JACKSON
COUNTY JAIL (1976)Director: Michael Miller
New Concorde
JACKSON
COUNTY JAIL (1976)This Roger Corman New World production concerns LA TV executive Dinah Hunter (Yvette Mimieux), who takes off for a new career in New York after being ridiculed at her job and cheated on by her husband for the last time. During a long car ride, she is abused by nearly everyone that she runs into.
Along the way, she picks up a seemingly nice young couple who end up stealing her car at gunpoint and leaving her in the woods of the most backwards hick county. Going to a honky tonk for help, the owner tries to assault her just before a cop arrives. The officer totally disregards her plea, and throws her in the slammer for vagrancy.
Without any identification, she is forced to spend the night in the small jail right next to the cell of comely thief Coley Blake (Tommy Lee Jones). The repulsive overnight officer decides to have his way and violently rapes her. In a fit of rage, she repeatedly bashes him over the head with a stool, killing him. Coley grabs the keys and convinces the hapless heroine to become a fugitive with him.
With a fine line between exploitation and drama, it's easy to see why JACKSON COUNTY JAIL is such a cult favorite. Jones and Mimieux carry the events well as two characters from totally different worlds, on the run and sweating through turmoil together. Miller remade the film two years later for television, and Corman still says that he wants to remake it again! Film buffs will have fun seeing such stars as Howard Hesseman, Betty Thomas, David Carradine, Mary Woronov and Severn Darden (as the sheriff!) in smaller roles. Not nearly as crazy as say, a Jack Hill film, but still a worthwhile drive-in flick.
This is one of the first DVDs released on Corman's newly formed New Concorde label (formerly New Horizons). It's full frame, and the colors look sort of yellowish, with darker scenes lacking definition. The mono sound is pretty scratchy. There is a Leonard Maltin interview with Corman (who claims that this was Jones' first film; it wasn't), trailers, and biographies on some of the film's stars. (George R. Reis)