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	Douglas S. Cramer 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

• Cage Without a Key at IMDb