The Big Bird Cage (1972) directed by Jack Hill
The 70's might have been the golden era of cinema but it was also the heyday of some really low brow shit with exploitation films. My favorite of these is probably blaxploitation with films such as Super Fly and Shaft but you got to love the women in prison films. Hot chicks wearing skimpy outfits? Unnecessary shower scenes? Prison rape? Did I mention sex and boobies? Despite all of that The Big Bird Cage is actually a pretty terrible movie. Low production value, terrible acting, and a not so clever script. Of course you expect all of these things in an exploitation picture so you just got to let some things slide. I wouldn't really categorize this film in the it's so bad it's good category though. It's more of a it's so mediocre that it's bad kind of film.
I'm not going to bother going into a deep analysis of the film because honestly you're only watching this movie to see boobies anyways. Rest assured, you will see boobies, bare skin and women mud wrestling. What else do you really need? Back in the day that made these films awesome but now when hot naked chicks are just one click away, these films can feel terribly dated if there isn't anything else to go with it. The story here is passable but nothing noteworthy. My main beef with the film is that the acting is just sooooo bad. Even Pam Grier, as awesome as she is, stinks it up. Added with the corny script and low production values it makes the film look so campy and outright bad.
I will say though that it is pretty entertaining at times. Pam Grier, who I really only know through Jackie Brown, is a badass though her performance is pretty laughable. If this film were made now you would think that everyone is just having a fun time with a silly movie, but it is kind of hard to judge her performance here. The film is actually pretty serious most of the way making it kind of a buzzkill but it does pick up in the latter half when the girls start rebelling. The highlight has got to be the reverse gang rape where the females rape the gay prison guard. I LOLed because it is a) obviously ridiculous and b) hilariously awesome. Other than that though, there aren't really that many highlights unless you count up the so-so boobies sprinkled throughout the film.
Grade: C+
The 70's might have been the golden era of cinema but it was also the heyday of some really low brow shit with exploitation films. My favorite of these is probably blaxploitation with films such as Super Fly and Shaft but you got to love the women in prison films. Hot chicks wearing skimpy outfits? Unnecessary shower scenes? Prison rape? Did I mention sex and boobies? Despite all of that The Big Bird Cage is actually a pretty terrible movie. Low production value, terrible acting, and a not so clever script. Of course you expect all of these things in an exploitation picture so you just got to let some things slide. I wouldn't really categorize this film in the it's so bad it's good category though. It's more of a it's so mediocre that it's bad kind of film.
I'm not going to bother going into a deep analysis of the film because honestly you're only watching this movie to see boobies anyways. Rest assured, you will see boobies, bare skin and women mud wrestling. What else do you really need? Back in the day that made these films awesome but now when hot naked chicks are just one click away, these films can feel terribly dated if there isn't anything else to go with it. The story here is passable but nothing noteworthy. My main beef with the film is that the acting is just sooooo bad. Even Pam Grier, as awesome as she is, stinks it up. Added with the corny script and low production values it makes the film look so campy and outright bad.
I will say though that it is pretty entertaining at times. Pam Grier, who I really only know through Jackie Brown, is a badass though her performance is pretty laughable. If this film were made now you would think that everyone is just having a fun time with a silly movie, but it is kind of hard to judge her performance here. The film is actually pretty serious most of the way making it kind of a buzzkill but it does pick up in the latter half when the girls start rebelling. The highlight has got to be the reverse gang rape where the females rape the gay prison guard. I LOLed because it is a) obviously ridiculous and b) hilariously awesome. Other than that though, there aren't really that many highlights unless you count up the so-so boobies sprinkled throughout the film.
Grade: C+
No comments:
Post a Comment