Jackson County Jail (1976) UA/Action-Drama RT: 84 minutes Rated R (violence, rape, nudity, language) Director: Michael Miller Screenplay: Donald E. Stewart Music: L. Loren Newkirk Cinematography: Bruce Logan Release date: April 11, 1976 (US) Cast: Yvette Mimieux, Tommy Lee Jones, Robert Carradine, Nancy Noble, Howard Hesseman, Britt Leach, John Lawlor, Severn Darden, Frederic Cook, Gus Peters, Patrice Rohmer, Amparo Mimieux, Mary Woronov, Nan Martin, Betty Thomas. Box Office: N/A
Rating: ***
Cinema can be many things. It can be entertaining, educational, provocative or, in the case of Jackson County Jail, cautionary. The lesson to be learned from the 1976 crime thriller about a single woman running afoul of the law while driving cross country is simple, TAKE THE PLANE! Don’t you know that only injustice lies out there? Have we learned nothing from Easy Rider?
Life in L.A. proves to be nothing but constant aggravation for Dinah (Mimieux, The Time Machine), an advertising executive who isn’t taken seriously by her sexist male colleagues. Her husband (Hesseman, WKRP in Cincinnati) is a serial philanderer. She decides to pack it all in and move back to New York City. Instead of flying, she opts to hit the open road so she can see America up close. BIG MISTAKE, DINAH! She picks up a young couple hitchhiking, Bobby Ray (Carradine, Massacre at Central High) and his pregnant girlfriend Lola (Noble, She-Devils on Wheels). Sure enough, they pull a gun and rob her of everything she has including her car. It’s only the beginning of her nightmare.
Dinah goes to an empty bar and asks the owner (Leach, Weird Science) for help only to have him try to rape her. A local deputy (Lawlor, The Facts of Life) arrests her for assault after she tries to defend herself. With no form of ID on her, she’s put in a jail cell until her identity can be verified. The sheriff (Darden, Conquest of the Planet of the Apes) promises they’ll straighten it all out by morning. During the night, a deputy (Cook, Schizoid) sneaks into her cell and rapes her. Dinah takes a stool and beats him to death. Blake (Jones, Black Moon Rising), a murderer in the adjacent cell awaiting extradition back to Texas, grabs his keys and drags the shocked Dinah out of there making them both fugitives.
For me, Jackson County Jail is also somewhat educational. While doing my usual post-viewing research, I learned a new term, Hixploitation. It refers to a type of exploitation movie that deals in rural white Southerner stereotypes- e.g. deranged weirdos, racist rednecks and moonshiners. Other examples of Hixploitation include The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, Macon County Line, Dixie Dynamite and Mother’s Day. While it’s tempting to lump Jackson County Jail into the “women in prison” subgenre of exploitation, it’s not accurate because the heroine spends more time on the road than locked up in jail. If anything, it’s a “fugitive couple on the run” flick.
Although distributed by United Artists, Jackson County Jail is actually a New World picture produced by Roger Corman. It’s actually one of NW’s better efforts from the Drive-In Era of the 70s. On one level, it’s a decent action picture with a few nicely mounted shootouts and chases including one that ends in a fiery crash. The finale with cops chasing Blake through a small town Bicentennial parade is exciting. On another level, it’s a tense crime thriller about an innocent person’s nightmare encounter with the unjust Southern legal system. It’s doubly worse for Dinah because she’s a woman on top of being from the wrong side of the Mason-Dixon Line. On yet another level, it’s a terrifying look at the reality of the American Dream. In a particularly insightful monologue, Jones’ character explains that it doesn’t exist for people like him and Dinah. I’m paraphrasing, but that’s the gist of it. The one thing it’s not is a female empowerment story. Dinah driving across the country is clearly meant to be symbolic of her taking control of her life. It’s a man who takes away that control leaving her at the mercy of other men determined to strip her of her freedom. It all leads to a bleak, downbeat ending.
The performances in Jackson County Jail are unusually strong starting with Jones as the career criminal who’s seen it all. Equal parts charismatic and dangerous, Blake’s the kind of criminal that accepts his lot in life with no regrets. Jones slips into the role with easy conviction never once overplaying his hand by camping it up. Mimieux is also quite good as the fish out of water character, a stranger in a strange land where she doesn’t understand the language. Her fear is palpable as Blake takes her on a road trip leading straight to hell.
Director Michael Miller (Silent Rage) makes excellent use of the sparse, desolate landscapes of the American South. There’s nothing flashy about his direction as he keeps Jackson County Jail moving along at a nice clip. Bleak in tone and appearance, it’s sleazy without wallowing in it. It tells a story with an actual point without ever betraying its exploitation origins. Neither Miller nor his cast goes for OTT in playing out what can only be described as a Yankee’s worst nightmare. It’s also a reminder that air travel is the safer alternative.
