It is not deep, but it is fun to watch. It does have a bit more of an edge to it than other similar films.

The film creates a perfect balance between action and depth of basic needs, in the midst of an infertile atmosphere.

It is neither dumb nor smart enough to be fun, and spends way too much time with its boring human characters.

There is definitely an excellent idea hidden in the background of the film. Unfortunately, it's difficult to find it.

A young woman (Erica Gavin) is arrested for helping two men in a bank holdup. She's thrown into a prison run by a sadistic warden (Barbara Steele). There the guards treat the prisoners like dirt and the prison doctor regularly gives them lobotomies or electroshock therapy. With another prisoner (Juanita Browne) Gavin plans a break out...but is it possible? Jonathan Demme's directorial debut has been highly praised over the years. Critics loved it and it has a cult following. There's plenty of action, likable characters, moves fairly quick, has great acting by Gavin and Steele and a GREAT ending. Still it also has laughable dialogue, some REALLY bizarre dream sequences that add nothing to the story, bad acting and truly sick moments seeing how badly the women are being treated. So it is well-done and all but extremely unpleasant.

We have a bunch of chicks that looks pretty good and they have balls too. They are not some amazing actresses but they are OK: Juanita Brown, from "Foxy Brown"(1974), directed by Jack Hill, Erica Gavin, from "Vixen!"(1968) and "Beyond the Valley of the Dolls"(1970), both directed by Russ Meyer, Roberta Collins, from "The Big Doll House"(1971), directed by Jack Hill, "Women in Cages"(1971), "Death Race 2000"(1975), Ella Reid and Cheryl Smith are "the good girls". Barbara Steele is the "bad girl", the crazy Supt. McQueen, the prison boss. And Warren Miller is the "bad boy", the crazy Dr. Randolph, the prison doctor. They are all doing their best in this debut of Mr. Jonathan Demme, it's not so bad like somebody wrote right here, watch it, without high hopes, and judge for yourself! At least, you'll see some naked women...

Jonathan Demme's feature length first unit directorial debut was this women in prison favourite, done for his boss in the 1970s, Roger Corman. It stars Erica Gavin as Jacqueline Wilson, a young woman nabbed by the police during a drug bust. While serving time, she meets a variety of convicts, among them the ultra tough Maggie (Juanita Brown), the equally feisty Belle (Roberta Collins), and the more low key Lavelle (Cheryl "Rainbeaux" Smith). When two of the ladies perform a risqué routine in order to entertain the others, the superintendent (Barbara Steele) decides to come down hard on her charges.Once one stops to think about it, they do realize that there is more going on than in the standard issue type of W.I.P. feature. It *is* exploitative, of course; Demme does realize what's required of him. Still, he waits until about 24 minutes into the movie before he even begins showing off the birthday suits on the babes. There are shower scenes, and cat fights, and generally agreeable mayhem. There's also a decent subtext about the degrees to which males exploit females, and take advantage of them, and what can happen when enough females band together to take preventative steps. One can hardly fail to notice the depravity of a central male character, the nefarious prison doctor Randolph (Warren Miller), who has a taste for electro shock therapy and for taking nude photos of his patients at their most vulnerable.The script by Demme is also laced with humour at appropriate moments. The characters maintain a good amount of rooting interest, with exploitation veterans like Brown and Collins offering standout performances. However, the most intriguing person here is Superintendent McQueen, played as being very repressed by Ms. Steele. In the real world, McQueen is confined to a wheelchair, and has one very erotic dream sequence.Fans of the 1970s B movie will recognize a number of the supporting and bit players: Crystin Sinclaire, Carmen Argenziano, John Aprea, Patrick Wright, Gary Littlejohn. Pay close attention to catch Demme's regular cinematographer Tak Fujimoto as a sex emporium customer."Caged Heat" is sexy and violent, paced reasonably well, and delivers some excitement in its climactic prison breakout sequence.Seven out of 10.

Jonathan Demme's first cinematic tryout is one of the most notorious W.I.P. efforts of the early 70's, but you can nevertheless easily conclude already why he's one of the only directors of his class who went on to do bigger things, like … oh I don't know, making Award winning masterpieces like "Silence of the Lambs" and "Philadelphia". The script contains a handful of really clever findings, like a girl who uses her showering town tome sneak off to the kitchen through the air ventilation system and steal food for her friend in isolation, as well as some ambitiously experimental stuff, like a lurid dream sequence and an ingenious method to commit bank robbery. There's not as much torture, rape, humiliation and lesbian escapades going on in "Caged Heat" as in most other Women in Prison movies, but you can always take comfort in the thought that this is a more story-driven accomplishment. Besides, this weren't the rancid 80's so don't expect another "Chained Heat" (the Holy Grail of W.I.P. cinema) or "Reform School Girls". The rebel girls in this prison facility are subjected to harsh electro shock therapy – beautifully referred to as behavioral correction – that makes them shut up for the rest of their sentences. The prison is run with an iron hand by battle ax head warden McQueen, who's a religiously fanatic crippled woman in a wheelchair who dreams about dancing in front of her prisoners in a bunny outfit. Fantastic, that is! Even more fantastic is that this role is taken up by the legendary cult siren/horror wench Barbara Steele! "Caged Heat" is admittedly slow and boring in places – quite a few places unfortunately – but it actually plays in a different league than the vast majority of Women in Prison movies. Plus, the ending is awesome!