Angel Town

Angel Town is a 1990 martial arts film directed by Eric Karson and starring Olivier Gruner, who made his film debut as a French martial artist and foreign exchange student who helps his borders by using his skills against a local gang. Plot Jacques Montaigne is a French college student who heads to Los Angeles not only for school, but to help train an Olympic team of fighters. He shows up a few days late (for a rendezvous with a girlfriend in France) and is given a list of houses where they may have rooms for rent. He comes across to a house where single mother Maria Ordonez lives with her son Martin and her mother. Maria tells Jacques that they were supposed to have taken their house off the listings due to being in an unsafe neighborhood. However, Maria decides to let Jacques stay. That night, on his way to a college social, Jacques finds himself confronted by two neighbors, Chuy and Jesus. Brandishing a small knife, Jacques warns the duo not to mess with him. At the mixer, Jacques gets the attention of fellow student Sarah as well as the graduate dean, who is unimpressed with him. As Jacques walks Sara home, they are stopped by Jesus and Chuy, who are with their gang boss, Angel and other gang members. When some of the gang members start to cause trouble, Jacques intervenes and uses his martial arts skills. This scares Angel and the gang away. However, when Jacques returns to the Ordonez home, he is met again by Jesus, Chuy, and more of Angel's gang. An attempt to ambush Jacques leads them to a nearby bush, where the gang members beat themselves up while Jacques walks away. This impresses Frank, a former war vet who lives across the street, but is also upset at the fact that he's paralyzed from the waist down from the war.