The Big Doll House (1971)

Nice and sleazy women-in-prison classic that provides the model for many imitations to follow. These movies are all about the same thing: beautiful women in cages, chains, wrist restraints, and little prison garb dresses so short that she can’t bend two inches without her outfit hiking upward past R-rated territory. They’re S&M fantasies run wild behind iron bars and at the end of a spraying water hose. They’re light and silly, but with the odd harsh moment—a gruesome death, a rape—to spice things up for the grindhouses.

Every woman locked up in Cell No. 3 in this film’s Filipino prison is so gorgeous that most men would pardon them on sight. There’s Roberta Collins as a tough blonde with a talent for mud wrestling. There’s Pam Grier as a voluptuous mean-eyed lesbian who lets slimy Sid Haig feel her up between the bars so that he’ll do favors for her on the outside. There’s redhead Judy Brown as the new girl who tries to stay alive by giving backrubs in the shower. There’s Brooke Mills as a peaches-and-cream heroin addict who likes to dance around when she gets high. Then, there’s Pat Woodell as the quietly dominant brunette with eyes big as oceans.

In between torture sessions from the sadistic female warden and the occasional catfight, the girls plot their escape. It all leads up to a fiery climax in the jungle and lots of good, healthy, lingering dirty thoughts. It’s entertaining as hell.