Guilty Pleasure

Sid Haig and Pam Grier

Tonight, Turner Classic Movies is running The Big Doll House, a 1971 exploitation film about women in prison who can't seem to keep their shirts on. The film was shot in the Philippines for, from the looks of it, I'd say about four hundred dollars and that's including the script. But it was very successful and very imitated by different outfits and if you like that kind of film, this is that kind of film. Roger Corman's New World Pictures made it and they themselves followed it with two imitations — The Big Bird Cage and Women in Cages — featuring many of the same cast members and scenes and sets. Pam Grier was in all three.

This one and The Big Bird Cage were helped enormously by the presence of Sid Haig, one of my favorite actors in a long list of (mostly) low-budget movies. He's very funny in The Big Doll House. I'm not necessarily recommending this movie but if you do watch, watch for Sid. You can read my obit for Mr. Haig here and a great anecdote about him here.