Cutter's Way (1981)

Director:

Ivan Passer

Writers:

Jeffrey Alan Fiskin (writer)
Newton Thornburg (novel)

Release Date:

28 April 1983 (Australia)

Genre:

Crime | Drama | Thriller

Tagline:

Cutter does everything his way. Fighting. Loving. Working. Tracking down a killer.

Plot:

Richard spots a man dumping a body, and decides to expose the man he thinks is the culprit with his friend Alex Cutter.

Plot Keywords:

Murder | Corpse | Gun | Arson | Southern California

Awards:

1 win & 1 nomination

Cast

Jeff Bridges	...	Richard Bone
John Heard	...	Alex Cutter
Lisa Eichhorn	...	Maureen Cutter, 'Mo'
Ann Dusenberry	...	Valerie Duran
Stephen Elliott	...	J. J. Cord
Arthur Rosenberg	...	George Swanson
Nina Van Pallandt	...	Woman in the Hotel
Patricia Donahue	...	Mrs. Cord
Geraldine Baron	...	Susie Swanson
Katherine Pass	...	Toyota Woman
Francis X. McCarthy	...	Toyota Man (as Frank McCarthy)
George Planco	...	Toyota Cop
Jay Fletcher	...	Cord Security Guard
George Dickerson	...	Mortician
Jack Murdock	...	Concession Owner

Also Known As:

Cutter and Bone

Runtime:

105 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Stereo

Certification:

Iceland:L | Canada:R (Ontario) | Australia:M | UK:15 | USA:R

Filming Locations:

Santa Barbara, California, USA

Company:

Gurian

Trivia:

Producer Paul Gurian gave script-writer Jeffrey Alan Fiskin a list of directors, and asked him who he thought should direct the film. Ivan Passer's name was the only one the screenwriter didn't recognize. To investigate the director, Fiskin and a couple of United Artists executives screened Passer's 1965 Czech film Intimate Lightning and agreed that he was the man to direct the film. Interestingly enough, in 1971, Passer delivered the film Born to Win to United Artists.

Goofs:

Continuity: When Alex Cutter is charging across the estate on a horse, his missing arm changes sides briefly.

Quotes:

Richard Bone: You have an overactive imagination.
Alex Cutter: These are just the facts, Rich. I mean, I haven't even begun to let my imagination loose on this thing.

Movie Connections:

Featured in Los Angeles Plays Itself (2003)

Soundtrack:

We're Old Enough to Know

Misleading homage to noir

Here is a film that sneaks up on you. It starts out by introducing you two three off-kilter characters--Jeff Bridges as the drifting playboy Bone; John Heard as the crippled Cutter, a man of uncompromising rage and a razor-sharp tongue; and Lisa Eichorn as the Cutter's terminally depressed wife Mo. Within the first half-hour of meeting these pathetic folk, the narrative drops in a murder mystery: a girl's body is found in a garbage can and Bone is the chief suspect. When Bone has a momentary revelation and thinks that he saw local millionaire JJ Cord disposing of the body, Cutter becomes obsessed with proving Cord's guilt. They have no evidence, you see, but as Cutter is a Vietnam vet scarred from the war and Cord represents all the "fat cats" that sent young men to 'Nam to die, Cutter thinks a little payback is in order ("He's not just anybody," Cutter growls. "He's responsible!").

After this bizarre set-up, the film takes an unusual turn. It stops being about the mystery and more about Cutter's efforts to push Bone into taking some kind of action--any action--to give his life value. In fact, the question of Cord's guilt is left hanging, and we are treated instead to a powerful climax that leaves us breathless as the screen goes black.

Clearly one of my favorite films, the performance of John Heard alone is worth the price of admission. The mutilated Cutter is missing a leg, an arm and an eye, and he hobbles about swearing and growling like a drunken pirate. Some critics find Cutter offensive; I totally identified with his anger, although I felt that he took it too far at times. Nevertheless, Heard has given us one of the screen's truly memorable characters. You won't forget this film soon.