The Big Bird Cage (1972)

Director:

Jack Hill

Writer:

Jack Hill (written by)

Release Date:

July 1972 (USA)

Genre:

Action | Crime | Drama

Tagline:

Women so hot with desire they melt the chains that enslave them!

Plot:

Grier and Haig are thieving mercenaries who engineer a prison break from the outside.

Plot Keywords:

Revolutionary | Escape | Prison | Sexploitation | Falling Into Mud

Cast

Pam Grier	...	Blossom
Anitra Ford	...	Terry
Candice Roman	...	Carla
Teda Bracci	...	Bull Jones
Carol Speed	...	Mickie
Karen McKevic	...	Karen
Sid Haig	...	Django
Marissa Delgado	...	Rina
Vic Diaz	...	Rocco
Andres Centenera	...	Warden Zappa (as Andy Centenera)
Rizza	...	Lin Tsiang (as Rizza Fabian)
Subas Herrero	...	Moreno
Wendy Green	...	Gertie
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Roy Alvarez	...	Revolutionary (uncredited)
Zenaida Amador	...	Prison Camp Doctor (uncredited)
Roldan Aquino	...	Revolutionary (uncredited)

Directed by
Jack Hill

Writing credits
Jack Hill		(written by)

Produced by
Roger Corman	....	executive producer
Cirio H. Santiago	....	producer
Jane Schaffer	....	producer

Original Music by
William Allen Castleman		(as William A. Castleman)
William Loose

Cinematography by
Felipe Sacdalan		(director of photography) (as Philip Sacdalan)

Film Editing by
Jere Huggins
James Mitchell

Art Direction by
Ben Otico

Set Decoration by
Marshal Henry

Makeup Department
Ray Solomon	....	makeup artist

Production Management
Carl B. Raymond	....	production supervisor

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Sid Haig	....	second unit director
Paul Maclang	....	assistant director

Sound Department
Willie Arce	....	sound recordist

Special Effects by
Santos Hilario	....	special effects (as Sam Hilary)

Camera and Electrical Department
Narcissus Makalius	....	assistant camera

Costume and Wardrobe Department
Felisa Salcedo	....	wardrobe (as Felice Sacedo)

Production Companies

• New World Pictures

Distributors

• New World Pictures (1972) (USA) (theatrical)
• New Concorde Home Entertainment (2002) (USA) (DVD)
• New Concorde Home Entertainment (2004) (USA) (DVD)
• Umbrella Entertainment (2004) (Australia) (DVD)
• International Film Distributors (1972) (Canada) (theatrical)
• Shout! Factory (2011) (USA) (DVD)
• Shout! Factory (2011) (USA) (DVD) (Blu-Ray)
• Warner Home Video (19??) (Netherlands) (VHS)
• Warner Home Video (????) (USA) (VHS)

Other Companies

• Cinefx  titles and opticals

Also Known As:

Runtime:

88 min | USA:96 min (DVD)

Country:

Philippines | USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Metrocolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

New Zealand:R16 | Australia:R | UK:18 | USA:R | Iceland:16

Filming Locations:

Banaue Rice Terraces, Ifugao, Luzon, Philippines

Company:

New World Pictures

Trivia:

The titular sugar mill contraption was designed by Jack Hill's father.

Movie Connections:

Featured in Corman's World: Exploits of a Hollywood Rebel (2011)

Easily the best Pam Grier women in prison movie. Great fun!

Jack Hill's follow-up (but not a sequel) to his earlier 'The Big Doll House' is a much more confident and enjoyable movie. Hill wrote as well as directed this one and I think that makes a world of difference. The basic model of the earlier film is followed but Hill shrewdly saw that the handful of scenes between Pam Grier and Sid Haig in that movie showed plenty of potential, so this time round he casts them as singing Revolutionary lovers (yeah baby!), an inspired move that really makes this one something special. The foxy Anitra Ford ('Invasion Of The Bee Girls') plays a sassy character who crosses their paths early in the film during a robbery. Super cool Django (Haig) takes a fancy to her but before he can do anything about it she is arrested and sent to a brutal prison. (I should point out that even though this movie, like the others in this short-lived 1970s cycle, was filmed in the Philippines, it is set in some nameless Banana Republic). Before too long Grier also finds herself in the same compound, which is dominated by "the bird cage", a strange contraption the women are forced to work on as punishment. Django cooks up a nutty plan to save her by pretending to be gay to ingratiate himself with one of the camps (very camp) guards Rocco, played by Vic Diaz, who later reunited with Haig and Grier in 'Black Mama White Mama'. This is a fantastic piece of entertainment overall and a guaranteed hoot! Personally I would say it is only rivalled by 'Caged Heat' and 'Chained Heat' as far as women in prison exploitation movies go. Highly recommended fun.