Review

Produced as part of Showtime's "Drive-In Theatre" series, this spirited spoof of women-behind-bars films should delight any fan of trash cinema. Set during the "Communist Witch Hunt" of the 1950s, the film focuses on a trio of gals sent to an L.A. slammer for diverse reasons: Skye, a lesbian writer, is accused of being a Commie; Turner gets all medieval on a hate-spewing TV commentator; and Crider is an aspiring folk singer falsely accused of stabbing record producer Polito. Since the homespun Crider is the real innocent, the other women unite to get her off the hook. With the help of an outside detective, they discover that Heche, a golddigging harpy, has set up Crider in order to reap the rewards of her soon-to-be hit record. Based on an AIP film from the 1950s, Girls in Prison may be the final film credit of tabloid great Sam Fuller, who penned the script with Christa Lang. Director McNaughton fills the frames with garish colors, steamy shower scenes, a host of hot-to-trot cartoony characters, and hardboiled dialogue. He has a unique talent of milking sordid subjects until they're downright refreshing.