Perhaps it would take a trained psychotherapist to figure out why I persist in renting out movies by director/producer Ted V. Mikels, after so many repeated disappointments. From bad ("Blood Orgy of the She Devils") to worse ("The Corpse Grinders"), from rock bottom ("The Astro-Zombies") to repugnant ("The Worm Eaters"), the man has let me down time and again. Yet I had to go take a look at his 1973 offering, "The Doll Squad," despite all that, AND despite the fact that I've never been a fan of the overrated '70s TV phenomenon "Charlie's Angels," which this flick supposedly served as inspiration for. Well, the good news is that this Mikels effort may be marginally better than those others; the bad news is that, well, this is still a Mikels film, to which he brings his patented...what's the opposite of "touch of gold"? Touch of crap? The story here concerns an ex-government agent, played by Michael Ansara, who's been blowing up U.S. rockets and is threatening the world with bubonic plague, and the efforts of Doll Squad leader Sabrina (Kincaid, not Duncan) and her kick-ass babes to stop him cold. Though the film's first 15 minutes or so, featuring the gruesome murders of two of the Dolls, are promising, the picture quickly deteriorates into the typical Mikels mishmash of lousy direction, poor editing and awful FX. Though the Dolls are pretty fierce in action, more than willing to shoot their foes in the back or when they're already unconscious, most of that action is confined to murky, hard-to-follow gunplay. Francine York, it must be allowed, is pretty good as the head Doll, and quite a package to look at, as is everyone's favorite pussycat, Tura Satana. A larger budget and a more accomplished filmmaker might have been able to salvage what on paper must have seemed a pretty reasonable entertainment. As it is, if I ever rent out another Ted V. Mikels movie, someone, please, institutionalize me!!!

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.

A group of highly trained female special agents, code-named The Doll Squad, embark on a mission to prevent villainous Eamon O'Reilly (Michael Ansara) from unleashing a plague on the world.

Apparently, director Ted V. Mikels sued TV producer Aaron Spelling, claiming that the hit show Charlie's Angels was a rip off of The Doll Squad. I'm inclined to agree with Ted: the basic premise is the same, and Spelling even had the nerve to give one of his Angels the same name as the Doll Squad's leader, Sabrina (played by buxom Francine York). Coincidence? I think not.

Mikels film is a cheap, poorly acted, shoddily directed piece of exploitation with laughable action scenes, but its influence on popular entertainment is undeniable, the film paving the way not only for Charlie's Angels, but any number of movies that feature teams of kick-ass women. Tarantino has said that he's a fan, and I imagine that Mia Wallace's story about Fox Force Five in Pulp Fiction was also inspired by this film.

While the story, performances and plot are basic, to say the least, the enthusiasm of the leading ladies make it a reasonably entertaining affair, and there are plenty of unintentional laughs to be had, from the henchmen who insist on riding on the outside of vehicles to the numerous unconvincing explosions. Unlike Charlie's Angels, The Doll Squad also packs in a reasonable amount of bloody violence, with some juicy blood squibs that wouldn't fly on television.

5/10.