The presence of Annette Michael in one of her earliest (and pre-hardcore) appearances makes this otherwise sloppily made porn film watchable. It has been preserved on Vol. 50 of Something Weird's Dragon Art Theatre series, but does not belong in a XXX-oriented package.
Annette toplines (uncredited) as Barbara, a new inmate facing hell in stir. She's abused by the warden Miss Jones, then woman-handled by two femme cell mates, but eventually becomes just one of the girls by the film's violent end. In the meantime she seduces and simulates sex with janitor Henry, played by Norman Fields with whom she teamed in the more enjoyable BRITT BLAZER, a movie made during the same pre-explicitness time frame.
What's unusual about IN FOR LIFE is that the generally incompetent (and anonymous) filmmaker had good taste in music. The soundtrack consists of energetic electronic keyboards' tracks like Ray Manzarek soloing on the Doors' "Light My Fire" and Doug Ingle's lengthy solo in Iron Butterfly's classic "In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida". Three Blue Note label songs by organist Jimmy Smith from the 1950s, including his version of "Deep Purple" from his first hit album BLP 1514 "The Champ" also enliven the proceedings, and all the music features guitar solos by the likes of Robby Krieger, Erik Brann and Thornel Schwartz. Krieger's "Light My Fire" solo is replayed twice in succession. Oddly enough, Krieger's first solo album was for Blue Note in 1977 and featured Jimmy Smith as a guest artist.
Both visuals and editing are a mess throughout, and for the final reel of unexpected nastiness (I won't spoil it by description), there is crude overdubbing of new dialog that is abysmally executed. Just the chance to stare at Annette's wide, dark aureolae is the only point of watching this soft-soft opus.
Annette toplines (uncredited) as Barbara, a new inmate facing hell in stir. She's abused by the warden Miss Jones, then woman-handled by two femme cell mates, but eventually becomes just one of the girls by the film's violent end. In the meantime she seduces and simulates sex with janitor Henry, played by Norman Fields with whom she teamed in the more enjoyable BRITT BLAZER, a movie made during the same pre-explicitness time frame.
What's unusual about IN FOR LIFE is that the generally incompetent (and anonymous) filmmaker had good taste in music. The soundtrack consists of energetic electronic keyboards' tracks like Ray Manzarek soloing on the Doors' "Light My Fire" and Doug Ingle's lengthy solo in Iron Butterfly's classic "In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida". Three Blue Note label songs by organist Jimmy Smith from the 1950s, including his version of "Deep Purple" from his first hit album BLP 1514 "The Champ" also enliven the proceedings, and all the music features guitar solos by the likes of Robby Krieger, Erik Brann and Thornel Schwartz. Krieger's "Light My Fire" solo is replayed twice in succession. Oddly enough, Krieger's first solo album was for Blue Note in 1977 and featured Jimmy Smith as a guest artist.
Both visuals and editing are a mess throughout, and for the final reel of unexpected nastiness (I won't spoil it by description), there is crude overdubbing of new dialog that is abysmally executed. Just the chance to stare at Annette's wide, dark aureolae is the only point of watching this soft-soft opus.