Macon County Jail

At this point, producer Roger Corman had made a career of recycling props and sets, as well as footage from other movies. So it should come as no surprise that he eventually went to recycling old scripts as well. This is actually the third go-around for this story (the previous two were "Jackson County Jail" and "Outside Chance".) You might think that having a woman screenwriter/director this time around might jazz things up somewhat, but you'd be wrong. This looks even cheaper than JCJ, for one thing. The two leads don't seem to be having any fun in their roles, and their tired spirits really weigh down on the movie. The movie tries to be faster-paced than its predecessors, but after the first half hour it really pads things out when it realizes that it still has an hour of running time to go. There is a slap-dash feeling to the entire movie, from reflections of boom mikes in car windows to the fact that jailed convict Carradine is allowed to wear an earring in his jail cell.

Still, that first shot is pretty impressive.

"Macon County Jail" has some pretty lame acting. Ally Sheedy appears to be either hysterical or comatose, and David Carradine acts like he would rather be somewhere else. All of this mediocrity allows Charles Napier's performance to stand out, and he is without question the most interesting character in this soggy jailbreak saga. The script seems extremely contrived, and clichés abound, all of which makes the gratuitous car crashes and explosions totally predictable. Sheedy's abrupt change from meek victim to gun toting desperado is anything but believable. Several weak attempts at humor leaves the film with a curious lack of identity, when contrasted with the brutal rape scene. - MERK

David Carradine stars as a prisoner who protects a vulnerable Ally Sheedy from a corrupt prison warden (played by, of course, Charles Napier) who is out to exact vengeance on Sheedy for the murder of a prison guard trying to rape Sheedy, once again it is up to Carradine to protect her and provide us lucky audiences with a romance subplot between the ancient Carradine and the fairly old Ally Sheedy. Back in the 80's, Sheedy was a brat-packer that like Molly Ringwald, went absolutely nowhere after the decade closed. Following her other co-star Judd Nelson's route, she started making B.movie fodder such as this and this is probably her and David Carradine's most high profile movies in quite some time. By that of course, I mean that it was the only new David Carradine movie you could rent at your local video store because the last one I saw was the dreadful Kill Zone and that was of course sad, since David Carradine is a fairly good actor. Oh and unlike most movies with David Carradine it actually was on Cinemax everyday when it came out, So I was able to tape it and watch it. The movie breaks no real ground as it basically is the elderly version of Bonnie and Clyde. However I do like the fact that Carradine at 60 is still doing these type of movies because few actors are as effortlessly likable as David Carradine. The movie itself rarely deviates from formula but for Carradine fans, this was the best movie he starred in, in the 1990's. True story, sad as it is.

* * out of 4-(Fair)

This film was so bad that the content of the movie is not even reviewable. The performances by Ally Sheedy and David Carradine represent their darkest cinematic hour. In their defense, if that's possible, the budget for this film had to have provided for only one take for every scene. I simply can't think of any other reason how a film could be so poorly put together. At one point I really thought that Sheedy and Carradine were intentionally "bad acting", and that the film was intended to be a "quasi" spoof. It wasn't. But here's the interesting thing about this movie. The movie was so bad that it was, in an odd way, fascinating to watch. I'm sure Ally Sheedy blushes anytime she's within earshot of a mention of this film. It's always interesting to see someone with talent do something remarkable, whether good or bad.

If you must see a bad movie, this is a good one. Ally Sheedy and David Carradine were at low points in their careers when they made this movie, so they were available but are too good for the cheesy, sensational plot. The villainous sheriff is good, too, but mainly Sheedy and Carradine have to deal with his hapless minions who are no fun--they fall over too easily.