Caged Heat

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Caged Heat ★★ Renegade Girls; Caged Females 1974 (R)

Low-budget babes-behind-bars film touted as the best sex-ploitation film of the day. Demme's directorial debut is a genrealtering installment in Roger Corman's formulaic cellblock Cinderella cycle. Recycled plot—innocent woman is put behind bars, where she loses some of her innocence—boasts an updated treatment. These babes may wear hot pants and gratuitously bare their midriffs, but they're not brainless bimbos. They're strong individuals who work together to liberate themselves. Reached cult status. Cult diva Steele returned to the big screen after six years to play the wheelchair-ridden prison warden, written specifically for her. 83m/C VHS, DVD . Juanita Brown, Erica Gavin, Roberta Collins, Barbara Steele, Ella Reid, Cheryl “Rainbeaux” Smith, John Aprea, Amy Barrett, Gary Goetzman; D: Jonathan Demme; W: Jonathan Demme; C: Tak Fujimoto; M: John Cale.