James Cotton Movies

A man who turns to crime to survive finds it even more difficult to get by behind bars in this hard-edged drama. Slim (William Van Nolan) is a drug dealer who sells heroin in order to finance his own habit. Slim and his partner (Peter Quartaroli) think they have a major dope deal set up, but they discover too late that they've been set up for a police "sting," and Slim's best efforts at plea bargaining still leave him with a long sentence in a hardscrabble state prison in the Deep South. Slim quickly discovers that much of the prison population is divided along strict racial lines, and while Slim does his best to stay away from the racially inspired violence, a drug deal gone sour among his fellow inmates puts Slim on the enemies list of Sammytown (Sam McBride), the brutal leader of the prison's white supremacist population. As Slim tries his best to survive his time in the state lockup, he soon hears from both his former partner and his ex-girlfriend (Joy Garner) -- and they don't have his best interest at heart. Down Time was the first feature film from writer/director Sean Wilson, which he claims was based on his own experiences as a prison inmate. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

Shooting in 16mm, Chris Brown filmed this portrait of a lower-middle-class Northern California family of three women, all living in the same house: Sean (Jill Pixley) postpones college while working at a diner and driving a dying car. Gina, Sean's chain-smoking grandmother suffers a mild stroke but tries to keep it a secret. Sean's mother Jade (Robin Huntington), celebrating her 50th birthday, must decide whether or not to continue the van shuttle service she operates from her home. This is life in Livermore as the vineyards vanish, and the 20th Century comes to a close. Shown at the 1997 Mill Valley Film Festival. ~ Bhob Stewart, All Movie Guide

Adapted from a novel by pulp writer Jim Thompson, After Dark, My Sweet evokes memories of the film noirs of yore. Jason Patric plays Collie, a short-fused ex-boxer who gets mixed up with alcoholic widow Fay (Rachel Ward) and burned-out former lawman Uncle Bud (Bruce Dern). These two lowlifes involve Collie in a kidnapping scheme. At first willing to go along with the plan, Collie tires of Fay's drunken mood swings and seeks out new companionship. Doctor George Dickinson proves all too eager to be friends with Collie -- more than friends, in fact. Driven back into Fay's arms, Collie agrees to aid in the kidnapping. But when the victim turns out to be diabetic, things go from bad to worse. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Jennie (Susan Strasberg) travels to San Francisco to locate her hippie brother Steve (Bruce Dern). She meets Stoney (Jack Nicholson) in a coffeehouse and he helps her look for Steve, who Stoney has seen in his various attempts to start a rock & roll band. Stoney and his pals transform the square girl into a swinging hippie chick, complete with a mod miniskirt. Along with their buddy Dave (Dean Stockwell), they search for Steve amidst the psychedelic splendor of the Haight-Ashbury hippie haunts. Dave is killed by a car when he wanders around in an STP-induced stupor. LSD, marijuana, and the good and the bad sides of hippie life are illustrated with non-judgmental accuracy. The soundtrack of the movie is a musical gem, complete with the international smash "Incense and Peppermints" by the Strawberry Alarm Clock. (The group reached the top of the charts with the song in October 1967.) Also on hand are the Seeds, although they don't get to perform their best-known song, "Pushin' to Hard." (Seeds lead singer Sky Saxon would gain as much notoriety as an acid casualty as he would from his musical ability.) Also adding music are the Storybook and Cryque Boenzee. The latter group contained Rusty Young and George Grantham, who would join with former Buffalo Springfield members Richie Furay and Jim Messina from the legendary, long-lived country-rock band Poco. This time-capsulized gem was produced by Dick Clark, the world's oldest teenager. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide