The Big Doll House

Big Doll House, The (1971)

** (out of 4)

Beautiful women, catfights, food fights, torture, lesbianism, mud wrestling and nudity are the highlights of this cult classic Women in Prison film from Jack Hill. There's always a slight bit of sleaze that makes this interesting but overall it's pretty dull without enough story and the dramatic moments don't work. Judy Brown and Pam Grier star.

It should also be noted that I prefer the rougher women in prison films by the likes of Jess Franco. Franco started this genre with 99 Women but I prefer his darker WIP films like Barbed Wire Dolls, Women in Cell Block 9 and Sadomania.

Beautiful women prisoners are abused in a Philippine prison, until five of them plot an escape by taking the evil female warden hostage with the reluctant help of two male fruit vendors.

I have to say this film is an exploitation movie, and therefore has some aspects that many people might find objectionable -- gratuitous nudity, sexual assault and some scenes of torture. This is not just a fun film to watch with your kids.

That being said, director Jack Hill makes the most of the exploitation genre and does it in a stylish, colorful way that sets this movie apart from the scores of others in the same category. And he utilizes Sid Haig well, in a way that no other director ever has. Thanks for introducing Pam Grier to the world, too.

Two factors make THE BIG DOLL HOUSE a must-see, Women In Prison classic: Factor #1- It's directed by none other than cult film maestro, Jack Hill! Factor #2- It stars the one and only cult goddess supreme, Pam Grier!

This is sheer, unabashed exploitation done right. All of the requisite parts are in place- blazing hot female inmates, fascistic guards, a psychopathic warden, corrupt military figures, sadistic torture, and endless nudity. If that's not enough, it also features Sid Haig as an unscrupulous fruit vendor!

Plus: mud wrestling, a massive food fight, and sudsy-sudsy shower fun!

Accept no substitutes...

What a great movie! An entertaining female "Great Escape"! Roberta Collins, Pam Grier and Sid Haig in particular are real hoots with some great moments and dialogue. Bodine (Pat Woodell) is a great character too (introduced as someone not to be messed with), especially letting loose with twin machine guns in the final gunfight. Lots of fun to be had in Jack Hill's Women In Prison exploitation classic. See Matilda The Hun and Foxy Brown themselves duke it out and mud wrestle. Ponder as to how someone so skinny (whereas the resident junkie is quite healthy) got to be head guard. The obligatory prison breakout relies on the help of one prisoner's pet cat to come through at the right time. The scenes with the junkie being completely out her tree are hilarious, although she also gets to show her creepier, more deranged side too in some scenes. The prison break attempt and the final gunfight with the authorities are fun and exciting stuff and for me Roberta Collins steals the show. Not content with the aforementioned mudwrestle with prison bully Pam Grier, she gets some male action at knifepoint and gets great revenge on the evil prison governess. Roberta has some great dialogue too in "Get it up or I'll cut it off!" and "Bye bye lardass!" The head guard has a slight Barbara Steele resemblance. The ending is a bit rushed, some character's fates are left up in the air and the dialogue that seals Judy Brown's fate was a dub forced on the film but it's still great fun and was a groundbreaking hit for AIP. Roberta, Pam and Judy had all just been in "Women In Prison" beforehand and Jack Hill later also directed Pam Grier in some of the blaxploitation flicks that made her an icon. Roberta Collins would of course go onto starring in the masterpiece "Death Race 2000" and the inferior (in my opinion) prison classic "Caged Heat". As you'd expect from this type of movie, there are chances to see attractive women getting naked or scantily clad and you get amusing foodfights and catfights. The female leads are obviously in on the joke though and have fun with it. There's some amusing moments and unlike the "Charlie's Angels" tv show, these resourceful, smart women really do get a chance to kick ass and get tough. Classic feelgood exploitation!

What separates - and, in my book, makes better - "The Big Doll House" from most Women-In-Prison films is that the focus here is NOT on the exploitation of the women (though there is some of that, of course), but on their STRENGTH and determination. Roberta Collins and Pat Woodell, in particular, have well-defined characters that know how to take care of themselves. The fights (including some mud-wrestling) are rough and wild. The casting is excellent: you know something is right when Pam Grier isn't even the most beautiful woman on the screen! Collins, in particular, has a kind of beauty that you rarely see nowadays. Contrary to what other people have said, I found the scenes involving Sid Haig and his partner to be the most undesirable: they do provide some form of comic relief but they go on too long and occasionally kill the pace of the movie. (**1/2)