eternally entrance firebrand actress yvette mimieux score her best and strong and most commanding and effective role to date a a smart and classy and fiercely self sufficient no bullst los angeles businesswoman who run afoul of psycho hick and rapist redneck cop when she go down south during her cross country trek from california to new york . poor yvette have one of those day which justify the age old cliché sometimes it good to stay home in bed represent her car be steal by a creepy backwoods hick nutjob ( an intense and jittery robert carradine and who genuinely frighten in a rare full blood sicko fruitcake part ) and she wrongly put in the hoosegow by the local yokel cop after loutish bartender britt leach try to sexually assault her and kill one particularly unpleasant hillbilly fuzzball after he brutally rap her ( the rape scene itself be quite graphic and upsetting ) and break out of jail and subsequently go on the lam with tough and but tender hearted career criminal tommy lee jones . jackson county jail qualifies a one of those great legendary rarity represent it a 70 redneck drive in exploitation movie that not only deliver the good and then some and but also the kind of gritty and top notch and fairly plausible flick that both wholly earn and completely live up to it killer cult status . mark miller remarkably artful and assured direction play a key role in make the film the grind house classic that it be represent the quick and unrelenting pace never let up for a minute and the action scene be rouse and marvelously choreograph and and the solid and pretty complicate and arrest narrative hook the viewer from the get go . moreover and the film astute depiction of the relative difference and similarity between cop and criminal be wickedly subversive represent the crook for the most part be loyal and honorable and compassionate folk while a majority of the police be total aholes . this deliciously amoral masterstroke and a typically twisted piece of 70 b movie nihilism which boldly buck convention and lift jackson county jail well above the rut of your standard issue by the number formula drive in fare . however and that not to say that jackson county jail fails to hit the bull eye in other department while it an across the board winner in every conceivable way . the uniformly excellent cast alone testify to this represent severn darden a a prissy and kindly and quirky sheriff and howard hesseman a yvette faithless smarmy husband and mary woronov a a butch lesbian outlaw gal and revenge of the cheerleader adorable lead bimbo patrice rohmer a jones jealous ex girlfriend and cliff emmich a a loathsome male chauvinist ceo yvette tell off at the start of the movie and and future hill street blue tv series regular betty thomas a a saucy and outspoken greasy spoon waitress who try to fleece yvette out of ten buck . loren newkirk melancholy and harmonica heavy and nicely down home country score and the often razor sharp dialogue ( when yvette tell jones to be careful when he face off with the pig at the film thrill conclusion and jones responds with this choice fatalistic retort represent i be bear dead anyway ) and the unsparingly bleak and harsh downbeat nightmarish tone and and especially bruce logan agile and polished cinematography ( the use of hand hold camera for jones climactic face off with the law really do the stir trick ) be all also highly impressive . gripping and suspenseful and excite in comparable measure and jackson county jail stand tall a a sterling example of 70 hayseed exploitation cinema at it tense and tantalize zenith .