Caged Heat

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For the World Championship Wrestling match, see Caged heat match

Caged Heat
Promotional poster for Caged Heat
Directed by	Jonathan Demme
Produced by	Samuel W. Gelfman Evelyn Purcell Roger Corman
Written by	Jonathan Demme
Starring	Juanita Brown Roberta Collins Erica Gavin Cheryl Rainbeaux Smith
Music by	John Cale
Cinematography	Tak Fujimoto
Distributed by	New World Pictures
Release date(s)	1974
Running time	83 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English
Budget	$180,000
Followed by	Caged Heat II: Stripped of Freedom
Allmovie profile
IMDb profile

Caged Heat (alternate title: Renegade Girls) is a 1974 exploitation film in the women-in-prison genre. It was written and directed by Jonathan Demme for Roger Corman's New World Pictures. The film stars Erica Gavin, Roberta Collins, Juanita Brown, Rainbeaux Smith, Desireé Cousteau and Barbara Steele. Also introduced to the big screen in this film was the well-known character actress Adele Stasilli-Fernandez. John Cale wrote and performed the film's soundtrack, which prominently features the guitar playing of Mike Bloomfield.

Two sequels, Caged Heat II: Stripped of Freedom (1994) and Caged Heat 3000 (1995), borrow the Caged Heat name and women-in-prison setting, but are otherwise unrelated movies.

[edit] Premise

The film centers on Gavin's character, Jacqueline Wilson, who is sentenced to a women's prison on drug-related charges. She bonds with a group of her fellow prisoners and fights the repressive tactics of the warden, played by Steele.

[edit] Critique

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Caged Heat is Demme's directorial debut. Although he includes the fast action, catfighting, and gratuitous nudity Corman required in his exploitation films, Demme also incorporates elements of liberal politics, feminism, and social consciousness. Because of this, and because of its place in Demme's filmography, some critics consider Caged Heat to be more interesting than run-of-the-mill women-in-prison movies.