Girls in Prison

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.

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....

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 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.