Also see The Films of Jack Hill
Here lies the epicenter from which the women-in-prison genre would EXPLODE. A cell full of hardened, yet ravishing long-time women have an odd way of welcoming Collier (Judy Brown) to their sisterhood. Like her very first night when the redheaded-pyromaniac-junky of the group sets Collier’s bed ablaze while she’s STILL IN IT. Pam Grier swoops in to play firefighter AND peacemaker, but her motivation leans less toward altruism than to securing a new shower massager. As fates go, that’s not so bad, considering warden Lucian (Katheryn Loder) is always itching for an excuse to haul one of the gals in for an extended interrogation. When they won’t get to gabbing, she likes to string them up in their birthday suits and lash their hineys with whips, or strap them to a table and make ’em where an electric Cross Your Heart bra that shoots high voltage through their nipples. What makes it all-the-more sadistic is that this guy in a black hood sits and silently watches all these shenanigans hour after hour. Clearly, this was BEFORE the at-home version of "Wheel of Fortune." There’s also an amusing subplot with a pair of horndog peddlers (led by Mr. Haig) who make regular prison visits to paw the inmates. But all this fun can’t last forever, as the girls put aside their squabbling and canoodling to execute a daring midnight escape. CineSchlockers will rub their eyes in disbelief upon witnessing Pat Woodell — Bobbie Joe of "Petticoat Junction" — as a lovelorn revolutionary.
Notables: Seven breasts. 22 corpses. Toilet diving. Postal grope. Electrocution. Cobra attack. Mud rasslin’. Food fight.
Quotables: Inmate corners a bashful beau, "Get it UP, or I’ll cut it OFF!!!" First inkling of Pam’s power-house potential, "You’re ROTTEN, Harry! You know why? Because you’re a MAN! All men are FILTHY! All they ever want to do is get at you! For a long time I let them get at me. That’s why I’m in this dump! But NO MORE!!! You hear me?! I’m not going to let a man’s filthy hands touch me again!!!" A great way to end any argument, "Why don’t you sew up your slimy lips!"
Time codes: Rather, ahem, thorough strip search (3:15). Thrilling Filipino cockroach race (14:50). Male visitor’s fantasy proves wilder than he’d dreamed (34:30). Rivals engage in a delicious battle of wills (43:40). Jack picks up his hitchhiking starlet (1:33:56).