Women in Cages

Women in Cages is yet another sleazy women in prison film from the same people that brought us classics such as The Big Doll House and The Big Bird Cage. This film is nowhere near as good as those two, but it's still an entertaining effort that fans of this sort of trash will surely appreciate. The plot is just your general women in prison sort of story and, naturally, focuses on a bunch of women inside a women's prison. One in particular has been sent to jail after being set up by her boyfriend; meanwhile, another prisoner has been given the task of murdering said unfortunate prisoner. There's also an escape attempt being plotted. This women in prison film stands apart from many of the others simply because it stars Pam Grier in the role of a guard rather than a prisoner. Naturally, she steps into this role well and plays the antagonist with relish. Unfortunately, there's no role for Sid Haig in this one. The film is directed by Gerardo de Leon, and regrettably he doesn't have the same flair as Jack Hill and the film does fall a little flat in that respect. However, it's still decent enough entertainment and at about seventy five minutes, it doesn't outstay its welcome either. Worth a look.

Pam Grier is in this - and you may or may not be aware of her, but after watching this, you will have her on your radar. Really mesmerizing performance. And while the movie itself was not exactly good, the other actors give it their best shot too. Women in cages - it's almost taking the (sub)genre and put it into your title. It literally is if you think about it.

As with every good (and bad) of these female prison exploitation movies (I have not seen many, but they sort of write themselves to a degree), you have a lot of violence but also a lot of nudity. It just is inevitable. Sleaze and down and dirty as it goes. This is I would imagine not the worst of them, though if you are into that sort of thing, you'll find something to "enjoy" anyway

For those viewers who are accustomed to cheering on the antics of cult actress Pam Grier on screen, her character in 1972's "Women in Cages" may come as something of a surprise. Far from her bodacious, sympathetic action heroine, she here plays as nasty a personage as can be imagined: a pot-smoking, white race-hating, lesbian sadist from Harlem named Alabama, who is the matron in an exceptionally sleazy Filipino prison for women. Fans of this type of film--a subgenre that includes other New World films such as "The Big Doll House" ('71) and "The Big Bird Cage" ('72), both with Grier--know what to expect from such: nude shower scenes, sadistic but lovely prison guards, a handful of gorgeous inmates and over-the-top action sequences. While not as much fun as the other two films just named, "Women in Cages" does still provide the requisite goods, and Pam stakes her claim to be placed in the pantheon of such classic female jailers as Dyanne Thorne in the "Ilsa" films, Barbara Steele as the crippled warden in "Caged Heat" ('74), and my favorite, the grotesque matron that Hope Emerson plays in "Caged" ('50). In addition to Pam, the film boasts the presence of cult favorite Roberta Collins, as a smack-addicted rat fink; several catfights; vermin (of the snake, rat, leech and Filipino bounty hunter/rapist varieties); torture by fire, whip, rack, wheel and electricity; AND an oceangoing brothel. Though I still prefer the underrated Grier films "The Arena" ('73) and especially "Black Mama, White Mama" ('72) to this one, "Women in Cages" still proved an entertaining diversion.

If I recall correctly, Pam Grier appears in about four women-in-prison films on both sides of the bars. In this film, she is the Chief Matron, and not a nice person at all.

This was one of the last films for director Gerardo de Leon, the most- awarded director in the history of the Filipino Academy of Movie Arts and Science.

It also features Judith Brown and Roberta Collins, who both appeared in several women-in-prison films.

In an uncredited role, you see Sofia Moran, a Philippine action star, who became their 13th President.

Torture, showers, crawling through the sewer (Yech!) and boobage.

There have been a lot of movies with the theme of beautiful women being locked in prison and abused by the warden. This film is a classic example of that theme.

Pam Grier, the black movie queen of 1970's "B" movies, is the sadistic warden of a women's prison in a foreign country. Two of the prisoners attract her attention - a hot-blooded redhead, and the prison-informant blonde. The redhead is in prison on charges of murdering her husband. I can't remember why the blonde is in prison, but then that doesn't really matter in the film anyway. Let's just say that the redhead and the blonde don't get along, and the warden utilizes her own distinct form of justice when they get into a fight.

The redhead is taken into the warden's "play room", stripped naked (we only see the upper half), has her arms pulled up over her head and is then locked into some boots, which are then slowly cranked apart to spread her legs wide. A brazier's flame covers her modesty for most of this scene, as the warden taunts her a bit and then pushes the brazier forward - "This is our version of the hotfoot!". Cut to a scene of the women working in the field as the redhead's screams echo through the prison walls.

Later on there's a prison riot and the blonde irks the warden. To punish her, the warden strips the blonde (this time a restraint strap covers the actress' modesty) and binds the prisoner to a wheel and spins her around. After a few rotations, the warden tries to taunt the blonde into submission, but instead of surrendering, the blonde spits into the warden's face. In retaliation, the warden pulls out a trident and stabs the blonde as she's spun on the wheel some more.

Eventually the blonde and redhead team up and escape from the prison, and are pursued by the warden and her guards. The prisoners kill off the guards, capture the warden, and leave her tied to a tree as they flee to freedom.

The movie is worth seeing if you like women-in-prison films. Not much gore, and the only nude scenes are the ones described above, but what's there is worth a late-night or afternoon screening. People probably won't think of you as a cinematic genius, but what do you expect for a 1970's prison film?