In her next to last film Jennifer Jones plays once again a decadent over sexed sultry figure in Angel Angel Down We Go. In the film she did a few years back The Idol Jones plays an older woman who flips for her son's friend who just looks at her as someone he wants to nail. But The Idol was classic next to this one.Jennifer Jones and Charles Aidman play a rich power couple who have a daughter Holly Near who's no Miss Junior Miss. Still her status requires she be given a coming out as any débutante must have. At that party she meets Jordan Christopher who is a second hand version of Christopher Jones's character Max Frost from Wild In The Streets. He hangs out with a group of Manson like followers that include Davey Davison, Roddy McDowall, and Lou Rawls. With her millions they welcome Holly into their group all the while Christopher takes aim on Jones.We learned here that Jeanne Crain showed uncommon good judgment in turning this film down. Watching Charles Aidman I thought he was imitating Jason Robards and maybe Jason was who was originally thought of to play the father. I guess that Aidman was having his own little joke knowing he was in a Thanksgiving Day special.The Idol and Angel Angel Down We Go were both made after the death of David O. Selznick, Jennifer Jones's second husband and career Svengali. Selznick sure had his faults but there ain't no way he would have let his wife appear in those two films, especially Angel Angel Down We Go.Jones was apparently no good at charting her own career, but her final film was The Towering Inferno where she played the part of a respectable widow who stays respectable.Jordan Christopher was imitating Jim Morrison in his role and I can't believe that they didn't give the genuine talent of Lou Rawls a song to sing.Fans of Jennifer Jones will not like Angel Angel Down We Go.

The main reason to savor this deliciously decadent dress rehearsal for the entire career of John Waters is the very guilty pleasure of watching Jennifer Jones not only perform an homage to Gloria Swanson in "Sunset Boulevard" but apparently actually LIVE the role. Ms. Jones (nee Phylis Isley when she began her career as John Wayne's leading lady 30 years before this cuckoo classic was release)may NOT have been certifiable when she agreed to appear...but I for one can't think of any other logical explanation.The widow of David O'Selznic plays "The richest woman in the world" who is also "the most beautiful woman in the world" (personal quotes from the character...read with complete conviction by the actress...as is the admission to being "45"...Jones was 50...)...The character has an pudgy daughter named "Tara" (another quote from Jone's character "I LIKED 'Gone With The Wind'")...could the whirring sound I hear be The sound of Selznic rotating and revolving in his grave?? Why this grotesque but utterly fascinating slash at "Hollywood Royalty" is not known better under either of it's titles ("Cult of the Damned" was on the print I saw) is beyond me...it should have been a spookily prescient harbinger of the collapse of "old Hollywood" especially since it was released only ten days after the town (and the world) went reeling in the Horror of the murder of Sharon Tate...a crime it is impossible to avoid thinking of while watching this study of L.A. high society brutally invaded upon by a group of sadistic drug addled musicians.If you need more reasons to watch how about sweet little Roddy Mcdwell bearing his behind and playing gay (his lines about being rejected by the draft board aren't skating on this ice...they are more like dancing on it in toe shoes!!).All in all...a film so amazing and appalling...that it might be a masterpiece of schlock!

**Spoiler Alert**I've been watching Jennifer Jones since I was in grade school. I clearly remember the Saturday night I watched "The Song of Bernadette" with my grandmother on television. As a kid in Catholic school, taught by nuns, it left quite an impact. I mention this mostly cause I've had a life-long respect for Jennifer Jones and have made every effort possible to see as many movies of hers as possible. To say I was curious about "Angel, Angel Down We Go" would be the understatement of the year. I appreciate trash as much as the next movie-lover..but this one really tested my patience. Its mean-spirited, its long-winded, its cinematic nonsense. I can't imagine what in the world possessed Jennifer to do this movie cause its, by light years, the worse movie she's ever been involved in. I have a feeling she was having one of her parties and Roddy McDowall and maybe even Lou Rawls was there and someone spiked the punch with acid and they all made a pact to do this movie as a lark. Either that or she lost a bet or owed on the landscaper but there had to have been some unexplicable reason why this movie...maybe Lana Turner was there was said that doing the "The Big Cube" wasn't worse than some of her marriages and so Jennifer figured what the hell, no one will ever see it. A biography I have of hers said she clearly did it for the movie, since AIP was paying stars like Vincent Price a lot for doing the movies he was making for them, and let's face it, you gotta eat..I got a laugh or two. She mentions "Gone with the Wind" and it IS one of the only movies I can think of where the hairdresser, Sydney Guillaroff, is mentioned. But her death scene was just as unpleasant as her death scene in "The Towering Inferno", and its just not bad enough to be good. I forgive you, and I think Showtime Beyond for unearthing it, and I am very glad I got to see it, but obviously it was not a lot of fun for me.Speaking of "The Big Cube"..hey Showtime, how about it?

There were so many hippie movies being churned out during those years and most of them were awful but a few of them attained cult status. Unfortunately this film is just one of the worst pieces of nonsense ever made and watching the actors wallow about in this made me feel sad for them. Story (such as it is) is about a very wealthy couple who have an overweight daughter who's completely miserable. Jennifer Jones is the mother Astrid Steele and her past includes making stag films. Charles Aidman is the father Willy Steele who is bi-sexual and he tries to make his daughter Tara Nicole (Holly Near) happy by giving her expensive gifts. One night after a party Tara runs into Bogart Peter Stuyvesant (Jordan Christopher) who is the lead singer of a rock band and he seduces her. Tara meets the other members of his band which include Joe (Lou Rawls), Anna Livia (Davey Davison) and Santoro (Roddy McDowall). *****SPOILER ALERT*****The four members of this band/cult start playing games with Tara and fill her gullible head with all sorts of psychedelic mish-mash and finally she brings them back to meet her parents. Bogart puts the heavy moves on Astrid and eventually he seduces her as well. They talk her into going sky diving and play keep away in mid-air with one of her expensive necklaces until she plummets to her death. The film ends with Willy being killed by Bogart and Tara completely brainwashed.This film was directed by Robert Thom who is primarily known as a pretty decent writer of low budget films and he never directed another film again after this. I don't mind hippie films if they're done with some sort of tongue in cheek approach like my favorite "Candy" but this film is just a mess and one with a totally narcissistic attitude. With all of the "Groovy" editing going on it was very difficult at times to figure out what exactly was real and what was just another fantasy sequence. The casting is the most interesting thing about this effort and you had to wonder what Jones was thinking. Did she need the money that bad? Did she think she was going to cash in on the new young and trendy way films were being made? She spouts lines such as "I made 30 stag films and never faked an orgasm". I will say one positive thing, though. Jones looks great! I'm not sure how old she was when she made this but she still maintained her sex appeal and looked very beautiful. But this brings me to McDowall and Rawls who have at best secondary roles and have practically nothing to say. Every once in a while Rawls would mutter something about "Afro-American Negroes" and shoot that big grin on his face. McDowall doesn't come across much better and at one point he stares upward with a glazed look on his face and warbles about being turned on by a carrot! Someone hand him a chimpanzee mask and let him really act! This film was doomed right from the start as it came out fairly close to the time when Sharon Tate was murdered. A shame the script for this wasn't destroyed instead.