1. Volume R of the Encyclopedia is updated. There are more than 500 additions!

2. The Fun House has a new hero. It's been a while since we added anyone to the Fun House Hall of Fame. The greats like Abe Vigoda and Joe Don Baker only come along about once in a generation. Now this generation has its representative. We present our new main man, Eric "the Eel" Moussambani.

3. Score another one for Tuna, as he again beats the official release date on a DVD. Yesterday, he picked up Love Letters, today Jackson County Jail, even though neither of these officially exists yet!

This isn't bad as a "late night, nothing to do" film, even though it was produced and directed by unknowns, and stars a bunch of people you probably never heard of (and features Adrienne Barbeau in a very small role!).

A couple of Texans are touring Mexico when a young woman sneaks into their Winnebago, planning to use it as her entree into the United States. As the couple makes their way back to Texas, they stop to photograph a sunrise, and in the process they inadvertantly capture some stills of a drug deal gone sour. The bad guys see their vehicle, stop them, and kill them, little knowing that the stowaway saw everything.

From that cauldron comes the stew of corrupt border officials, drugs, and an honest sheriff who finds the clues leading to a conclusion he'd rather not draw. The murder/drug plot is in the foreground, but the background is the real-life experience of the Latins trying to find their way into the States. (In this case, they originate in Guatemala)

The lovely Sigal Erez, shown in these collages, not only stripped stark naked to play the part of the stowaway, but she also co-wrote the script with the director, Martin Spottl. And she has an impressive body, as well as an interesting ethnic face, although I think she is probably older than the ingenue role implied.

As far as I know, this is the only film effort from either Spottl or Erez. Erez also wrote 13 episodes of the Televisa drama "Hotel San Miguel". The star, Brad Johnson, is a competent veteran TV guy who made the People Magazine "50 Most Beautiful List" a decade ago, but whose career has drifted since.

This is OK for a small-budget independent movie, but note very carefully that some of the glowing customer raves at IMDb and amazon.com seem to have been written by people involved in the movie.

Box office: as far as I know, this film went straight-to-vid. No reviews are available. It was featured at the San Diego Latino Film Festival in March.

IMDB summary: not enough votes to qualify

DVD info from Amazon. There is no widescreen version, but the 4:3 version is clear and the colors are vivid.

Jackson County Jail (1976) is being released next Tuesday on DVD. It is a Roger Corman exploitation film staring Yvette Mimieux and Tommy Lee Jones in his film debut. It also features Robert Carradine in a supporting role. In a short interview with Maltin and Corman on the DVD, Corman says that it was one of his most successful films, and credits great acting and a strong feminist theme. He also said he is working on a sequel.

The story could be called Yvette Gets Screwed. As the movie opens, she is screening a sanitary napkin commercial she produced for her male boss. He hates it, and berates her in front of everyone. She goes home to discover her husband playing with a topless starlet (Marciee Drake). When she confronts him, the husband reminds her that it is his house, and suggests she move out.

She calls her old boss in New York, gets her old job back, and decides to drive from LA to NY. She stops for breakfast at a greasy spoon, and the waitress/cashier tries to screw her out of $5.00 change. She picks up two hitchhikers, who beat her up and steal her car. She makes her way to a convenience store, and the owner tries to rape her, then accuses her of attacking him when a policeman unexpectedly arrives. She is locked up next to a convicted murderer (Tommy Lee Jones), who has been caught hijacking a truck. When the night jailer rapes her, she finally starts fighting back.

Mimieux and Tommy Lee Jones gave good performances in what was, to me, a pretty weak exploitation plot, but the supporting cast gave performances that were so over the top it was more like comedy than action. Yvette shows her nipples during the jail cell rape several times, and the starlet (Marciee Drake) is also shown topless. The DVD transfer is not very good, being washed out and grainy. The focus is also not good, but that is probably the fault of the original film. Maltin claims this film has a cult following in the only professional review I could find, but only one of the cult members has commented at IMDB. If you miss this one, life as you know it will not end.

And Sophie Marceau.. No excuses needed, none offered when it comes to posting pics of her. Twas the best thing 'bout the last Bond movie. Which reminds me. Yo, Bond boys. Next time you get together to plan a movie, two pieces of advice: 1) We like Bond flics to be fun; we do not like them grim; 2) Sophie's the good girl, Denise is the bad girl. Boneheads.

Scoopy adds, "Oh yeah, and don't forget to bring back Fun House resident Love God Joe Don Baker."

Here's a neat little gem that Something Weird Video now owns. Just got to love those sleazy 70's movies, R with explicit nudity, even some hardcore.