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.

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.

EVOL666 Jonathan (SILENCE OF THE LAMBS, PHILADELPHIA) Demme kicked off his directorial career under the tutelage of veteran schlock director, Roger Corman, with CAGED HEAT - a decent 70's WIP film that has a little more substance and a lot less sleaze and violence than some of the more notable WIP entries of the era.Jackie is busted during a drug deal gone sour, and is handed the pretty vague sentence of "no less than 10 and no more that 40" years in jail. Once inside, Jackie is exposed to gritty prison life and due to a few mishaps, gets on the wrong side of the cold-blooded female warden. Eventually, an opportunity for escape presents itself and Jackie and another prisoner fly the coop. But as anxious as they are to be on the outside again - the girls realize that they left many of their prison buddies in the hands of the ice-queen warden and her sleazy doctor crony. Soon a plan is hatched to go back and break their friends out...CAGED HEAT is entertaining for what it is - but lacks most of the "strong" content and sleaze that the WIP films are known for. If you're expecting strong violence, lesbo rape scenes, sadistic torture, and prolonged tits and bush shots...you'll want to look elsewhere. CAGED HEAT plays more as a watered-down parody of those types of films as opposed to being a sleazy smut film - and many viewers will appreciate it for that reason. Me...I'll take the sleazy smut. Worth checking out for 70's exploit fans - just don't expect anything very rough. 6.5/10

bheyer I just purchased "Caged Heat," partly as a result of "reviews" that I read, here. Are you people ON drugs, or something? Are YOU substance abusers? All I can say is, AFTER watching it, I GOT ROBBED!!! It cost me $13.24 to buy the DVD, I feel like using it as a frisbee, now! WHAT, you get the distinct impression I didn't like the movie? Let me put it like THIS: If Ed Wood's, "Plan 9 From Outer Space," were pitted against Jonathan Demme's, "Caged Heat," for Best Picture of the Year, Ed Wood would walk off with the statuette, with Bela Lugosi on one arm, and Tor Johnson on the other! I don't care IF Leonard Maltin gave "Caged Heat" two-and-a-half stars, in his Movie & Video Guide. In the Special Features portion of the DVD, Maltin interviews the legendary Roger Corman (he refused to finance "Caged Heat," but he did distribute it), and Maltin kisses his posterior, up-one-side-and-down-the-other! Folks, I'm here to tell you that Leonard Maltin is a whore! IF you want to learn about BAD acting, BAD writing, BAD directing, BAD production values, BAD musical scoring, BAD sound, BAD cinematography, BAD costumes (WHAT costumes, the prison inmates ALL wear civilian clothes!) and BAD everything else, BUY or RENT (RENT is better!), "Caged Heat." I absolutely LOVE (ADORE!!!) Barbara Steele (she plays Warden McQueen), but she embarrassed herself by appearing in this insane piece of crud! NO STARS!!!