The Big Doll House (1971)

Beautiful women prisoners are abused in a Philippine prison, until 5 of them plot an escape by taking the evil female warden hostage with the reluctant help of 2 male fruit vendors.

Director:

Jack Hill

Writer:

Don Spencer (screenplay)

Stars:

Judith Brown, Roberta Collins, Pam Grier

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Judith Brown	...	Collier (as Judy Brown)
Roberta Collins	...	Alcott
Pam Grier	...	Grear
Brooke Mills	...	Harrad
Pat Woodell	...	Bodine
Sid Haig	...	Harry
Christiane Schmidtmer	...	Miss Dietrich
Kathryn Loder	...	Lucian
Jerry Franks	...	Fred
Gina Stuart	...	Ferina
Jack Davis	...	Dr. Phillips
Letty Mirasol	...	Leyte
Shirley de las Alas	...	Guard
Myrna De Vera
Siony Cordona

Storyline

Beautiful women prisoners are abused in a Philippine prison, until 5 of them plot an escape by taking the evil female warden hostage with the reluctant help of 2 male fruit vendors.

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Plot Keywords:

escape | prison | female warden | warden | food fight | 

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Taglines:

White skin on the black market

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Genres:

Action | Drama

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Certificate:

R

Details

Official Sites:

Roger Corman: The Official DVD Website

Country:

USA Philippines

Language:

English

Release Date:

30 April 1971 (USA)

Also Known As:

Women's Penitentiary III

Filming Locations:

Philippines

Box Office

Budget:

$125,000 (estimated)

Gross:

$10,000,000 (USA)

Company Credits

Production Co:

New World Pictures

Technical Specs

Runtime:

95 min

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Sid Haig helped coach Pam Grier with her acting.

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Connections

Referenced in Jackie Brown: How It Went Down (2002)

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Soundtracks

"Long-time Woman"
By Hall Daniels
Performed by Pam Grier

User Reviews

Enjoyable chicks'n'chains movie.

'The Big Doll House' may not be the first women in prison movie of the 1970s but it was one of the most influential, kicking off the short lived but legendary Made-in-the-Philippines-but-set-in-some-nameless-Banana-republic cycle. The tape I watched was part of "The Pam Grier Collection" but to say Grier is the STAR of this movie is an exaggeration. Judy Brown is the star and Roberta Collins is equally important as Grier. But Brown didn't do all that much after this, and Collins is only remembered by exploitation buffs (for 'Caged Heat', 'Death Race 200' and 'Eaten Alive'), while Grier became a blaxploitation icon. That's cool, but let's not fool ourselves here. As enjoyable as it is watching Pam in this one she really doesn't do all that much. Jack Hill regular Sid Haig ('Spider Baby') has some memorable and amusing schtick with her. He plays a horny guy who brings the female prisoners food and other treats for cash. Grier and Haig obviously made a great team, and Hill would exploit this in his even more enjoyable 'The Big Bird Cage', which isn't a sequel to this movie as many seem to think. 'Bird Cage' is the better movie, but 'Doll House' is still a pretty good movie that any fan of 1970s b-grade movies will get a kick out of.