Cathardincu
Surprisingly incoherent and boring
AnhartLinkin
This story has more twists and turns than a second-rate soap opera.
Donald Seymour
This is one of the best movies I’ve seen in a very long time. You have to go and see this on the big screen.
Parker Lewis
I saw this awhile ago and if you're expecting Robert Reed to be the fatherly Brady type, then go watch the Brady Bunch. He really relishes his malevolent prison warden role big time where all the prisoners are female. Interestingly, when I revisited this movie in Wikipedia recently, I didn't realize the lead star Deborah Raffin passed away in 2012 at the young age of 59.There's a sense of foreboding in this movie and there are several deaths. I think there should be a remake/reboot. I think Michael Douglas would be amazing in the role of the prison warden, and maybe in an act of innovative casting have say Sharon Stone, Glenn Close, Kathleen Turner, and Demi Moore, play the prisoners.
ofumalow
This TV movie borders thematically on rank sensationalism, but in fact it remains disturbing and effective. Deborah Raffin and Lynne Moody are very good as privileged middle-class California college girls who make the mistake of taking a driving vacation through the South, and a much worse mistake in ticking off corrupt smalltown sheriff Chuck Conners. They end up basically on a chain gang, with no chance to alert friends or family to their plight. The cast is starry but they really disappear into their roles--as a cruel prison wardress Tina Louise is so completely de-glammed, I didn't recognize her, while as a pederast politician "Mr. Brady Bunch" Robert Reed is convincingly sleazy. It's a notably grim, well-crafted TVM for the era that doesn't cop out. It was interesting to catch on YouTube the theatrical version that was shown abroad--it definitely has language and full-frontal nudity that wasn't in the American TV version, notably a crudely pasted-in lesbian scene between characters we haven't seen before or since. (But otherwise the film avoids a sleazy sexploitation feel.) While this is hardly a "ripped from headlines" movie, the issue of (mostly black) people being abducted and convicted of imaginary crimes in order to generate virtual "slave labor" really existed for many long decades to fill in the South's free-labor gap after the Emancipation Proclamation rendered official slavery illegal.
The_Void
Nightmare in Badham County is a 'women in prison' film, but I wouldn't recommend going into it expecting something along the same lines as the sleazy Jess Franco women in prison films as you're liable to be disappointed. That being said, this is still an excellent seventies made for TV movie and while it may be lacking in the sleaze factor; it makes up for that in other areas and John Llewellyn Moxey's film is still well worth a look. Naturally, considering that the film is a TV movie; it's not too violent, but influence was still obviously taken from the 'hicksploitation' genre and we focus on a small town where the legal system doesn't exactly adhere to the national standard. Two young college girls are driving through Badham County when they get a flat tire. After finding someone to help them, they run across the local sheriff and come a cropper when he doesn't take too kindly to them brushing off his advances and making a fool out of him. He then sets up his revenge; by having the girls thrown in a backwater prison for a minor offence.This film will no doubt get plaudits for the acting, and it's certainly above average considering the type of film. Deborah Raffin and Lynne Moody give good turns in the lead roles, and really do manage to draw you into their characters. Lynne Moody is the standout for me for giving the more realistic performance; Deborah Raffin overacts to quite a large and noticeable extent on several occasions. The film draws in themes of the racial divide as the prison at the centre of the film separates the blacks from the whites. This is probably the most shocking element considering the lack of sleaze. The prison itself doesn't seem as imposing as some of the prisons shown in other films, and it actually never seemed all that difficult to escape from. However, John Llewellyn Moxey creates a great atmosphere of hopelessness that stems from the inmates and surrounds the central location, which ensures the film has the right feel to it. It all boils down to a well worked and memorable ending and while this film may not be one of the best in its field; it's very good and well worth seeing!
triple8
I saw this so long ago I really cannot remember it scene by scene but would like to see it again. The plot has already been gone over but really quickly-this concerns two young girls traveling together unfairly thrown into the local woman's prison and the movie focuses on their plight.This I remember being as a low budget or relatively so type of movie but very well done and well acted. Not your typical "girls in prison" movie(meaning this doesn't play like a porno flcik). This movie actually focuses on these two girls as human beings and how they try to survive the brutality of their experience. It is Extremely well acted and the girls come across as so likable and so truly horrifed by their circumstances that you ache for them.I truly hope this wasn't based on a true story. In any event-the drama is in this movie despite the low budget and that is due primarily to the wonderful acting of all involved-I would recommend this movie quite a bit over the trash that's mostly out there about women in prison. Don't even know if the movie still plays anymore I saw it so long ago.
