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The online film magazine Combustible Celluloid offers new movie reviews, DVD reviews, film reviews, actor interviews, actress interviews, director interviews, film books and all things cinema related for the thoughtful and passionate. Online for ten years! Over 3000 reviews!

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The Big Doll House (1971)

Rating: 3 1/2 Stars (out of 4)

Cage Rampage

By Jeffrey M. Anderson

Buy The Big Doll House on DVD

At one time the women-in-prison movie was a legitimate genre. The formula had an innocent girl thrown in prison on a trumped-up charge; she then quickly learns the ropes on the inside. There's an evil (often lesbian) warden, a tough girl who runs things, cat fights, and shower scenes. The good girl proves herself worthy of the tough girl, and the movie ends with either a breakout or a legitimate release. There are a lot of great titles, like Jonathan Demme's Caged Heat (1974), Chained Heat (1983) with Linda Blair, or this one, Jack Hill's The Big Doll House (1971) starring Pam Grier and Sid Haig, is one of the genre's first and best. Hill followed it a year later with The Big Bird Cage (1972).

Starring: Judith M. Brown, Roberta Collins, Pam Grier, Brooke Mills, Pat Woodell, Sid Haig, Christiane Schmidtmer, Kathryn Loder, Jerry Franks, Gina Stuart, Jack Davis, Letty Mirasol
Written by: Don Spencer
Directed by: Jack Hill
MPAA Rating: R
Running Time: 94 minutes
Date: March 31, 2000