MovieChat Forums > Jackson County Jail (1976) Discussion > Jackson County Jail is edited down

Jackson County Jail is edited down


Am I the only one on the internet that saw this in it's first or second year?
This film played on HBO back in late 76' or early 77' and my familly and I saw it (I still have the HBO guide listing it!)

This film is one of the many films of the 70's that has been cut down (edited) and re-distributed in a cut form for years. For so long that people are used to the edited version and will swear up and down that this is the way the film originaly played. The rape scene in the jail is very long in the original, and though I understand this is sensitive material, perhaps because of a crack down on violent films in the early 80's, this 'rape' scene was cut down incredibly. What has been distributed on VHS in the 80's and on DVD today is still the cut version of the film.

As I type this a friend of mine walked into the room and we were discussing these cut films, he pointed out, "are you sure you not just remembering it that way?" to which I replied no. As I pointed out earlier, during this time HBO ran these films over and over. They were not a 24 hour network, nor did they have the inventory of programming they have today. I saw this film numerous times in the space of a month. And further proof that some films were cut down early on and never seen in their original form again are evident on Paramount releases of there horror films. Friday the 13th, Happy Birthday to Me, April Fools Day, all cut down on DVD. All That Jazz released on VHS, Laserdisc, and also DVD is cut down also than what originally appeared.

Just thought I'd post this and see if anyone, anybody, saw this back in 76' or 77' in it's original form. If you saw it on VHS in the 80's, or after, it was already cut.

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I saw this in the movies back when it was first out in 1976. I do remember the rape sequence being quite long and disturbing. And this isn't the only film I've seen on video that was altered either. You like to think you're getting the original version on cable, video or DVD. But that's not always the case....

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Since it's a certainty that JCJ has been edited more often than not, does that mean the listed running time is accurate? What are the most reliable running times available for the theatrical and edited versions? Jbjbcme, you seem to be the person to ask...


Movies I went to see on this date

2005: Wedding Crashers 8/10

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Are men beaten and raped in all movies? I've just finished watching Thomas And The Magic Railroad and they must have cut that scene out. I'm going to demand my money back.

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I was a bit too young to see this in its original release, but I remember it airing on HBO in the late '70s. I don't believe I watched it in full then, but I'm watching it now on DVD (the "Roger Corman's Cult Classics" release, which I believe is uncut because the rape scene is especially brutal).

You were very wise to save that HBO guide! I love those little things.

Say, do you remember what time HBO would go off the air in the late '70s? It seems to me they'd start their final show at around midnight, and sign off when the movie ended, maybe 1:30 or 2 a.m. By the mid-'80s (and probably before), HBO aired 'round-the-clock programming, though a lot of the night-owl programming was films like "Bachelor Party" that would play in very heavy rotation.

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There was another version of this movie called "Outside Chance":
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0074706/board/nest/46041298?ref_=tt_bd_1

Most of the same actors, except for Tommy Lee Jones. As I recall, the plot was different - Yvette Mimeux was actually kidnapped by hitchhikers and then they robbed a store and killed the proprietor and Yvette was convicted right along with them. She then was raped in the county jail and then sentenced to prison. She escaped from prison later with one of the hitchhikers (who happened to also have been caught and sentenced to the same prison).

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Your post is now 8 years old, but I remember the same as you on Happy Birthday to Me, which when I saw on DVD recently definitly was not the full vesion I saw in the theater. We also now know that Friday the 13th had a few edits as well, with some of the box sets and reissues showing "lost" footage.

I'd be curious to know if you, or anyone else, has any information verifying the deleted scenes or running times of the films.

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