When a saboteur blackmails the US space program, a squad of female secret agents are mobilized to take him on. I absolutely adore the first half of this film, which pains me to say I really kind of hate the second half. This is not really a "good" film in any conventional sense, but the setup of the plot and assembly of the team entertained the living hell out of me. Then it really descended into one long, badly executed action sequence and my interest in the proceedings plummeted. It's saved quite a bit by the presence of Michael Ansara and Tura Satana, but not enough. Definitely watch the first half if you are fond of Z-grade schlock.

Being an avid moviegoer and a frequent renter and buyer of DVDs, there's always something intriguing about DVDs of low-budget films made in the 1970's that I've never heard of. Does this film deserve a bigger release? Could this DVD have benefited from more special features? Is it a hidden gem over which the big studios just passed? Above all, though, is the movie worth watching? Sadly, in regards to "The Doll Squad", the answer to all these questions is "No".The DVD copy of "The Doll Squad" is one I found while browsing through a discount outlet, and it only cost me $0.50 to purchase. It was labeled as a "Cinema Cult Favorite", which is a label that can be unfair to quality cult classics. To me, the term "cult favorite" describes a film that, while underrated at the time of its release, has since developed a following of devoted fans that watch the film again and again, and take real meaning out of it. Unfortunately, to some DVD distributors, the term means a film that just hasn't been seen very many times.There are some qualities of this film that, at first glance, make it a potential cult favorite. After all, the film has heroines, not heroes, who kick ass and take names. However, women as action stars means nothing if you don't make the characters interesting, and you don't care about the mission they are pursuing.Such is the case of this movie, which has a plot that is very run-of-the-mill, half-baked characters, horrible actors playing them, and cheap special effects that look cheaper because the foundation of a story makes the house crumble and fall.Watching this film in 2010, the film will lose you in the opening sequence when Senator Stockwell is watching a space shuttle launch. The space shuttle launches successfully off the ground, but once it reaches the stratosphere, it explodes. When this actually happened to the Challenger in 1986, there was a public outcry. In this movie, Senator Stockwell says in a monotonous voice, "Oh no. All those men."Sadly, the explosion comes as no surprise because of a threatening recorded message to the Senator from Eamon O'Reilly (Michael Ansara, who is perhaps the most interesting character in this film), an American terrorist whose quest for world domination also includes injecting the rest of the world with a bubonic plague. Only one team of agents can stop them, primarily because the leader of the group, red-headed Sabrina Kincaid (Francine York), had a prior relationship with O'Reilly.Sabrina works to bring the team together as they work during their day jobs. One woman works as a stripper, another one is a champion swimmer, another works in an amusement park, and there are two more who have different jobs I can't recall. Even though they have different hair colors and occupations, once they put on uniforms and tote guns, they may be a force with which to be reckoned, but their personalities are pretty much all the same. As a result, there's no one about whom you really care.There is a lot of shooting and a lot of explosions. In fact, it's strange how the fire resulting from the explosions looks perfectly round and doesn't completely cover the person or thing that is exploding. It's almost as if the editor just put a match to a frame and printed it that way. There's also a scene early in the movie where a blond woman gets shot through the head, and when she turns afterwords towards the camera, the wound looks more like a bug bite.The writer and director Ted Mikels had something here with women who have power and do justice. The problem is that Mikels focused more on the shooting and killing these women did than the reason why they did it. Action is exciting, but action without a story is like horse legs without the horse.I hate ripping on Mikels for this film because he has made a number of low-budget films up to 2009, and there's something to say about someone being that committed. He's like Russ Meyer with a little less street credibility. If Mikels had collaborated with someone else on this script (perhaps a woman), he would have had something here, and the cheapness of the physical effects would be forgiven. A female writer probably could have told him, for starters, that if you want to make a movie about strong protagonists with two X chromosomes, don't have the men in this movie call them the DOLL squad. It could be why Gloria Steinam stayed away from this film.

