ChanBot i must have seen a different film!!

Konterr Brilliant and touching

Hayleigh Joseph This is ultimately a movie about the very bad things that can happen when we don't address our unease, when we just try to brush it off, whether that's to fit in or to preserve our self-image.

Darin One of the film's great tricks is that, for a time, you think it will go down a rabbit hole of unrealistic glorification.

Woodyanders Sweet young Elizabeth (a fine and sympathetic performance by Tracey E. Bregman) gets sent to a brutal women's penitentiary after she gets caught carrying coke for no-count drug dealer boyfriend Danny (a nicely slimy turn by Peter Brown). While behind bars Elizabeth runs afoul of both ruthless top con Cat (a deliciously vicious and predatory portrayal by Barbara Luna) and stern corrupt warden Fletcher (well played with cold conviction by Jill St. John). Director Tom DeSimone not only keeps the compelling story moving at a constant pace and stages a few exciting cat fights with aplomb, but also offers a gritty tone along with a pretty grim and fairly realistic depiction of the harsh world of prison that for the most part avoids the more trashy and exploitative aspects of the babes-behind-bars genre. Bregman makes for an appealing wide-eyed innocent heroine who becomes tougher and smarter as the plot unfolds; she receives sturdy support from June Barrett as the lethal Icy, Aimee Eccles as the mean Spider, Sondra Currie as the friendly Katherine, Robert Miano as loathsome rapist guard Stone, Niki Dantine as pathetic junkie Margo, and Nita Talbot as earnest social worker Shelly Meyers. Andrew W. Friend's slick cinematography provides an impressive polished look. A sold and satisfying little B-flick.

stu_w Apparently so in this exploitation flick from the good old 1980s. You can't help, but feel sorry for the sweet and sugary Elizabeth who gets wrongly convicted for her seedy boyfriend's job of hiding his drugs in her luggage at the airport .As soon as the cuffs are snapped on and the jail guard snaps on a pair of latex gloves, you know where this is heading - survival in jail. There's plenty of fighting (of course) and more injustices than you can shake a stick at. Poor Elizabeth is victimized at first, but finally stands her ground.The film is full of stereotypical prison inmates, but Jill St. John stands out as the prison warden. She's so evil and conniving that it's a treat when everything backfires on her and she ends up locked in jail with the rest of the prisoners. Her nipples will undoubtedly be a popular sight from there on in with the other inmates in her cell block.The climactic finale obviously has a lot of explosive and violent fighting with Elizabeth struggling through it all. She has such a wild and deep determination for justice that you can't help, but root for her and hope she succeeds. She's a survivor and proves it so.I recommend this movie, but only if you're into prison exploitation flicks where boobies are a plentiful sight of the day. Warden Fletcher going to jail herself to become another federal inmate was a major treat - too bad a sequel hadn't been made of that! She'd be "Top Dog" for sure and with the most popular boobs in the penitentiary.

phillindholm Women's prison films have always had an appreciative audience. Perhaps the first noteworthy one was "Caged" which starred Eleanor Parker. Released in 1950, it garnered good reviews and great box office. It also led to numerous inferior imitations, such as "Women's Prison" (1955) which at least featured a scenery-chewing performance from Ida Lupino as the wicked warden--(a role she would repeat, more or less, in the 1972 TV movie "Women In Chains".) There was also 1962's "House Of Women" which starred Shirley Knight. The seventies ushered in such examples as the Roger Corman/New World productions of "Women in Cages" and "The Big Doll House". Then came Jonathan Demme's take on the subject "Caged Heat", after which the genre was pretty much left to porno producers. But in 1982, one of the best films on the subject was released. "The Concrete Jungle" was produced on a low budget and a quick shooting schedule (but, then, weren't most films in this genre?) and managed to deliver a gritty and tense story of one relatively innocent girl's battle to survive a hellish female penitentiary. When her slimy boyfriend Danny (Peter Brown) uses his unsuspecting girlfriend Elizabeth (Tracy Bregman) to carry a stash of cocaine in her skis, she is nabbed by airport security. After a speedy trial, she is sent to the Correctional Institution for Women in California. There she learns quickly that she must toughen up if she hopes to leave there in one piece. She also eventually finds that the warden (Jill St John) is not only cruel and unsympathetic, but in cahoots with an inmate Cat (Barbara Luna) the prison's Queen Bee, who is her partner in a prison drug and prostitution racket. When Elizabeth witnesses a murder committed by Cat and her henchwomen, she spurns her attentions and becomes her enemy. Meanwhile, Deputy Director Shelly Meyers (Nita Talbot), aware of the drug and prostitution business run by the warden and Cat, also suspects that Elizabeth has knowledge that could help her convict the villains, and she begins to press her for information. This does not bode well for Elizabeth, for by now, the warden is also suspicious and seeks to destroy the girl before she can talk. Lurid, (and undeniably sleazy at times), "The Concrete Jungle" is nevertheless a fully satisfying melodrama, and one which tells a convincing story. The supporting cast is full of exploitation-film regulars, each of whom does a good job. Bregman is fine as the heroine, St John is a chilling warden, and Luna gets the role of her life as the vicious Cat who makes life hell for those who oppose her. Especially noteworthy is Talbot as the crusading penal official. "Jungle's" Producer, Billy Fine, would try to top the box office success of this one with "Chained Heat" the following year, but that film (and most of those that followed it) were really unintentional parodies of the genre.

kamikaze-4 Alternately boring and sleazy, the Concrete Jungle commits the unpardonable sin of taking itself too seriously. But what a cast! You have Tracey Bregman as the new fish Cherry; an innocent young woman framed for drug smuggling by her nefarious boyfriend, Peter Brown. Then there is Jill St. John as evil warden Fletcher. Let's not forget Barbara Luna as the queen bee. Of course, Camille Keaton reprises her rape victim role from I Spit on Your Grave as well as Kendall Kaldwell as Eyes the mean corrections officer. With Nita Talbot as the concerned social worker, Shelly Meyers assuring us a happy ending for all involved. Also if you look closely, you will recognize, Tiana Pierce from Mother's Day as well as Forms Karate champ, Karen Sheperd billed as Kung Fu. Oh well, at least it was a better billing than the woman credited as "Blimp" Followed by the sleazy homage to boom mikes everywhere, Chained Heat and it's insipid in name only follow-ups, Chained Heat 2 and Chained Heat 3: Devil's Mountain