Angel, Angel, Down We Go (1969)

This AIP film follows the downhill plunge of Tara Nicole Steele (Holly Near in her film debut), the unattractive, overweight, vulnerable daughter of wealthy couple Astrid (Jennifer Jones) – a free-spirited former adult film star – and Willy (Charles Aidman) – a wealthy industrialist and closet homosexual.

On her return from boarding school in Switzerland, her parents throw her a coming-out party where a rock star/cult leader named Bogart (Jordan Christopher) – a budget version of Jim Morrison – takes a liking to young Tara.

Bogart and his bandmates – including singer Lou Rawls in his movie debut and Roddy McDowall – worm their way into the Steele family and tear it apart by manipulating everyone, with Bogart using skydiving and sex to lure his victims in.

Shot in the wake of the success of Wild in the Streets (1968), which Robert Thom wrote, AIP allowed Thom to write and direct his first film. Released in some markets as Cult of the Damned, it’s best viewed as a time capsule of the late 1960s.

Former Academy Award winner Jennifer Jones should have sued her agent.

Astrid Steele
Jennifer Jones
Bogart Peter Stuyvesant
Jordan Christopher
Tara Nicole Steele
Holly Near
Joe
Lou Rawls
Willy Steele
Charles Aidman
Anna Livia
Davey Davison
Santoro
Roddy McDowall
Maitre D’
Marty Brill
Maitre D’s Wife
Carol Costello
Paulette
Danielle Aubry
Tara Nicole, Age 3
Sandrine Gobet
Tara Nicole, Age 8
Joan Calhoun
Tony
Rudy Battaglia
Rudolph
George Ostos

Director
Robert Thom

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