''Caged Heat'', also known as ''Renegade Girls'', is a 1974

women in prison film The women in prison film (or WiP film) is a subgenre of exploitation film that began in the early 20th century and continues to the present day. Their stories feature imprisoned women who are subjected to sexual and physical abuse, typically by ...

. It was written and directed by Jonathan Demme (in his

directorial debut This is a list of film directorial debuts in chronological order. The films and dates referred to are a director's first commercial cinematic release. Many film makers have directed works which were not commercially released, for example early work ...

) for

New World Pictures New World Pictures (also known as New World Entertainment and New World Communications Group, Inc.) was an American independent production, distribution, and (in its final years as an autonomous entity) multimedia company. It was founded in 19 ...

, headed by

Roger Corman Roger William Corman (born April 5, 1926) is an American film director, producer, and actor. He has been called "The Pope of Pop Cinema" and is known as a trailblazer in the world of independent film. Many of Corman's films are based on works t ...

. The film stars Juanita Brown,

Roberta Collins Roberta Collins (born Roberta Lee Hefley, November 17, 1944 – August 16, 2008) was a film and television actress who was known for her attractive physique, blonde, curly hair, and Marilyn Monroe appearance. She starred in many exploitation fil ...

Erica Gavin Erica Gavin (born Donna Graff; July 22, 1947) is an American film actress best known for playing the title role in Russ Meyer's 1968 film ''Vixen!'' Early years Gavin was born in Los Angeles, California. At age 19, she worked as a topless dance ...

, Ella Reid, Rainbeaux Smith, and

Barbara Steele Barbara Steele (born 29 December 1937) is an English film actress known for starring in Italian gothic horror films of the 1960s. She has been referred to as the "Queen of All Scream Queens" and "Britain's first lady of horror". She played th ...

. John Cale wrote and performed its

soundtrack A soundtrack is recorded music accompanying and synchronised to the images of a motion picture, drama, book, television program, radio program, or video game; a commercially released soundtrack album of music as featured in the soundtrack ...

music, which features the guitar playing of

Mike Bloomfield Michael Bernard Bloomfield (July 28, 1943 – February 15, 1981) was an American guitarist and composer, born in Chicago, Illinois, who became one of the first popular music superstars of the 1960s to earn his reputation almost entirely on his ...

. Two later films, ''Caged Heat II: Stripped of Freedom'' (1994) and ''Caged Heat 3000'' (1995), made use of the ''Caged Heat'' name and the women-in-prison situation, but are unrelated to the original film.

Plot

Jacqueline Wilson (

) is convicted for

illegal drug The prohibition of drugs through sumptuary legislation or religious law is a common means of attempting to prevent the recreational use of certain intoxicating substances. While some drugs are illegal to possess, many governments regulate the ...

offenses and sentenced to a women's prison. She and several fellow

convict A convict is "a person found guilty of a crime and sentenced by a court" or "a person serving a sentence in prison". Convicts are often also known as " prisoners" or "inmates" or by the slang term "con", while a common label for former conv ...

s fight the repressive policies of the

prison warden The warden ( US, Canada) or governor ( UK, Australia), also known as a superintendent (US, South Asia) or director (UK, New Zealand), is the official who is in charge of a prison. Name In the United States and Canada, warden is the most common ...

(

Cast

as Jacqueline Wilson * Juanita Brown as Maggie *

as Belle Tyson * Ella Reid as Pandora * Cheryl Smith as Lavelle (as Rainbeaux Smith) * Warren Miller as Dr. Randolph *

as Superintendent McQueen * Crystin Sinclaire as Alice 'Crazy Alice' (as Lynda Gold) * Mickey Fox as Bernice * Toby Carr Rafelson as Pinter (as Tobi Carr Refelson) * Ann Stockdale as Bonnie * Irene Stokes as Hazel

Production

Demme had produced two films for Corman, including the women in prison picture ''

The Hot Box ''The Hot Box'' is a 1972 women in prison film from Joe Viola and Jonathan Demme, who had previously made '' Angels Hard as They Come'' (1971) for New World Pictures. It was shot in the Philippines and was originally known as ''The Prescription ...

'' (1972). He wanted to become a director, and wrote a script for Corman, but the producer did not want to fund it, as he thought the cycle had peaked. Demme succeeded in raising the finance on his own and Corman agreed to distribute it through

. Originally titled ''Renegade Girls'', the final title is most likely a reference to two earlier prison-themed movies, '' Caged'' and ''

White Heat ''White Heat'' is a 1949 American film noir directed by Raoul Walsh and starring James Cagney, Virginia Mayo, Edmond O'Brien, Margaret Wycherly and Steve Cochran. Written by Ivan Goff and Ben Roberts (writer), Ben Roberts, ''White Heat'' is base ...

'', both of which Jonathan Demme discussed paying homage in his DVD commentary to ''Caged Heat''.

Critical reception

The film was Jonathan Demme's debut as a film director. Producer Roger Corman thought that the content of his company's previous "women in prison" films was inadequate, so he instructed Demme to create a screenplay that would bring something novel to this genre. However, Corman also wanted ''Caged Heat'' to retain most of the violence and nudity that audiences for this genre had come to expect. Demme introduced new aspects to ''Caged Heat'', including a satirical approach and making the sadistic warden female instead of male. To a lesser degree, Demme also incorporated elements of

liberal politics Liberalism is a political and moral philosophy based on the rights of the individual, liberty, consent of the governed, political equality and equality before the law."political rationalism, hostility to autocracy, cultural distaste for c ...

feminism Feminism is a range of socio-political movements and ideologies that aim to define and establish the political, economic, personal, and social equality of the sexes. Feminism incorporates the position that society prioritizes the male po ...

, and

social consciousness Social consciousness or social awareness, is collective consciousness shared by individuals within a society.movie critic Film criticism is the analysis and evaluation of films and the film medium. In general, film criticism can be divided into two categories: journalistic criticism that appears regularly in newspapers, magazines and other popular mass-media outlets ...

s consider it to be more interesting than the average run-of-the-mill women-in-prison exploitation movie.TV Guide Movie Reviews
Accessed 25 Jul 2009

References

External links

* * * {{Jonathan Demme 1974 films 1970s crime drama films American crime drama films Films directed by Jonathan Demme 1974 LGBT-related films Films scored by John Cale American sexploitation films Women in prison films Films produced by Roger Corman 1974 directorial debut films 1974 drama films 1970s English-language films 1970s American films