Just about the same time that the LAPD began rooting around in O.J. Simpson's trash for serrated steak knives, Pleasure Productions unearthed another minor gem from 1989, starring "Bad Girl" Pia Snow in a softcore (topless) performance as a strip-joint Madame. The fact that's it's one of her last appearances in XXX, as well as one of Randy Spears' first, will probably appeal to historians, but your average viewer will simply appreciate Angels for it's well-balanced serving of story & sex.

Lap dancer Nina Hartley dresses up cop Billy Dee in nylons for kinky off-duty interrogation, and considering that this vid was shot during at the peak of her career, it really packs a punch. Though Dee hovers around Pia's hangout like a smart bomb looking for a North Korean nuclear facility, his real function (aside from a fairly hot foursome with Amanda Shear, Lois Ayres, and Jon Dough) is to introduce conservative judge Spears to the seedy environs and to stripper Keisha's charms in particular.

Though Keisha plays him like a cheap violin, she throws him a few sizzling mercy fucks (that compare favorably with their ultimate team-up in Phantom of the Cabaret), downing his judgely gavel to the hilt and offering up plenty of nipple chomping before he jumps her zaftig bones.

Like a porno version of The Bad and the Beautiful, the plot requires Spears to slide from respected professional to alcoholic toady faster than the water slalom at a Wet 'N' Wild park, but in true testament to his acting skills, Spears pulls it off with aplomb. The vid ends on a high note as he nails both Keisha and Hartley on stage, in his winning new career as a live sex performer!

Despite an occasional clunking line of dialogue ("I'vehad it up to here with your big mouth and abundant cruelty!") Dancing Angels harkens back to a time when craftsmanship was the norm, not the exception.