''Cage Without a Key'' is a 1975 American

made-for-television A television film, alternatively known as a television movie, made-for-TV film/movie or TV film/movie, is a feature-length film that is produced and originally distributed by or to a television network, in contrast to theatrical films made for ...

drama film In film and television, drama is a category or genre of narrative fiction (or semi-fiction) intended to be more serious than humorous in tone. Drama of this kind is usually qualified with additional terms that specify its particular super-g ...

directed by

Buzz Kulik Seymour "Buzz" Kulik (July 23, 1922 – January 13, 1999) was an American film director and film producer, producer. He directed 72 films and television shows, including the landmark CBS television network anthology series ''Playhouse 90'' a ...

and starring

Susan Dey Susan Hallock Dey (born December 10, 1952) is a retired American actress, known for her television roles as Laurie Partridge on the sitcom ''The Partridge Family'' from 1970 to 1974, and as Grace Van Owen on the drama series '' L.A. Law'' from ...

and

Sam Bottoms Samuel John Bottoms (October 17, 1955 – December 16, 2008) was an American actor and producer. Early life Bottoms was born in Santa Barbara, California, the third son of James "Bud" Bottoms (a sculptor and art teacher) and Betty (Chapman ...

, with

Jonelle Allen Jonelle Allen (born July 18, 1944) is an American actress, singer, and dancer from Harlem, New York, United States. Beginning her professional career in the late 1960s, Allen has co-starred in films, Broadway productions, and television. In 19 ...

and

Lani O'Grady Lani O'Grady (born Lanita Rose Agrati, October 2, 1954 – September 25, 2001) was an American actress and talent agent. She is best remembered for her role as Mary Bradford, the eldest sister from ''Eight Is Enough''. Early life O'Grad ...

in supporting roles. The film premiered on the

CBS CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS, the abbreviation of its former legal name Columbia Broadcasting System, is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainm ...

television network A television network or television broadcaster is a telecommunications network for distribution of television program content, where a central operation provides programming to many television stations or multichannel video programming distributo ...

the evening of March 14, 1975,"Televiewer." ''Boca Raton News.'' (March 14, 1975): p. 3
/ref> later repeating at various times on ''

The CBS Late Movie ''The CBS Late Movie'' is a CBS television series (later known as ''CBS Late Night'') during the 1970s and 1980s. The program ran in most American television markets from 11:30 p.m. ( ET/ PT) until 2:30 a.m. or later, on weeknights. A ...

''. The film was released on VHS under the title ''Imprisoned Women''. ''Cage Without a Key'' was filmed at Las Palmas School for Girls in

Commerce, California Commerce is a city located in southeast Los Angeles County, California, United States. The population was 12,823 at the 2010 census, up from 12,568 at the 2000 census. It is usually referred to as the City of Commerce to distinguish it from the ...

, now known as the Dorothy Kirby Center. It was a juvenile detention center, not an actual women's prison. Many of the extras were actual inmates.

Plot

17-year-old, Valerie Smith, newly graduated from high school, heads off on a road trip to San Francisco with her friend Joleen. They have just started out when Joleen's car breaks down, but one of Joleen's friends, Buddy (Sam Bottoms) pulls up and offers to take Valerie the rest of the way. He is overly familiar; Valerie does not know him and is reluctant to accept the offer, but is ultimately pressured into accepting the ride. Not far into the trip Buddy decides to rob a liquor store and forces Valerie to assist him at gunpoint. The shopkeeper raises the alarm and is shot dead; the police arrive and both Buddy and Valerie are arrested. At her trial, Buddy insists that he and Valerie were secret lovers and that it was only at her urging that he committed the robbery. All the witnesses back his version that she was a willing participant, and she is duly convicted of the murder and sent to the San Marcos School for Girls. It is a big modern prison campus and has modern facilities like a hair salon and its own modern euphemistic language, including the rebranding of solitary confinement as "meditation". The staff meanwhile eschew all modern correctional techniques, keeping the girls in their place by reinforcing their uselessness whenever possible, and failing to intervene in their most blatant acts of skulduggery. The prisoners are divided into two rival camps - one led by the duplicitous, scheming Susie Kurosawa (Suesie Eléne), who is a favourite of the staff, and the other by the forthright Tommy Washington (Jonelle Allen). Valerie knows she does not belong in this circle and tries to avoid taking sides, but after her 14-year-old friend Sarah has a vat of boiling water tipped over her by the Kurosawa gang, she decides that aligning herself to Tommy's crew might be in her best interests. She continues to battle, aghast at the way the "school" is managed, and not fully comprehending that prison could be much, much worse. She becomes a bit manic. Away from the prison, her attorney resorts to some very creative work to explode Buddy's story, but when he does it is almost in vain as Valerie prepares to join in on an escape attempt after suffering one tragedy, where Wanda dies from a blood clot, one unhappy setback too many, when a fight breaks out during a running exercise, and Valerie gets involved, trying to subdue Susie. However, when Tommy gets involved, Susie stabs her to death with a knife and Susie is taken away for murder.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Cage Without A Key Columbia Pictures films CBS network films 1975 television films 1975 films American LGBT-related television films Films directed by Buzz Kulik 1975 drama films 1975 LGBT-related films 1970s American films