Wordiezett So much average

Pluskylang Great Film overall

Frances Chung Through painfully honest and emotional moments, the movie becomes irresistibly relatable

Darin One of the film's great tricks is that, for a time, you think it will go down a rabbit hole of unrealistic glorification.

flakelviv You must watch Caged Heat (1974) at least to realize that a person who directed The Silence of the Lambs (1991) could also direct THIS.

Bofsensai Just had to add in another / my review of this, as seeing most of the others here, I can be contrarian and reason, no way is one of the best of the WIP genre, even more so in that it is supposed to be so good, because it was directed by a future Oscar winner; coz truthfully, it's simply not: in fact, other than one tracking shot along the various inmates' cells, I couldn't find one other interesting cinematic flourish; indeed, on the whole, it is tedious and most of the acting is barely (literally, often) perfunctory: even legendary B. Steele, with only merely flashing her large eyes behind a huge pair of specs, seems to be more or less phoning (wheeling!) in her performance. Perhaps the only reason to endure this - besides to show future Oscar winners can easily start out so poorly - is to listen out for some stupidly daft dialogue, since Demme was also the screenwriter, and to note the either lazy or arrogant anachronistic costuming: like in beginning, the prisoners decked out in top class dresses, no less of all penitentiary things, and clothing e.g. our heroine newcomer, Erica Gavin, with what looks like a Hermes scarf, and another 'exercising' in the yard, in bright scarlet dress, which if not enough in itself, who then also sports a double string of pearls on! Simply ludicrous!Then how it's supposed to be some sort of feminist fave, I don't fathom: other than the 'inmates' (surprise, surprise / plot spoiler warning, do not read any further .. ?) escape - that mainly thanks to the ridiculously poor shooting abilities of the warders e.g. check how their kneel and take careful aim, virtually never once hit the female escapee targets, but conversely, the latter, wildly, blindly shooting a handgun from behind a truck, hits both targets square on = I couldn't discern any feminism triumphs over evil patriarchal suppressors at all.If you want revisionist feminist takes on these ostensibly misogynistic offerings, you get better in the genre's 'Isla' series and even 'Last Orgy of the Gestapo', wherein oppressive patriarchal regime guys get their comeuppance in those.More or less useless, except for to see how future Oscar winner started out so ineptly.

The_Void When I think 'Women in Prison', my mind often goes to sleazy Italian/Spanish productions by directors such as Jess Franco and Bruno Mattei; and while these films are often very sleazy, they're also very samey and once you've seen one; you might as well have seen them all. I have to admit that these types of films generally aren't my favourites; but in fact the idea of women behind bars has been done very well on several occasions outside of Italy and Spain; and Roger Corman's New World Pictures is responsible for some of the best of them. Caged Heat is the directorial debut of Oscar-winning director Jonathan Demme, and it's a well done little flick with plenty of entertainment value! Naturally, the film centres on the story of a girl who is caught committing crime and sent to a women's' prison where she is introduced to a host of violent inmates. This prison is ruled over by the stuff wheelchair bound Superintendent McQueen; and she takes offence to a play put on by the girls; leading them to plot an escape.This film is much lighter on the sleaze than I'm used to in a women in prison flick; but this is more than compensated for by some great action scenes and dialogue and that's what ensures Caged Heat entertains throughout. It does have to be said that the plot is not particularly original or ambitious and basically follows a structure similar to many other women in prison films that came before it; but that's not such a big problem. The film never gets boring and is peppered with standout scenes; including an escape attempt while out working in a field and a bank robbery. The film is helped along by assured direction from the man who would go on to helm the masterpiece The Silence of the Lambs and a great cast with plenty of standouts; including best of all the legendary Barbara Steele in the role of the head prison warden. Overall, Caged Heat may not leave the viewer with much to think about by the end; but it's a brilliantly entertaining little grindhouse flick and anyone that enjoys this type of film will surely want to track it down.

Woodyanders Jonathan Demme's directorial debut for Roger Corman's legendary exploitation outfit New World Pictures rates highly as one of the finest chicks-in-chains 70's grindhouse classics to ever grace celluloid. Beauteous Russ Meyer starlet Eric ("Vixen," "Beyond the Valley of the Dolls") Gavin gives a robust, winning performance as a brassy, resilient new fish who does her best to persevere in a grimy, hellish penitentiary. The always fabulous Barbara Steele offers a deliciously wicked portrayal as the mean, crippled, sexually frustrated warden (her erotic dream about doing a slow, steamy striptease in front of the lady inmates is a real dilly). Longtime favorite 70's B-movie actress Roberta ("The Arousers," "Unholy Rollers") Collins delivers a hilariously raunchy and endearing turn as a cheerfully forward, foul-mouthed kleptomaniac felon who tells a gut-busting dirty joke about Pinnochio. Lynda Gold (a.k.a. Crystin Sinclaire of Tobe Hooper's "Eaten Alive" and Curtis Harrington's "Ruby") makes her lively film debut as uninhibited wildcat Crazy Alice. And the ever-cuddly Cheryl "Rainbeaux" Smith does a lovely, touching reprise of her fragile frightened innocent role from "Lemora: A Child's Tale of the Supernatural." Although this picture does deliver the expected ample amount of coarse language, nudity, rape and violence, it's still by no means a typically crass and sexist piece of lurid mindless filth; the movie very effectively explores the many ways in which men cruelly exploit women and strongly asserts the pro-feminist notion that women can overcome any obstacles if they band together into a group so they can bravely face their misogynistic oppressors as one mighty fighting force. Demme's zesty, confidant direction comes through with a glorious abundance of astutely observed incidental details and delightful moments of engagingly quirky human behavior. Furthermore, both Tak Fujimoto's vibrant cinematography and John Cale's marvelously dolorous oddball blues score are 100% on the money excellent. Patrick Wright (Sheriff Mack in the uproariously awful cheap-rubber-monster-suit creature feature howler "Track of the Moonbeast") has a sidesplitting bit as a jerky cop who has his car stolen by a trio of prison escapees when he stops at a gas station to use the bathroom. Lively, rousing and immensely enjoyable, "Caged Heat" qualifies as absolutely essential viewing for 70's drive-in movie fans.