Director Jonathan Demme's feature film debut, Caged Heat, starts off promisingly with lurid humor, has some stylistic touches, drags slightly half-way through and then finishes in typical drive-in fashion. The film is a potpourri of exploitative women's prison cliches, such as cat fighting, lurid humor (which disappears quickly), male perversion, multiple shower scenes, quick flashes of female nudity and a subdued star turn as the prison matron by Barbara Steele. Interestingly, Steele is referred to as the warden (which is the male term for head of the prison). Forget the typical plot and enjoy the female anatomy displayed throughout and the odd assortment of female actresses included in the film, several of whom had hard luck careers and lives. The shooting scenes are laughable and painfully lacking in special effects in comparison to even other films of the period. In retrospect, film appears to be typical drive-in fare of the period. Considered a cult film by many, but really no more than a slightly above average version of its type. No hints of the Director who would go on to direct Silence Of The Lambs. 2 1/2 of 4 stars.