Little Cigars

Little Cigars (1973)

** (out of 4)

Mildly entertaining, if 100% bizarre, film from AIP has a gangster's moll (Angel Tompkins) leaving his controlling arms and hooking up with a gang of midgets. The midgets are involved in a small circus but the woman turns them into bigger criminals with a string of robberies. LITTLE CIGARS will probably entertain those who like off the wall material but there's no question that the overall film is incredibly uneven. The film never seems to know if it wants to be kid friendly fun stuff or if it wants to be a tad bit darker and aimed for adults. The strange mix just makes for an uneven film and this here is what really kills things. The kinder side of the picture is innocent enough as the robberies are all done in good taste and none of them feature anything too graphic to the point where you couldn't show the film to kids. However, the darker side of the picture deals with a lot of sexual innuendo between the moll and the midgets, which is somewhat strange to watch. There's also a twist at the end, which leads to an ending that I won't spoil but this too is a lot darker than the rest of the film. These two elements just keep going back and forth and I really wish the filmmakers had selected one and just went all out with it. Still, there are some good things here that make the film worth viewing. The biggest is the performance of Tompkins who really comes off well here. The sexuality of her character is something the actress pulls off with no problems and there wasn't a single time where I didn't believe her in the part. Billy Curtis is also good as the leader of the midgets and I really enjoyed the fire and passion he brought to the character. The rest of the midget actors all fit their roles just fine and certainly help keep the film moving.

This film essentially begins with an attractive woman named "Cleo" (Angel Tompkins) robbing a mob boss and quickly fleeing the scene in her car. Needless to say, this infuriates the mob boss who orders a couple of his men to track her down and kill her. To that effect, they eventually stumble upon her while she is working at a roadside diner but after a sudden altercation she manages to escape again. Not long afterward, she takes up with a small group of thieves in a traveling carnival and under her leadership they begin a lucrative crime spree that spans multiple states. What they don't realize, however, is that each heist brings them closer to getting captured by either the law or the mobsters still pursuing her. Now, rather than reveal any more, I will just say that this turned out to be a rather tepid comedy which had just one saving grace--the presence of Angel Tompkins who was absolutely stunning. That said, those viewers familiar with her career might find this film somewhat entertaining and I have rated it accordingly. Average.

A gangster's former mistress (Angel Tompkins) hooks up with a troupe of circus midgets who, as a sideline, rob banks and casinos.

From producer Albert Band comes this very strange version of a gangster and/or heist film, with the criminals being midgets. That alone seems to be the selling point, and strangely enough it works. Angel Tompkins was hired on by Larry Gordon, and first-time director Chris Christenberry was a fan of hers and encouraged it. Band, oddly, seems to have been primarily the money, though he did help Gordon with casting.

I liked the attempt to give a nod to other, better films, especially the nice reference to "Dillinger" on the marquee. (I believe they were made by the same production company, but that might not be true.) And, lastly, I love how it dances around the R rating. Although there is the constant reference to sex and nudity -- and even gang rape at one point -- they never actually show anything and the language is relatively clean. So, it earns a PG despite clearly being an R-level film.

Tompkins recalls Christenberry having an alcohol problem on set, at one point almost falling off the crane. She also recalls having to teach the little people how to wash their hair, an act that earned her the unofficial title "Miss Little People". For the next thirty years, little people would approach her and thank her for making them feel normal.

I've been reading Quentin Tarantino's book "Cinema Speculation". He mentions a few movies that not only I haven't seen but that I have never even heard of. "Little Cigars" is one of those movies. Since QT mentioned the movie and it starred Angel Tompkins (who delivered a brief but memorable nude scene in "Chapter 2: Walking Tall"), I figured I'd give it a go. It's an okay watch. The cast is fine and Tompkins does look good. The cast members do a good job because they all play it straight. The movie, however, needed a better script. How many times can you show the gang doing robberies? Apparently a bunch. That's what most of the movie is. It gets pretty redundant after a while. I'm not going to say that "Little Cigars" is a good movie but I will say it's a lot better than "The Terror of Tiny Town".

Angel Tompkins(grrrrr.....)stars in this dodgy modern retelling of "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs", portraying a shifty waitress who falls into a life of crime with a band of midget grifters. Together, they turn their initial petty thefts into big-time capers which ultimately lead to very serious consequences.

Not at all the light comedy it was marketed as, though there are giggles in spots, the mien of LITTLE CIGARS borders more on seedy noir in a rather nontraditional and semi-exploitive way. Miles short of masterful, but a unique and quirky as hell B flick with considerable cult appeal.

5/10