disgusting, overrated, pointless

This is a must-see and one of the best documentaries - and films - of this year.

It’s fine. It's literally the definition of a fine movie. You’ve seen it before, you know every beat and outcome before the characters even do. Only question is how much escapism you’re looking for.

This movie tries so hard to be funny, yet it falls flat every time. Just another example of recycled ideas repackaged with women in an attempt to appeal to a certain audience.

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.

This flashy turkey came out about the same time as Corman's great sleaze trio-- Crazy Mama (1975), Big Bad Mama (1974), and Jackson County Jail (1976). Of course, those had cast principals who could act plus writers who could tell a story. Unfortunately, this Corman production has neither (except for an under-used Steele).Now, I have nothing against naked women, machine guns, or cartoon violence, but they should at least be woven into some kind of coherent narrative. Here instead, we get a jumble of rapid-fire events, aimlessly tied together, with precious little dialog or anything like character development. The result is close to a kinetic mess. Reviewer bheyer overstates the case, but he does have a point.This is Demme's maiden try as both director and screenwriter and— thank goodness-- quickly got the arty flash out of his system, especially the Fellini (the fantasy segments). That's because his second try, Crazy Mama, is clearly superior, owing perhaps to the coherent screenplay from Robert Thom that disciplined him.One note of interest— it's a crudely feminist movie. The men are uniformly obnoxious and exploitative, while the women convicts are all attractive and gutsy, finally turning on the system that victimizes them. Demme may not develop the themes, but he does have a point of view. If the movie proves anything, it's that sleaze alone is not enough, not by a long shot or even a medium shot.

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

First of all, I was expecting "Caged Heat" to be along the same lines as "Ilsa, The Wicked Warden". Boy, was I wrong! In no way is this film 70s exploitation, "chix in chains", or "women in prison". Sure, the plot consists of a bunch of women in prison, who wear street clothes btw (quite comical), but NOTHING happens.There aren't strong rivalries, no one tries to seduce the warden or doctor in order to try and escape, and no inmates make out. There are 2 shower scenes, that I suspect is just recycled footage, but no fights breaks out / no one is seduced here - or anywhere for that matter! Aside from the lack of plot, unconvincing, unsympathetic, and flat characters, a couple of inmates that do manage to escape actually return to the prison in order to "free" their fellow inmates??!!PUH-LEASE, the movie should have just ended off with the escapees riding off into the sunset...as opposed to letting this mess continue!I feel scammed.