Main Cast: Ralph Bellamy, Chuck Connors, Tina Louise, Lynne Moody, Deborah Raffin, Robert Reed
Release Year: 1976
Country: US
Run Time: 100 minutes
Plot
Originally made for television, this delightfully sordid women's prison film has a pair of co-eds (Deborah Raffin and Lynne Moody) traveling through a small town, where they are arrested by a sleazy sheriff (Chuck Connors) and sent to a work-farm. The usual sadistic goings-on result, including rape, murder, and white slavery, but this is a bit more interesting than most similar offerings just for the oddball cast. Ralph Bellamy appears as a judge, Brady Bunch dad Robert Reed is the warden, and Gilligan's Island star Tina Louise is a prison guard. A highpoint of a year in which television seemed almost like a Southern drive-in, Nightmare in Badham County is a must for fans of smarmy small-screen exploitation. ~ Robert Firsching, All Movie Guide
Review
This an interesting relic from that time during the 1970's when made-for-television films attempted to be as wild as their theatrical counterparts. Jo Heims' script is a "Jekyll & Hyde" affair -- one minute it is challenging racism in the South and mistreatment of prisoners in state-run institutions, the next it is trafficking in lurid thrills like a work-detail fight that devolves into a mud-wrestling session or a scene where the warden seduces an underage prisoner. The two agendas never sit comfortably alongside each other and this makes Nightmare In Badham County an odd viewing experience. That said, the end result is very watchable: director John Llewellyn Moxey gives the film a slick style that is surprisingly cinematic for television and creates an atmosphere of over-the-top melodrama that suits the film's sometimes-cartoonish potboiler narrative nicely. Moxey also gets strong performances from an above-average cast: Deborah Raffin and Lynne Moody effectively convey the torment and fear brought on by their plight while Robert Reed, Chuck Connors and Tina Louise all breathe life into their simple caricature-style villain roles by giving them plenty of scenery-chewing gusto. However, the best performance comes from Della Reese: her veteran-prisoner character is the best-written of the bunch and she gives it a soulful, charismatic rendering that makes it linger in the memory after the cheap thrills fade. In short, Nightmare In Badham County is a little too schizophrenic to qualify as a classic but it's also too fascinating and too skillfully-made to be dismissed. ~ Donald Guarisco, All Movie Guide
John Llewellyn Moxey - Director, Carroll Sax - Editor, Douglas S. Cramer - Executive Producer, Charles Bernstein - Composer (Music Score), Jan Scott - Production Designer, Frank Stanley - Cinematographer, Wilfred Lloyd Baumes - Producer, Jo Heims - Screenwriter
