User Reviews

Season 3 of Charlie's Angels gets off to a bang as the Angels head to Vegas for a double episode with guest star Dean Martin. Watching Deano walk through a casino with a drink in one hand and a cigarette in the other isn't much of a stretch. Martin is a casino owner who has seen a number of unfortunate events around him. Most recently, one of the women working in his casino was killed. The Angels are hired to find out what's behind the series of "accidents" and put a stop to them. Once there, they find no shortage of suspects and it becomes quite obvious that someone doesn't want them to complete their investigation.

Yeah, Angels in Vegas is 70s television in all its glory. It's cheesy, unrealistic, and a whole lot of fun. If you're going to enjoy this stuff, you simply cannot take it seriously. And I think that's why it appeals to me. When I watch TV today, everything is so realistic and so serious. Murder scenes are graphic and investigators barely crack a smile. The world is tough enough without bringing it into my living room every night. I want to be entertained. I want escapism. I want to have a good time. And that's just what a show like Charlie's Angels does for me. Angels in Vegas may not be the best episode in the series, but I had a good time with it. It's the kind of television I miss.

Dean Martin plays Frank Howell, owner of the Tropicana. He hires the Angels after one of his employees is run off the road in her car. She ends up dead and now Frank needs help.

Just like Season 2 opened with an on location two-parter (Hawaii), Season 3 follows suit with their own 2 part episode, this one shot partially in Las Vegas. The supporting cast is excellent, starting with Dean Martin as Frank Howell, a suave yet world weary casino boss who's seen it all. Vic Morrow plays a rival casino boss, Mark Haines, who might be up to no good. Dick Sargent, best known as the second Darren in Bewitched, plays a lounge singer with an axe to grind. Hill Street Blues' Michael Conrad plays a tough guy for hire, and Herb Edelman plays contract player Joey January, who wants to be released from his deal to play somewhere else. And Scatman Crothers plays Deano's close friend and longtime confidant Jip Baker.

The Angels go undercover, Kris as a singer to work with Sargent's Marty Cole. Kelly works as a dancer in a cabaret type show, as the murdered girl worked in the same job. Sabrina works as Martin's assistant, and finally Bosley works his typical menial job as a bellman out front.

Dean Martin's Howell has a romance with Sabrina, which quite frankly, was a bit icky and unrealistic. There's an awkward assassination attempt on Frank's life out at Lake Mead, followed by a boat chase. Why an assassin would choose such an open area is beyond me, I can only assume the producers thought it would be cool to have a boat chase instead of the usual car chase.

Cheryl Ladd sings in her audition for Dick Sargent, but sadly we never get to see her lounge act. And Kelly has her moment as a dancer but most of the footage seems like poorly shot stock footage and there's far too much of it for my taste. Just give us closeups of Jaclyn Smith, that's all we need.

There's a subplot involving James Hong as a mathematical genius who uses a calculator to try and bankrupt the Tropicana playing craps, and nearly does it. In real life, any kind of computing device would not be allowed near the casino floor. This episode has its moments, but overall it doesn't reach the same heights of Season 2's Hawaii two parter. And the May/December romance did not work at all. One final note, Robert Urich makes a cameo at the end of the show as Dan Tana, his character from Vegas. And it just reminds me that a Charlie's Angels/Vegas crossover would have been a much more fun show.

A casino owner (Dean Martin) wonders what happened to a dancer killed in a traffic accident.

It's a slim premise to kick off Angels season three (as opposed to season two's kidnapping of Charlie).

What happened to Dino? After successfully ridding himself of Jerry he was quite a good actor. Notoriously hating rehearsal, he famously got through his various (successful) TV shows on cue cards. Some of his guest stars were distressed by his never being around until late in the process. His "drunk" act was clever cover for his subsequent mistakes and the people loved him all the more for it. Perhaps that's why his performance here was so poor.

Martin's was still a name to conjure with at the time this was shot; he'd conquered recording, movies and TV and his star hadn't faded. But perhaps his devotion to golf and downright laziness for too many years took the edge off his performance. He's just awful. If he'd shown even a ghost of his old self this show might've worked.

Vic Morrow was in his comeback, which would end so tragically a few years later.

Scatman is Scatman, but he wanders around with a pet cat we're afraid will come to harm. Someone was needed in these old shows to teach them how to carry cats properly.

Dick Sargeant is his usually slimey self. He gets a bad rap for replacing Dick York on "Bewitched" (York's health failed and someone would have to step in) but even when he appeared on "The Love Boat" as a sincere preacher I wouldn't buy a used car from him.

Herb Edelman is annoying.

Though he has a rather thankless part as a man using a "computer" to win at tables (try that today!) it's always good to see James Hong in anything. Catch him in the movie "The In-Laws." He doesn't have a lot to do here but pretend he understands the numbers he's crunching, but an underutilized James Hong is better than none.

The Angels aren't seen to their best effect. Sabrina falls for Martin's character, which was more believable when he was a celebrity; you know how it is with women and the rich and famous. Kelly, who went to the police academy to be a cop and now is a PI is suddenly a good enough dancer to be a Vegas showgirl (a clean Vegas show; this was a long time ago). Kris falls for a lounge singer. How low can she go? Kris was always my favorite angel but this shows lousy taste.

These "vacation" specials were nearly all poorly written. This is no exception. Especially with slipshod celebrities coasting on their names.

I'd love to give this episode a good review and I was a Martin fan. I feel like a teacher writing on a paper "could do better." Too bad.