Poe's Trailer Trash: Black Mama, White Mama (1973)

Before Jonathan Demme started directing such little known films as Silence of the Lambs and Philadelphia, he cut his teeth writing or directing films in the women in prison genre for Roger Corman's New World Pictures. Demme was one of the writers for Black Mama, White Mama, a crazy mix of the blaxploitation and WIP (women in prison) genres. Basically a reworking of The Defiant Ones starring Sidney Poitier and Tony Curtis, with the lovely Pam Grier and radiant Karen Brent in the Poitier and Curtis roles, the film is more of an adventure film than a true WIP, though we do get the obligatory shower and catfight scenes early on to satisfy fans of the genre. Grindhouse legend Sid Haig turns up as a gangster.