User reviews

There are two shower scenes where we are treated to incredible views of my favorite psychologist (Anne Heche from Prozac Nation) and the lovely Ione Skye. This was definitely not a CBS Schoolbreak Special with Missy Crider and TV regular Bahni Turpin.

Outside of these shower scenes was the cheesiest dialog that I have ever heard. I cannot believe this movie even had a script. I am sure the actresses were told just told use whatever cheesy prison dialog you can think of. It was painful to listen to. They threw in dialog about the Korean War and McCathyism to set the times, but it was just terrible.

It would have been a much better production if they had 80 minutes of shower scenes and 3 minutes of dialog, instead of the other way around.

Framed for the murder of a record company president in 1952 Hollywood, young, aspiring singer Aggie O'Hanlon (Missy Crider) is sentenced to life in prison and tries to adjust to her life behind bars in a hellish women's prison where she is befriended by other "lifer" inmates who help her out when Aggie finds herself marked for murder by an unknown source who thinks she knows more about the murder than she does.

From director John McNaughton, best known for "Henry Portrait of Serial Killer" and "Wild Things", and with one of his regular actors, Tom Towles. This seems far beneath McNaughton, but then, the series seemed far beneath everyone who was involved (Joe Dante, John Milius, Robert Rodriguez).

This was part of the "Rebel Highway" series that was supposed to be edgy updates of 1950s B-films. Most ended up being cheesy and campy rather than edgy, and this is no exception. Of course, much of this is the low budget (not much over one million) and McNaughton was lucky he happened to convince Sam Fuller to write the script -- Fuller was a genre writer whose work dated back to the 1930s. And there is a brief shower scene that would not have slid in the 50s... but the language is surprisingly clean for a prison.

Ione Skye has a decent sized part, and Anne Heche has a small but important role. For those looking for some star power, their interaction might be the highlight of the film. (Oddly, despite her impressive list of credits, Missy Crider does not seem to be considered a star.)

A film doesn't have to be good to be entertaining and GIRLS IN PRISON is a case in point . The intelligence of the script starts and ends with a discussion of The Korean War

" It's supposed to be a police action "

" Yeah ? Then why the hell didn't they send cops "

Which is dialogue that will be forever synonymous with Samuel Fuller who used the line in another film set around The Korean War . But after this exchange strange things start happening where we're shown live footage for the battlefront , something that didn't happen till 'Nam . The McCarthy witch hunts are alluded to but somehow feel overblown and false while someone refers to an ashtray that was given to him by " The King " . What in 1952 ? Maybe he meant the King of England ?

I won't go into too much detail but in a contrived series of events a teenage girl called Aggie O'Hanlon finds herself serving a life sentence for a crime she didn't commit , and it's essential for anyone wanting to enjoy this TVM that they turn off their brain because there's plenty of things that don't make sense . For example a couple of inmates called Melba and Carol promise to protect Aggie . It's never revealed why they do this . Obviously being lesbian lovers it's very easy to jump to the conclusion that they want to involve the sweet and innocent Aggie in female love games but this isn't their motive at all because there is never any explanation for their motive , the audience just have to accept this without question .

The audience have to accept a lot of things that defy credibility as the plot twists and turns but I have to confess I felt very involved in all this , yeah I know melodramatic and far fetched doesn't even begin to describe this movie but it is enjoyable thanks to the good looking cast ( Yes there is some T&A ) and some impressive pastal coloured cinematography from Jean De Segonzac

An odd film. It can't decide whether it wants to be a tribute to 50s/60s "girls behind bars" exploitation pictures, a pseudo-political satire, or a crime drama. In better hands, it might have straddled those genres effectively, but as it is, it's more than a little scattershot.

In some sense, the film only seems to be sure of itself when it lapses into "lipstick lesbians in jail" exploitation. Personally, I could have done with more of that material, but then I watched the emasculated basic cable version on Lifetime. In retrospect, I'd recommend renting the video so you don't have to miss out on any of the "sexuality/nudity", and so you won't have to put up with the lame-o profanity overdubs. One particularly egregious dialogue change (judging from context and lip-reading) was "I shot his balls off" to "I blew his brains out", which renders the followup line "there was nothing to sew back on" utterly nonsensical.

