Jackson County Jail (1976)

This is a powerful drama about a young woman who stumbles into a nightmare land of hijacking and humiliation while driving cross-country from California to New York.

Director:

Michael Miller

Writer:

Donald Stewart

Stars:

Yvette Mimieux, Tommy Lee Jones, Lisa Copeland

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Yvette Mimieux	...	Dinah Hunter
Tommy Lee Jones	...	Coley Blake
Lisa Copeland	...	Girl in Commercial
Cliff Emmich	...	Mr. Bigelow (as Clifford Emmich)
Michael Ashe	...	Mr. Cooper
Edward Marshall	...	Mr. Blight
Howard Hesseman	...	David
Marciee Drake	...	Candy (David's Girlfriend)
Nan Martin	...	Allison
Betty Thomas	...	Waitress
Ken Lawrence	...	Paulie (Trucker at Counter)
Arthur Wong	...	Cook
Marcie Barkin	...	Girl in Restaurant (as Marci Barkin)
Nancy Lee Noble	...	Lola (as Nancy Noble)
Robert Carradine	...	Bobby Ray

Storyline

This is a powerful drama about a young woman who stumbles into a nightmare land of hijacking and humiliation while driving cross-country from California to New York.

---

Plot Keywords:

psychotic | jail | stranded | hitchhiker | wrongful arrest | 

---

Taglines:

What they do to her in the Jackson County Jail is a crime!

---

Genres:

Action | Crime | Drama | Thriller

---

Certificate:

R

Details

Official Sites:

Roger Corman: The Official DVD Website

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

April 1976 (USA)

Also Known As:

The Innocent Victim

Filming Locations:

Paso Robles, California, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$445,000 (estimated)

Company Credits

Production Co:

New World Pictures

Technical Specs

Runtime:

84 min

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Color (Metrocolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

The jail cell and the police station were both built on sound stages.

---

Quotes

Dinah Hunter: They're gonna kill you!
Coley Blake: That don't matter. I was born dead.

---

Connections

Remade as Macon County Jail (1997)

User Reviews

B-Movie, 70's Style

Fast, tough, and unsentimental. Sure, a potboiler like this is not going to win any awards, but it's got more sheer pluck and energy than twenty A-productions of the time. Pity poor Dinah Hunter (Mimieux). One minute she's a bigshot ad executive in Hollywood; the next, she's ducking cop bullets somewhere in fly-over country. It's a yuppie nightmare all the way for poor Dinah, a steady downhill once she tries a cross-country car ride. On the way she meets homicidal kids, a chiseling waitress, a righteous cop, and a prison guard from heck. No wonder she's on the run with cool dude Coley (Jones). How else can you deal with a cross section of Roger Corman's rural America. Next time she better take the plane like other bi-coastal types.

Corman really hit pay dirt with hillbilly epics like Boxcar Bertha (1972), Big Bad Mama (1974), Crazy Mama (1975), and this one. One look at these and you'd think rural America is just as bloody and hormonally driven as big city America. But these epics are also in the great tradition of the American B-movie, those cheap productions that show guts, energy, and style. Sure, a flick like JCJ is also what some might call vulgar and exploitative, which it is. Still, there can be a lot of truth even in exaggerated crowd pleasers. Besides, these drive-in specials are generally entertaining as heck, just like this one.