Cell Block Sisters: Banished Behind Bars (1995)
Sam Connor kidnaps his young daughters, April and May, sells them to strangers, and accidentally kills his wife when she attempts to intervene. Sixteen years later, April is an out of control outlaw who has come into a life of drugs and crime, while May has grown into a straight laced, refined woman. The plot thickens when April avenges her mother's death by killing her father, and May is sent to jail as the prime suspect. Fortunately, Detective Arman, instantly taken with May, fights for her innocence and tries to get her out before she is taken down by other hostile prisoners.
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Overrated
The plot isn't so bad, but the pace of storytelling is too slow which makes people bored. Certain moments are so obvious and unnecessary for the main plot. I would've fast-forwarded those moments if it was an online streaming. The ending looks like implying a sequel, not sure if this movie will get one
Actress is magnificent and exudes a hypnotic screen presence in this affecting drama.
Blistering performances.
Hey, I do peek at Babes Behind Bars flicks every so often. I even had a worn out copy of Chained Heat I bought at a closing video store.History repeated itself when I got Banished Behind Bars (aka Cellblock Sisters) at 80% discount ($1.49 I believe was the price) at yet another video store closing sale. I figured that for that price, if there was a long shower scene, I would get that much worth. And I did but not a whole lot more. BTW, there was great care to minimize the pubic show in the showers.I do believe this movie's set and uniforms have been used in several BBB movies, perhaps even Chained Heat, and some TV movies where prison was in the plot. Girls In Prison, a parody/remake of the 1950s version, was made perhaps just before or after this one.The riot scene and the final gunfights did not come across, especially the death scene of the older sister. IMHO, the survivor should have ripped off Chained Heat a bit more by covering the body and/or kissing her departed sister. Her false stabbing of Mandy was just as much a take from CH.I agree with previous posters that lesbian scenes could have been done. Also, I agree about the Brit babe's poorly designed fake tits.
If you're going to produce a campy women-in-prison film and cast beautiful actresses as innocent girls-behind-bars you've GOT to have at least one scene (preferably several) involving dangerous prison women (the warden, guards, or other inmates) wanting to have sex with them, right? Well, this film has NONE OF THAT! It's like a war film with no explosions, or a gangster film with nobody getting whacked. A pretty-girls-in-prison movie with no lesbian scenes whatsoever? Obviously whoever put this one together didn't have a clue. Or else they thought that watching women pretend to fight each other was exciting. (Hint: It isn't.)
Cellblock Sisters is a name that smacks of Caged Heat or other similar women-in-prison soft-core films, but be warned...Cellblock Sisters is not about sex. At all. Sisterhood has been a long forgotten theme in hollywood. Sure there was Little Women, but what other major movies have stressed the importance of loyalty and trust amongst sisters? That's where Cellblock Sisters comes to the rescue. In a captivating story of love and devotion, two sisters (separated as infants and meeting for the first time in their twenties!) risk their lives for one another in a dangerous, all women state prison. This movie made me wish I had a sister...someone I could trust, love AND SOMEONE WHO I COULD KICK HOLY ASS WITH!! YEAH! Cellblock Sisters let me learn that the only bitch bitchier than the superbitch is that bitch's long lost sister. The bitch is on!!! (Bitch)
Yes, yes, there is the obligatory strip search scene and the group shower scene, but CELLBLOCK SISTERS delivers a little more quality than the typical girls-behind-bars exploit. On the one hand, the revolvers sound like cap guns, and Christi Engel dyspeptically eats the scenery as Warden Smith. On the other, Annie Wood turns in a fine performance as April (the bad sister), sort of a female equivalent of George Clooney, both menacing and appealing at the same time. Apparently she has not appeared in any films since 1995, which is a shame. She seems to have star potential. British actress Gail Harris is competent as May, the "good" sister, but the oversized breast implants hinder her credibility as an ingenue. Unless she's playing a tart, she needs to keep her clothes on.