Cage Without a Key

Teenage girls in a state-run detention center--addicts, thieves and criminals of the more hardened kind--welcome a new 'bride' to the cottage: polite, fresh-faced Susan Dey, a recent high school graduate who has been implicated as an accomplice in a homicide committed by a fellow student she accepted a ride from. Despite some strong scenes, this cautionary TV movie-of-the-week is similar to the glut of teen-traumas churned out in the 1970s: well-meaning examinations of social problems that were also somewhat exploitative (the networks wanted big ratings, after all). Written by Joanna Lee, who is heavy on character exposition and statistics, we're privy to rough justice and incarcerated young women who lie, cheat and kill to get their way--but all in a melodramatic vacuum. Dey's predicament, while not entirely improbable, is presented in a sensational way--the first ingredient in a potboiler. The queen bee of the cell block is a black girl who declares herself "the Papa"; there's also an Asian girl who harbors a psychotic side, a white lesbian with glasses and a Hispanic girl who writes angry poetry. Juvie is apparently an equal opportunity snake pit.