Cage Without a Key
| Cage Without a Key | |
|---|---|
 Promotional poster | |
| Directed by | Buzz Kulik |
| Screenplay by | Joanna Lee |
| Starring |
Susan Dey Katherine Helmond Lani O'Grady Anne Bloom |
| Cinematography | Charles F. Wheeler |
| Edited by | Roland Gross |
Production company | |
| Distributed by | Columbia Pictures Television |
Release dates | March 14. 1975 |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
Cage Without a Key is a 1975 made-for-TV movie starring Susan Dey and Sam Bottoms, with Jonelle Allen and Lani O'Grady in supporting roles. The movie appeared on the NBC television network, later repeating on The CBS Late Movie. The film was released on VHS under the title Imprisioned Women.
The movie was filmed at Las Palmas School for Girls in Commerce, California, now known as the Dorothy Kirby Center. This was a juvenile detention center, not an actual women's prison. Many of the extras were actual inmates.
Plot
Dey plays Valerie Smith, a 17-year-old who is lured into participating in a robbery. Captured by the authorities, she is sent to a reformatory, where she finds herself in more and more trouble while trying to adjust. Her sentence multiplied, it appears Valerie may never leave state custody.
Valerie becomes the target of unwanted sexual advances from some of the other inmates, until a young African-American lesbian named Tommy (played by Jonelle Allen) takes her under her protection. Tommy ultimately sacrifices her life to save Valerie's.
LGBT in media
Media researcher Steven Capsuto cites the character of Tommy as probably the earliest well-developed gay teen character on television, as well as the first well-developed non-white gay character.
External links
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