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Angie Dickinson. Angie Dickinson's movie and TV career spans several decades. However her main gun toting roles occurred in the 1970's. Her biggest TV role was probably 'Policewoman' where she played Pepper Anderson a supposdly tough female cop. Unfortunately despite everything this series has all the bite of an insipid 'Charlie's Angels' episode. Pepper Anderson got little of the action and her roles required her to dress scantily which looks a little odd as Angie was probably into her 40's by then.
My own personal favourite is the gangster romp 'Big Bad Mama'. Here Angie Dickinson is a Ma Barker type. Despite it's humble budget and the adventureous casting of Wiliam Shatner (sorry I still think of him as Captain Kirk) the film must have done something right because a sequel 'Big Bad Mama 2' was also made. This time Angie and her screen daughters once again cause havoc as they rob and murder their way through small town America.
The last film in this list is from 'Charlie Chan and the Dragon Queen' and Angie played one of the title characters, no it was not Charlie Chan. Intended as a comedic homage to the old Charlie Chan films it was neither funny nor successful in pursuading me to seek out anything from the original series. Worst of all Angie Dickinson was not even in it very much and her Dragon Queen character was a mere sideshow in a pretty dismal effort.
Daliah Lavi. We return to the 1960's for this actress. Daliah Lavi was born in Israel and appeared in many James Bond type spy films in the 1960's. Daliah Lavi appeared in the spy spoof film 'Spy with a Cold Nose' which was a comedy about a dog fitted with a microphone bug. Her biggest Hollywood role was probably in the Matt Helm film 'The Silencers'. Dahliah played the glamourous spy who aided then betrayed Matt Helm.
Her ultimate femme fatale role was in the British spy film 'Some Girls Do'. Daliah played Baroness Helga, one half of a pair of sexy assassins who were pitted against Bulldog Drummond. They were trying to ruin Britain's plan to build and fly a supersonic aircraft using murder and sabotage as their methods, maybe it would have just been easier if they'd joined British Airways instead. Daliah also played a 'good girl' in the extremely uneven spy film 'Casino Royale'.
Daliah's last bad girl role was in the western 'Catlow'. Here she played a Mexican spitfire character who always had a gun by her side. Her dark mediterranean looks always gave her the hint of danger her roles required but her acting was never that convincing.
Jane Badler. One of my very favourite villainesses is Jane Badler, let's face it she even has the name to match many of the roles she used to play. Not only the name but she had the sharp looks to play a scheming villainess as well. In the independently produced 'Black Snow' Jane played a murderous woman being pursued by a Texas Ranger because she killed his brother. Well he was the one standing in the way of her ambitions of completing a cocaine deal with some Columbians.
Jane Badler also starred in the thriller 'Easy Kill'. Guess what? She played a double crossing woman! The storyline escapes me but here are a few vidcaps from the VCD (hence the quality of these captures isn't too good).
Jane Badler's main claim to fame is in the role of the lizard alien Diana in the sci-fi series 'V'. Week after week Diana was thwarted in her plan to rule the earth but not before she schemed, murdered and pouted her way through the episode. Jane Badler also appeared in the 1980's TV remake of 'Mission Impossible' only this time playing the good girl (she even stopped a bulltet for Peter Graves after he is targeted by a leather jump suited international hitwoman - must show that clip sometime, it is a classic). I believe Jane retired from movie making to settle down in Australia.
