''Caged Heat'', also known as ''Renegade Girls'', is a 1974 women in prison film. It was written and directed by

Jonathan Demme Robert Jonathan Demme ( ; February 22, 1944 – April 26, 2017) was an American filmmaker. Beginning his career under B-movie producer Roger Corman, Demme made his directorial debut with the 1974 women-in-prison film '' Caged Heat'', befo ...

(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, 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 t ...

John Cale John Davies Cale (born 9 March 1942) is a Welsh musician, composer, singer, songwriter and record producer who was a founding member of the American rock band the Velvet Underground. Over his six-decade career, Cale has worked in various sty ...

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 o ...

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 ( Erica Gavin) 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 This article discusses the incarceration of women in correctional facilities. As of 2013 across the world, 625,000 women and children were being held in penal institutions, and the female prison population was increasing in all continents.< ...

. 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 convict ...

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 commo ...

(

Cast

* Erica Gavin 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'' (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, ''White Heat'' is based on a story by ...

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

Critical reception

The film was Jonathan Demme's

debut Debut or début (the first public appearance of a person or thing) may refer to: * Debut (society), the formal introduction of young upper-class women to society * Debut novel, an author's first published novel Film and television * ''The De ...

as a

film director A film director controls a film's artistic and dramatic aspects and visualizes the screenplay (or script) while guiding the film crew and actors in the fulfilment of that vision. The director has a key role in choosing the cast members, ...

. 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 ''ScreenPlay'' is a television drama anthology series broadcast on BBC2 between 9 July 1986 and 27 October 1993. Background After single-play anthology series went off the air, the BBC introduced several showcases for made-for-television, ...

that would bring something novel to this genre. However, Corman also wanted ''Caged Heat'' to retain most of the violence and

nudity Nudity is the state of being in which a human is without clothing. The loss of body hair was one of the physical characteristics that marked the biological evolution of modern humans from their hominin ancestors. Adaptations related to h ...

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,

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 critics 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