Most of the laughs in the film are unintentional rather than written. The lack of acting from the character who stabs herself got a big laugh from me. The only *good* acting in the film to speak of comes from Anne Heche, who puts more work into her role than you'd expect. Lots of nice bits of business that I can tell were her idea rather than scripted or directed, since her scenes are the only ones with that kind of quality. Oh, I guess Miguel Sandoval (the "digger" in Jurassic Park) has a couple of nice moments as well.

All in all, about what you would expect from legendary (to MST3K fans, at least) schlock producer Samuel Z. Arkoff, who also directed the unrelated 1956 film with the same title. Worth viewing if you're an Anne Heche fan or have nothing better to do, but don't go out of your way.

Sweet young songtress Aggie (Missy Crider) gets sent to a harsh women's prison after being found guilty of a murder she didn't commit……

Most of the laughs in the film are unintentional rather than written. Parts of this movie (especially the truly unbelievable climax) defy belief.

Some parts simply make no sense at all. It looks like this movie had no script, the actresses were told just to use whatever dialog they could think of.

The only scenes with quality in dialog, comes from Anne Heche. It looks like they were more her idea rather than scripted or directed. Heche is great as the bad girl and is the only one, who knows what she's doing. The lack of acting from the rest of the cast are sometimes good for a big laugh.

The movie has two graphic shower scenes. Although poorly filmed, the girls are nice to look at (Heche bares her gorgeous breasts).

Outside Heche the movie is really bad... and not to recommend....

This should be a campy, cheesy riot, an homage to exploitation films. Instead, it just is one. It seems they didn't feel like trying hard enough to make good schlock, and counted on the camp element to excuse the lack of quality on the serious level.

I thought that this would be like 'Mars Attacks' with shower scenes. There were two of those, and I have to say I enjoyed them. But as Joe Bob Briggs says, the plot gets in the way of the story.

Funny how people see the same things in such different ways. Although the movie is classified as action/drama I have to say I laughed so hard I almost fell off the chair. This movie would have been a greater success if it had been classified as comedy. The characters are so stereotype that the movie seems to make fun of the kind of genre it is actually supposed to represent. The problem is, that it takes itself serious, otherwise I think I would have liked it. I am not quite sure whether it is just a bad movie or if it is really bad enough to be interesting. In any case - I am still amused about it. (Besides, Anne Heche is hilarious as the bad girl).

With the usual plot twists that keep you interested. An added bonus is Ann Heche (and many other actresses) in some graphic shower scenes. I liked it, for some light entertainment. It was good enough to keep me from changing the channel, but I don't feel compelled to watch it every time it comes on.

Don't let the appellation MADE FOR TV throw you off the scent. This movie was made for cable TV, and like any good 'girls in prison' movie, it has 2 really good shower scenes!

Also, as it is set in the 1950's, Anne Heche gets to wear some clothes that would look right at home on Grace Kelly.

A drama with a touch of crime thriller and satire. Several girls end up in prison for various reasons. Among them is a young singer who is drawn into a complicated story where a confluence of random circumstances leads to a severe sentence. The harsh internal life of the prison with its peculiar rules quickly sets accents and suggests the idea - you need to escape, which the main character, along with a couple of partners who turn up, will mainly do throughout the not very long running time.

The prison style is taken from the 1950s, and the manner of presentation from the 1990s. The characters, as in a number of other works included in the almanac "Rebel Highway", are exaggerated, and the surroundings are more like a theatrical scenery. In the background, characteristic details of the past flicker, referring to once pressing political views, smoldering conflicts and street movements - hence a peculiar parallel suggests itself, that everyone fights for his / her dignity or goals and values, what he / she considers to be truly true, as best he / she can.

Obviously, you shouldn't expect something on the level of "The Shawshank Redemption" (1994). It's a typical genre B-movie with no hint of depth, but within its niche it looks quite solid.

The original film was shot in 1956, "Girls in Prison", the story revolved around the property of a bank.

This one is worth watching just to see Anne Heche in the shower scene.