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Pam Grier and Sid Haig stole the show in Jack Hill's Filipino-women-in-prison hit
The Big Doll House, and they pretty much power this superior action-packed semi-sequel as a South American Bonnie-and-Clyde team. The revolutionaries with mercenary hearts decide to liberate the inmates of a jungle women's prison at the urging of their lonely army of single men. All the conventions are there--scantily clad women, a deranged warden (so evil he kicks a puppy in his first scene!), catfights, the occasional kinky punishment, and of course all those showers. But Hill softens the usual sadistic formula with tongue-in-cheek humor (Haig infiltrates the all-gay prison-guard squad by shamelessly flirting with the captain) and a zippy pace. Though not quite as empowering as
Caged Heat,
The Big Bird Cage remains one of the most energized and entertaining women-in-prison films ever made.
--Sean Axmaker
