The Concrete Jungle (1982)

Details: By Loron Hays; 02 January 2018

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The Concrete Jungle (1982) - Blu-ray Review

This movie, directed by Hell Night’s Tom DeSimone, is why I don’t go skiing. That white powder on the ground? It’s not always snow and, once discovered, it could land you in a prison for the baddest of bad little girls. And, trust me, I don’t want to belong to someone because, according to the badass The Concrete Jungle, in a women’s prison, well, that’s just the way it goes.

When your best buds are named Cheeks and Spider the chances that you are in for a damn good time just doubled. That’s the prickly territory of Concrete Jungle, a women in prison flick that challenges WiP expectations when the tough-as-nails warden is revealed to be the fabulous Jill St. John (Diamonds are Forever). I mean, really? You have Tracey Bregman (Happy Birthday to Me) AND Jill St. John in the same movie? DAMN.

Directed by Tom DeSimone and featuring a young (and very hot) Bregman as the poor girl who gets nabbed at the airport for cocaine possession thanks to her loser of a boyfriend Danny (Peter Brown), The Concrete Jungle is a B-movie through and through. The girls are soon without their clothes. The men are idiots. Money is called bread. The police are coppers. And everyone has the shakes from all the “cold turkey” served. The low budget is felt at almost every turn. Heh heh.

From the corny dialogue to the top-dropping antics of these frisky women, if you aren’t already a fan of the stickier side of the aisle you best avoid this release. It will only piss you off. Although The Concrete Jungle’s “fierceness” might convert a few nonbelievers with its “nobody is clean in here” vibes from Barbara Luna as Cat, a prisoner who can have and do anything she wants. She just can’t, like everyone else, leave the prison in her designer jeans.

No one gets along in this wild and violent ride through prison. It’s girl vs. girl in this riot hell and the only safe place is the laundry room. But, hell, according to Elizabeth , she’d rather be scrubbing toilets. Violence and rape and hot lesbian action; all are what’s on the menu for lunch at this raunch-fueled cafeteria. And snow is available everywhere. So much for keeping clean.

There are some interesting moments sprinkled throughout this film, though. DeSimone knows what he is doing and, as he is no stranger to the sticky, icky, delivers a guilty pleasure that is both disturbing and entertaining. Some of the sequencing and edits – a serious rape scene intersected with a delivery as a baby is born – are quite interesting (read as awkward) and, as the heaving and sweaty guard collapses on his victim right as the baby is handed to its mother, these moments make for an unforgettable movie.

And then there is the final brawl in the prison yard. With about 15 minutes left in the movie, all hell breaks loose. Our characters have lost what made them sweet. They are all about headbands and cutting their enemies. It’s a melee for the books as the toughened girls rail against each other and then, as if ordered directly from the heavens above, screenwriter Alan J. Adler thinks up an open-air twist and imagines the brawl as one big round of mudwrestling when the guards start hosing down the rioters. Suddenly, clothes are gone and everyone is rolling around on the ground. Seriously. It’s an epic free-for-all that will long be remembered the next time a filmmaker tries to top it and, thanks to pop singer Deborah Davis, it even has its own theme song.

Could this flick get any better? I think not.

Code Red, always the providers of good and grand taste in filmmaking, presents The Concrete Jungle with a brand new 2k scan of the original interpositive with its release of this cult flick on 1080p. Complete with new interviews with the film’s stars and its director, the arrival of The Concrete Jungle in HD is a paved way straight to Hell.

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MPAA Rating: R.
Runtime: 99 mins
Director: Tom DeSimone
Writer: Alan J. Adler
Cast: Jill St. John, Tracey E. Bregman, BarBara Luna
Genre: Crime | Drama
Tagline: Behind these bars everybody belongs to someone.
Memorable Movie Quote: "With an angel face like that, no cop in the world would ever dream that that little ski bunny was carrying her own gun."
Theatrical Distributor: Motion Picture Marketing
Official Site:
Release Date: September 3, 1982
DVD/Blu-ray Release Date: December 20, 2017
Synopsis: When her boyfriend Danny uses his unsuspecting girlfriend Elizabeth 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 the prison in one piece. She later finds out the warden is not only cruel, but in cahoots with an inmate in a drug and prostitution racket. After witnessing a murder, Elizabth has now become the enemy of the warden’s Queen Bee.

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The Concrete Jungle (1982) - Blu-ray Review

Blu-ray Details:

Home Video Distributor: Code Red
Available on Blu-ray - December 20, 2017
Screen Formats: 1.85:1
Subtitles: None
Audio: English: DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0
Discs: Blu-ray Disc; single disc
Region Encoding: Locked to Region A

Code Red presents The Concrete Jungle on 1080p thanks to a brand new 2k scan of the original interpositive. The aspect ratio is 1.78:1 and the sound is provided in an adequate crisp DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 track. Colors – especially blues and greens – are solid and the cool colors of the prison are solid. Black levels are strong throughout. And the details in the clothing and the interiors are impeccable. The skin tones – as there is plenty of scenes with an abundance of flesh – are presented here with a boldness not previously seen in any other home video release of this cult title.

Supplements:

Commentary:

None

Special Features:

Alongside the new 2K scan of the interpositive (made in 2016), fans of this Wip flick get new interviews with Tracey Bregman, Sondra Currie, Robert Miano and director Tom DeSimone. There is also a reversible cover with fantastic art included with the release.