Jailbird Rock (1988)

A young dancer protecting her mother from her abusive stepfather is forced to shoot him. She is convicted and sent to prison. The inmates hatch an escape plan, part of which is to put on a musical show to cover the attempted breakout.

Director:

Phillip Schuman

Writers:

Eduard Sarlui (story), Carole Stanley (screenplay),

Stars:

Robin Antin, Valerie Richards, Robin Cleaver

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Robin Antin	...	Jessie Harris
Valerie Richards	...	Peggy (as Valerie Gene Richards)
Robin Cleaver	...	Echo
Rhonda Aldrich	...	Max
Jacquelyn Houston	...	Samantha
Annie Livingstone	...	Mouse
Debra Laws	...	Lisa
Erica Jordan	...	Judy
Perry Lang	...	Denny
Ronald Lacey	...	Warden Bauman (as Ron Lacey)
Victoria Lustig	...	Dr. Lunde
María Noel	...	Mary
Sebastián Larreta	...	Lamont
Perla Cristal	...	Jessie's Mother
Theodore McNabney	...	Stepfather (as Ted McNabney)

Storyline

A young dancer protecting her mother from her abusive stepfather is forced to shoot him. She is convicted and sent to prison. The inmates hatch an escape plan, part of which is to put on a musical show to cover the attempted breakout.

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Plot Keywords:

prison | women's prison | dance | dancing | electronic music score | 

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Taglines:

MURDER... MUSIC... MAYHEM...! [Australia]

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Genres:

Musical

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Certificate:

R

Details

Country:

Argentina USA Panama

Language:

English

Release Date:

14 July 1988 (USA)

Also Known As:

Can't Shake the Beat

Filming Locations:

Buenos Aires, Federal District, Argentina

Company Credits

Production Co:

Continental Motion Pictures

Technical Specs

Runtime:

93 min

Sound Mix:

Stereo

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Filmed in 1984/1985.

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Connections

References Jailhouse Rock (1957)

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Soundtracks

"Can't Shake the Beat"
Written by Tommy Dunbar and Charles A. Judge (as Charles Judge)
Sung by George Black
Performed by World Without End

User Reviews

Flashdance goes to prison.

This women in prison film, clearly sold to SOMEBODY as "Flashdance goes to prison" is a midlly entertaining noodel that takes itself way 'too seriously. It's got the full round of women in prison Usual Suspects, including the nude shower/delousing scene, the body cavity search scene, the knife fight scene, the attempted lesbian rape scene/fight scene, the corrupt prison guard, the evil lesbian bitch prisoner that runs it all, etc., lacking only the jailhouse riot to round out the cliche roster.

Considering how by the numbers the movie is, and how silly the conceit is (dance as rehabilitation for hardcore prisoners) you'd think they'd have had more fun with it, but the movie is played kinda straight, which is its downfall. Plus the acting is generally so bad that the voices all sound dubbed even though they're not.

It's not exploitive enough to be a good exploitation flick, and not enough of anything else to be any other kind of flick. If it's on cable, might be tuning in if you have something else to do in the meantime.