Pam Grier is the queen of the controversial blaxploitation genre. Before her better known role as Foxy Brown, Grier starred as the chesty guerrilla rebel, Blossom. Her Big Bird Cage role teamed her with another well-known face from the era, Sid Haig. Haig plays the role of a guerrilla who has a slacker attitude towards revolution. While armies march on their stomachs, it is determined that guerrillas have more carnal needs. After a stick up at a local club, Haig and Blossom reunite at their guerrilla compound in the jungle, formulating their plan for rebellion.
When the guerrillas hatch an idea for fueling their revolution with female companionship, a plan is hatched to have Blossom infiltrate a female jungle prison with the goal of liberating the women to their cause. The prison is your typical jungle slave camp. Scantily clad women grind sugar cane and harvest coconuts while pining for male companionship. They are severely mistreated by dictatorial camp commander and sadistic, homosexual prison guards. If the opportunity arises, the women always relish the chance to wrestle in the mud, tear their clothing off, or otherwise expose themselves. In typical sexploitation style, the prison serves as nothing more than a backdrop for female sensuality, horrible acting and cheesy dialogue.
It is hard to keep a straight face while analyzing The Big Bird Cage. This is not the type of film where one seriously considers the acting, dialogue or plot. The plot makes absolutely no sense and comes across as a contrived mess. The dialogue interjects humor at times but lacks intelligence. The acting is mostly seventh-grade high school play. It is probably better to examine this film within the genre. The fight scenes are horribly staged, but result in some skin shots with a smidgen of sensuality. The film captures all the campy qualities of sexploitation from the ridiculous character interactions to the total lack of continuity between scenes. Subtle details like instant costume changes are everywhere. Surprisingly, the sets actually displayed a degree of effort, demonstrating where most of the budget was likely spent. The Big Bird Cage delivered exactly what I expected. And it was mindless fun.
Pam Grier and Sid Haig have had long careers. They starred in quite a few films together in the early 1970s. Haig has had a career spanning more than fifty years and still has movies in production. Grier hit the scene in 1970 and has been fairly steadily getting work since then. Grier also has several projects in production. While they both have an extensive filmography, one would be hard pressed to find a reasonable percentage of titles that they are familiar with. But who cares? These actors are role players. They have a niche and they fit it perfectly. In The Big Bird Cage, early in Grier’s career, the performances are hammy. Anitra Ford is another familiar face. She reached the peak of her career in the early 1970s, but may be more familiar to viewers who were raised on The Price is Right, where she was one of Bob Barker’s models. The cast was peppered with a few familiar mugs, although none stood out as future blockbusters. If you are looking for great acting, films like this are probably the wrong place to start. The film was fun, but the performances are not worth addressing in terms of quality.
I watched an unrated version of The Big Bird Cage. If the MPAA took a crack at this film, they would assuredly slap it with an R rating. For a 1972 film, the sexual content might have even pushed their buttons further (although they didn’t have an NC-17 back then). The film has plenty of nudity, rampant sensuality, strong language, violence and torture. The violence is almost cartoonish, due to the low budget considerations. However, there is plenty of it. The nudity and adult themes plays a central role throughout the film. Every scene searches for an opportunity to expose a breast or test the limits of skimpy clothing. This is not a film for mixed viewing or younger audiences. Clearly limited to mid-teen audiences or older. The film has nothing redeeming for younger viewers.
The Big Bird Cage is a classic sexploitation film starring one of the most renowned Blaxploitation stars of the 1970s early in her career. Before she was Foxy Brown, Pam Grier was Blossom. Her character has the right charisma to match her acting, so she actually ended up coming across pretty good. That doesn’t minimize the horrible plot, laughable dialogue, ridiculous continuity issues and flat characters. The film manages a campy humor while transporting the audience to a time when film didn’t take itself too seriously. A fun diversion for an otherwise boring evening. 6/10.
