Death of an Angel ** (1985, Bonnie Bedelia, Nick Mancuso, Pamela Ludwig, Alex Colon, Irma Garcia) – Classic Movie Review 13,067

Petru Popescu’s Sundance Institute-produced 1985 religious drama film Death of an Angel was shot in El Paso, Texas, and stars Bonnie Bedelia, Nick Mancuso and Pamela Ludwig.

Romanian-American writer/ director Petru Popescu’s 1985 religious drama film Death of an Angel stars Bonnie Bedelia, Nick Mancuso, Pamela Ludwig, Alex Colon and Irma Garcia.

Death of an Angel is an unpersuasive but occasionally entertaining religious fable, in which Vera (Pamela Ludwig), the disabled daughter of a female priest, seeks inspiration from fake Mexican faith healer Father Angel (Nick Mancuso), setting her minister mother, priest Grace McKenzie (Bonnie Bedelia), off to the rescue.

The film switches from light humour to serious dramatic issues with a clumsiness that spoils its good heart, and the climax blows reality out of the window. However, Bonnie Bedelia is excellent, a strong, persuasive presence, as always, bringing some much needed credibility to the film.

The cast are Bonnie Bedelia as priest Grace McKenzie, Alex Colon as Robles, Abel Franco as Don Tarjetas, Irma García as Rosalba, Pamela Ludwig as Grace’s daughter Vera, Leonard Lewis as Demecio, and Nick Mancuso as Father Angel.

The film is co-produced by the Sundance Institute and Inverness Productions, and was released in the US by Twentieth Century Fox on March 7, 1986. It is shot in El Paso, Texas. It runs 91 minutes.

It was first screened publicly at the Cannes Film Market on May 9, 1985 in France.

It was widely ignored. It was reported to have grossed only $18,000 at the box office in the US and Canada.

Obviously it has no relation to the same-titled 1950 British thriller Death of an Angel.

Bonnie Bedelia (born Bonnie Bedelia Culkin; March 25, 1948).

Bonnie Bedelia was born Bonnie Bedelia Culkin on March 25, 1948. She made her film debut in The Gypsy Moths in 1969, followed by They Shoot Horses, Don’t They? and Lovers and Other Strangers (1970). She has two brothers, one of whom is Kit Culkin, and is the aunt of Macaulay, Kieran, and Rory Culkin.

© Derek Winnert 2024 – Classic Movie Review 13,067

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