The Big Doll House (1971)

People are voting emotionally.

An Exercise In Nonsense

Ok... Let's be honest. It cannot be the best movie but is quite enjoyable. The movie has the potential to develop a great plot for future movies

Not sure how, but this is easily one of the best movies all summer. Multiple levels of funny, never takes itself seriously, super colorful, and creative.

The Big Doll House pretty much sets the template for the whole WIP genre, with the introduction of several new prisoners to a banana republic womens' jail where the head warder abuses trouble-makers for the amusement of the wicked governess. After experiencing the suffering first-hand, the (ridiculously attractive) inmates of one cell decide to make a break for freedom.Director Jack Hill's film treads a fine line between straight up exploitation and tongue in cheek fun: it's nowhere near as harsh as the average European WIP flick, but not quite as camp as Hill's follow up, The Big Bird Cage, which emphasised the absurdity of the genre in a more playful manner. Hence, we get an assortment of relatively light torture scenes (including that WIP favourite, electrodes on the breasts) and some bloody violence (the sudden death of one central character is particularly harrowing), all of which is mixed in with such lighter nonsense as a mess hall food fight, a spot of mud-wrestling, and the exploits of a pair of randy male fruit-sellers who dream of scoring with the banged-up birds.With plenty of gratuitous nudity from the gorgeous gals (whose numbers include blaxploitation legend Pam Grier and Death Race 2000 babe Roberta Collins), another fun turn from Hill regular Sid Haig, and a surprisingly down-beat ending that sees all of the escapees either shot or recaptured, this is a very enjoyable slice of exploitation from one of the genre's most dependable film-makers (Hill also gave us the excellent offbeat black-comedy/horror Spider Baby, and Grier blaxploitation classics Coffy and Foxy Brown).7.5 out of 10, rounded up to 8 for IMDb.

Women in prison. So many films featuring women behind bars desiring to break out. Luscious women in the shower, naked and yearning for the sexual contact of a man. The sadistic warden who makes life a living hell for the girls, and it's at times a woman who runs the show. The cat fight in the mud or the food fight that breaks out usually resulting in the whole group being punished. The torture sequences featuring prisoners being whipped by a bull dike guard who really seems to be enjoying herself. The planned break out often assisted by outside help. Those who punished and harmed the girls while they were in prison get their comeuppance.Many of the girls are tough talking, strong willed, incredibly sexy, and(..my favorite part)push the guys, that do appear, around. I've seen quite a few of these types of movies, but can not really consider myself an expert because there are still many staples of the genre I haven't viewed as of yet. This has to be the sexiest female cast I've seen in one of these movies..Pam Grier, Judy Brown, Roberta Collins, Brooke Milles(..my girl of the film), and Pat Woodell all preparing for a great escape just so they can be free of the sweaty, trashy confines of their Banana Republic prison cell. Christiane Schmidtmer is Miss Dietrich, the tyrannical ruler over the prison and Kathryn Loder is her ruthless head guard with an affinity for acquiring jungle snakes as a torture(..or murdering)method to extract information regarding possible illegal activities or plotting(..she likes to let her hair down when it's time to whip or pummel a girl). Sid Haig, a prominent Jack Hill regular, has a field day as a food(..among other items of interest)supplier, assisted by Jerry Franks(..who is actually accosted by Collins, who forces him to sex with a knife she confiscated from the kitchen area!).I will admit that I love beautiful women. Especially, beautiful women wearing merely a raggedy dress that barely covers their panties, revealing their wonderful curves and sexy legs. This movie was more violent than I was expecting, but it isn't anything worse than what we normally see in today's cinema containing the damaging treatment towards women. In my opinion you couldn't assemble a more sexy group of gals to spend 90 minutes with. These were the days when inhibitions run amok and women weren't as prudish in endowing upon us their alluring naked bodies. I feel like the 70's featured some of the most stunning women, often barely starring in anything other than a few movies within the exploitation genre, before moving on to other things. I don't know where Corman and Hill were able to secure so many of these delcious sex pots, but they kept them a comin'. Unfortunately two of my favorite scenes feature a character in a heroine induced bliss, addict Harried prancing around in her cell, as if performing some type of yoga exercise, and the other where she's showering, making this little giggling sound with her face just lit up.

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.

Jack Hill has always been a master of turning such a controversial subject (especially at that time) into a fine film. The Big Doll House stars Judy Brown, who is taken to a prison on some remote island where she is accompanied by other jailbirds: Pam Grier, Brooke Mills, and Roberta Collins. Grier and Collins are driving forces throughout the film and seem to double-handedly run the entire joint. While Mills plays everybody's favorite psycho junkie, making an art out of hallucinating. Sid Haig is the dominating warden who uses poisonous local snakes to torture the prisoners. The movie ends with Grier, Mills, and Collins dying and Brown being captured and taken back to prison. Definitely an acquired taste and compulsory for fans of old skool "Women Torture and Revenge Tales!"