The Doll Squad is a specially trained group of women who kick butt for the government. When a NASA rocket is blown-up after takeoff, the CIA calls in The Doll Squad to find out who's behind the sabotage and put a stop to it. To do this, the women must infiltrate a secret and heavily guarded island belonging to Eamon O'Reilly, an ex-CIA agent turned would be world dominator. Can The Doll Squad succeed in their mission?The Doll Squad could have been great. It's got a lot of that 70s exploitation feel to it, but it never goes far enough. It's as if director Ted V. Mikels takes things to the edge but never lets the movie go over-the-top into some really cheesy good territory. With a little more camp, it could have been a winner. The Doll Squad is also surprisingly tame. Amazingly, the women stay button-upped throughout. You won't confuse them with a band of vestal virgins, but it's not the skin flick you might expect.Production and technical aspects are non-existent. Special effects are far from "special". The rocket isn't the only explosion in The Doll Squad and, unfortunately, they all look identical – a giant wash of red color covers objects as they disappear. The scene framing is laughable. Many of the interior scenes were shot in a normal, everyday looking house (not dissimilar to one my aunt live in). Characters routinely disappear behind low hanging chandeliers during the middle of a conversation. And, I'm not sure "acting" is the right word for what's going on in this movie. Mikels has said that Aaron Spelling all but ripped-off The Doll Squad when he made the television show Charlie's Angels. One difference is that Farrah and Company came across as award winning actresses compared with what's presented in The Doll Squad.So if it's as bad as I've written, why haven't I rated The Doll Squad lower than a 4/10? Well, while it never goes over-the-top as I would have preferred, there still some enjoyable set-pieces. And, any movie as goofy as this is bound to be filled with some of those "so bad it's good" moments. Watching a woman with a machine gun take out a gang of hard-charging guards with weapons drawn (who never get a shot off, by the way) is a pretty fun thing to watch.

Ted V Mikels is a kitsch director whose best work rises above practical efforts at criticism. He produced the films most highly regarded amongst a coterie of fans over just few years: ‘The Astro Zombies' (1969), ‘The Corpse Grinders' (1972), and ‘Blood Orgy of The She Devils' (1972), each have their following and have endured on video. As the last of Mikel's trash favourites to appear, 'The Doll Squad' contains the least horror and fantasy and, in comparison to it's predecessors, adheres more closely to a logical dramatic structure. Since then, although he had remained active - most recently with ‘Dimension of Fear' (1998) - Mikels has produced nothing else regarded by fans with such long-lived affection. Firmly in the realms of so-bad-it's-good, the years have added an enjoyable sheen to ‘The Doll Squad', particularly now that it can be taken with the gloss of post-modern irony.This is the film whose central premise - Mikels allegedly claimed - was ripped off by producer Aron Spelling to become the television series ‘Charlie's Angels'. No doubt the reissue of ‘Doll Squad' has also been at least in part inspired by the commercial success and marketing of the big screen version of that programme. Comparison of Mikels' film with Spelling's work does reveal similarities. But nothing in the TV ‘Charlie's Angels', or the recent Hollywood outing compares to Mikel's wide-eyed glance at the genre, the cheesy pulchritude on display and his disregard for dramatic standards.The Doll Squad is selected for assignment by computer, after it picks up 'something in O'Riley's personality which means experienced women should do the job' of stopping him. 'Experience' in this context naturally implies more than just familiarity with tough assignments. The squad of Sabrina, Liz, Sharon, Lavelle and Kim hail from different backgrounds, including a librarian, a scientist, karate instructor and, most noticeably, erotic dancer (played by Tura Satana, the Apache-Japanese better known for her role in Russ Meyer's far more provocative 'Faster Pussy Cat, Kill Kill!' (1965)).It might be argued that, as a group of strong assertive women, the Doll Squad is a model of feminine self-reliance. After all, they are empowered to find and stop the villainous O'Riley by a senator, and are allowed complete independence and licence for the duration of their mission. But their assertiveness is essentially apolitical and, except for their expected impact on the criminal community, always non-threatening and contained within fantasy. The choice of squad personnel, obviously intended as a cross section of female society, merely emphasises a common voluptuousness. In tandem with the women's physical stamina, Mikel creates through this all-too familiar trash archetypesLeaving aside its relationship to 'Charlie's Angels', the most striking element of Mikels' film is its flat playfulness. Like most favourite cult trash directors, he is cheerfully oblivious to the handicaps of abilities and material. For the viewer, of course this is part of the fun. It would be pointless here to refer in detail to the fluffed lines, one-dimensional plot and rudimentary cutting and pacing. Instead, a viewer best engages with the film on a naïve level, such (presumably) as the director/producer/co writer did, or by assuming a knowing camp sophistication. There's more than a degree of that to be found in the flame-thrower cigarette lighter, for instance, the lame kung fu, or the exploding poison. These days ‘The Doll Squad' is more likely to leave the knowing viewer with a wink than a grimace, as it plays its simple variation on the espionage thriller. As a z-grade auteur, Mikels, resolutely goes his own way in the film, immune to the strictures of any ‘responsible' judgement, incidentally striking a chord with the modern viewer which he could hardly had anticipated at the time. However one approaches the film, it still has the distinct straight-faced charm which has kept it a favourite down the years. Helped by a surprisingly strong musical score, and photographed competantly, ‘The Doll Squad', beehive hair cuts and cheesy décor intact, has dated pleasantly and remains a guilty pleasure.