Little Cigars (1973)

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.

When this movie was released, I was in the USAF, and Angel Tomkins came to our base for it's release there. She had been on some T.V. episodes, including a Bonanza that my wife and I liked in which she portrayed a pyromaniac. We were anxious to see the 'fire lady' and to see her act in something else.I got to speak to her in person, and got a nice close-up photograph of other men fawning over her.This move was so ridiculous in its ludicrous story, its shoddy production and sexual exploitation that we walked out! It may be the only film I ever walked out on.You should watch this only if you want to feel creepy and as if you've wasted precious time.

Another Viet Nam era veteran has commented about first seeing "Little Cigars" on a navy ship; I saw it in our base theatre. Playing to young captive male audiences in 1973 was pretty much the perfect venue for this movie. It played especially well to an audience that was drunk and/or stoned. Actually it's typical of the B-movie junk they showed the troops in those days-movies that did poorly on the domestic market and were quickly shipped to the military. It is not nearly as funny now as it was in 1973.The premise is a troupe of midgets who travel around the country, performing as a kind of sideshow attraction and using their free time to steal from various places. The idea is to show various clever ways their size works to their advantage when breaking into a building. The writer quickly runs out of clever ideas and the capers get totally moronic. Even in 1973 we realized that the gang's advantage was also a major disadvantage because if they were seen they would be easily identified.Angel Tompkins is the sexploitation factor, she had recently been featured in Playboy and that probably explained the above average attendance at our theatre. There is a MAJOR credibility problem with her hooking up with the lead midget (played by Billy Curtis). Not because he was a midget but because he looked about 80 years old. Good grief the guy played a munchkin in 1938. But even that was funny in 1973.Tompkins was the Megan Fox of the 1970's, in that she had a negative charisma and a mean looking face that made her much more suited to bad girl roles.Bottom line: My rating would have been a two but the movie is unique and Tompkins looks great. It's about as unprofessional looking as anything Hollywood put out in the early 1970's.

A gangsters former mistress (Angel Tompkins) is on the run from him after robbing him. She falls in with a midget acting group (called Little Cigars) who are also robbers. She teams up with them and starts falling for the head of the group (Billy Curtis).As you can see this is an odd film---even for American International Pictures (AIP). In many ways this is an fun but ordinary caper film--the dialogue and plot would not be out of place in any generic film. It's just this is done with midgets. You think that might play with that more but they don't. There is some pretty explicit sex talk for a PG film and it's pretty obvious that Tompkins is sleeping with Curtis. And get a load of the very obvious sexual animation during the opening credits! The acting is just OK but Tompkins is pretty good.All in all a strange film. It is fun and it moves very quickly but why have midgets in it and not use that aspect at all? Still it was enjoyable. I give it an 8.