Women In Cages/Review

This one won't win any Academy awards but it will forever stand as one of the better classic cult 70's women-in-prison exploitation films. First off, the film is just flat-out fantasy fun, made in a time of American cinema history when gals were all-natural, good lookin', and good sports. What you get is a couple of American gals in a Filipino prison watched over by none other than the queen of 70's exploitation films Pam Grier (who managed a brief comeback in the 90's thanks to Quentin Tarantino).

Eventually the gals cross Grier the wrong way and end up in The Playpen, the prison's torture chamber. Judy Brown, a fair-skinned brunette, ends up getting stripped, suspended, then placed in leather boots mounted on a slab that spreads wide enough to accept the smoldering charcoal from an evil-looking brazier. "This is our version of the hot foot!" Grier gleefully shouts. No lesbianism - too edgy for a 1970's audience - but there's plenty of topless frontal nudity in this and in another scene, where the other American gal, blonde-haired, blue-eyed Roberta Collins, is strapped to a wheel and spun around. Both scenes run about 2 minutes each, just long enough to be memorable and necessary for the plot, but not too long as to be obviously exploitative (at least not by today's standards). Flames from the brazier in Ms. Brown's scene and a strategically placed restraining strap around Ms. Collins' waist when she's on the wheel keep the nudity at an R rating, but its still pretty hot stuff. Eventually the two gals kidnap Grier, bust out of the prison, and escape into the jungle leaving Grier tied spreadeagled to a tree. She's later bumped off by a roving troop of bandits, and the other girls are double-crossed once they get back to civilization.

If you dig movies with nudity, senseless dialogue, bad language, sadism, and violence, then this is the flick for you. Pam runs this whole show. And like I said, if you don't know Pam, you don't know nothing you jive turkey!

Reviewed by Biohazard