a plot that has been made quite obvious to the viewer from the start, and the direction is mostly pedestrian. Madeleine Stowe shows her acting talent in an early role, but the most Amazonian member of the cast, the still-imposing Tamara Dobson ("Cleopatra Jones"), is criminally underused. ** out of 4.

This is a tastefully done 1980s film about a group of Amazons who are plotting to take over the US government. The women are not like the women in most Amazon films, barely clothed, however they are political minded, strategic military elitist. They run an organization called Helena and through it recruit and eliminate people that would be helpful or not helpful to their cause. If you are a fan of mythology, this movie is a must have. It starts in ancient times and continues into the Modern 1980s. With movie stars like Madeline Stowe and Tamara Dobson... you definitely won't regret this film. Lets push for it to come out on DVD soon!!!!