Movie Monday

Women and Prison. Share on your blog movies that feature female prisoners, guards, or those who are accused and on their way to the Big House, linking back here.

The first movie to spring to mind was a soft-core effort about a Nazi prison guard named Ilsa. I never actually saw this opus -- an old boyfriend was ashamed of owning it (on Beta, no less), and he should have been. But then, after giving it more thought, I came up with two options that are so good you don't have to be ashamed if they're in your video collection.

Patty Hearst. The late Natasha Richardson was tremendous as the kidnapped heiress, who endured hell -- beatings, rape, humiliation, brainwashing. She did whatever it took to stay alive, and was rewarded with a prison sentence. (Though my friend John still believes she was guilty as sin and should have served her full sentence. Whatever. He initially believed OJ Simpson was innocent.)

I Want to Live! Susan Hayward won an Oscar for her performance in a movie that really rocked my world when I saw it back in the 1970s (I was babysitting). Barbara Graham was basically convicted and put to death for being an unlikeable slut. She may have been guilty, but it wasn't proven beyond a reasonable doubt. This is a true and tragic story, and influenced my early feelings about both feminism and the death penalty.