Women in prison flicks are among the sleaziest exploitation movies that cinema has to offer, possibly exceeded only by Naziploitation and nunsploitation. Women in prison flicks are all about the subjugation and humiliation of women, both through loss of personal freedom and sexual violence. There are only passing moments of redemption for this subgenre, as the victimized protagonist usually gets a small amount of justice at the end, but that’s only window dressing.
This is Shitty Movie Sundays, where every shitty movie, even ones that are badly dated, get a showing. It’s a fruitless endeavor to try and impose the morals of today on the past, so Missile Test says go ahead and watch the sleaziest of the sleaze, and feel free to ignore that twinge of guilt one feels when they find they actually enjoy it.
Even after that above notice, and retroactive justification, The Concrete Jungle is more restrained than most women in prison flicks. Sure, the greatest hits are there. The prison shower, a little lesbianism, some rape, a female warden who looks as if she dabbles in S&M, and, of course, female nudity. But the scale is much less than something like Caged Heat, which set the standard by featuring four shower scenes. No movie is ever beating that record.
The Concrete Jungle is more of a character driven story. It uses the sleazy parts to draw in eyes, but that’s not the main focus. That, in fact, is a more accurate definition of exploitation cinema than when a movie is entirely about the spectacle.
The focus of this film is Elizabeth Demming (Tracey E. Bregman, before she began a long career in soap operas), a young woman whose shitty boyfriend, Danny (Peter Brown), hides a bunch of cocaine in her skis before she flies back to California from overseas. 
Elizabeth gets busted at the airport, and is sentenced to prison.
The warden of the prison, played by Jill St. John, is a harsh disciplinarian, but is also in business with Cat (BarBara Luna), the Queen Bee of the dormitory where Elizabeth is assigned. If you’ve seen one prison flick, you’ve seen them all. Going into the details of the plot is a waste of time. Cat and Elizabeth find themselves in conflict, and the innocent new prisoner is transformed into a tough fighter. Then there is conflict with the warden, with Elizabeth dead set on extracting justice any way she can.
In a film that’s so boilerplate, it’s the quality of the filmmaking that matters. Objectively, there’s not much good to say. Half the cast can read their lines, and half cannot. Characters come and go so swiftly that they can’t be developed. The sets and costumes are decent but, surprising since this was filmed in a former prison, not that convincing. The tone of the film matches network television movies of the time, with the only differentiating factor being the nudity, and the graphic nature of the rape scene.
As for that rape scene, the victim, an inmate at the mercy of prison guard Stone (Robert Miano), was played by Camille Keaton, whose most famous role was the rape victim in I Spit on Your Grave. That is a rough typecasting hole to be in.
The major impression I have of the film is the color grey. The walls are grey, the floors are grey, the prison outfits are grey. It’s a color choice that evokes cheapness for me. For some reason, a cool grey palette is commonplace in b-movies, especially when there doesn’t seem to have been a budget for set dressing. In my experience, it’s a useful shorthand to create an oppressive atmosphere, but it’s lazy, cheap, and tends to make sets look like they come from a one act play in the NYC Fringe Festival.
It’s par for the course with this flick, though. This could have been a compelling movie, but despite the scattered moments of exploitation, The Concrete Jungle is a pretty dull affair. Director Tom DeSimone created a flat product. Any sharp edges are filed down by the existence of other flicks that are far more unrestrained, far more offensive, far more titillating, and far more entertaining. This is an exploitation movie, but in the same way that decaf is coffee. The Concrete Jungle enters the Watchability Index at #417, displacing Burnout.