Cutter's Way (1981)

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

Director:

Ivan Passer

Writers:

Newton Thornburg (novel), Jeffrey Alan Fiskin (screenplay)

Stars:

Jeff Bridges, John Heard, Lisa Eichhorn

1 win & 1 nomination.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Jeff Bridges	...	Richard Bone
John Heard	...	Alex Cutter
Lisa Eichhorn	...	'Mo'
Ann Dusenberry	...	Valerie Duran
Stephen Elliott	...	J. J. Cord
Arthur Rosenberg	...	George Swanson
Nina van Pallandt	...	Woman in the Hotel (as Nina Van Pallandt)
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

Storyline

John Heard came back from the war minus an eye, a leg and an arm. He drinks a lot and abuses his wife, who also drinks a lot. Jeff Bridges is a friend who witnesses a murder. From this point John is "after" the killer, along side the diseased sister, while Jeff doesn't really want to get involved in it.

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Plot Keywords:

murder | southern california | cane | melancholy | false accusation | 

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Taglines:

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

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Genres:

Crime | Drama | Mystery | Thriller

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Certificate:

R

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

30 April 1982 (Ireland)

Also Known As:

Cutter and Bone

Filming Locations:

Los Angeles, California, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$3,000,000 (estimated)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Gurian Entertainment

Technical Specs

Runtime:

109 min

Sound Mix:

Stereo

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

The initial budget was supposed to be $3.3 million but then United Artists executive David Field found out that U.A. would only make the movie if the filmmakers were able to reduce the price tag to under three million dollars. Passer and company played along. Then, United Artists said that the film needed a big name star for it to succeed at the box office. The studio liked Jeff Bridges' work in the dailies for Michael Cimino's opus Heaven's Gate and said that they would only further support the film if the filmmakers got the actor to be in their movie.

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Goofs

Just after Bone's car breaks down in the alleyway we see a shot of the second car pulling up behind his and stopping. In the following shot from the inside of Bone's car you can see the the headlights of the second car still moving through the back windscreen.

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Quotes

George Swanson: I'm going to score one for you, Alex.
Alex Cutter: You've been watching too many Babe Ruth movies, George.

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Connections

Featured in Los Angeles Plays Itself (2003)

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Soundtracks

"We're Old Enough to Know"
Written by Jack Nitzsche & John Byrum
Sung by Jack Nitzsche

User Reviews

A hauntingly beautiful portrayal of cynicism and the pathetic human condition

I stumbled upon this movie at the Nickelodeon on Cape Cod the year of its release...at a time when VCR's and DVD's weren't a part of our culture...when you had to travel to obscure and far-out theaters to see obscure and far-out films during the fading window of opportunity offered as its limited run at the movie house. What a gem. I was instantly riveted by the story and the classic performances that brought it to life. The pathetic human condition personified in Cutter, Bone, and Mo is so exquisitely rendered as to be tragic...only salvaged by the clear-eyed wit and insight of John Heard's Cutter and the tempered and logical cynicism and indifference offered up by Bone(Jeff Bridges)as the balance that only these begrudging friends could provide each other. Lisa Eichorn's character(Mo) exhibits equal measures of the qualities both her male couterparts have and her subtle performance points up the conflict she feels in simultaneously rejecting and craving their opposing energies. The scene where she chews them both out for their selfish and naive plot and their spirited responses seems to spill from their beings as genuine emotion...not written dialogue...and it still sends chills through me...very powerful...and the scene where she is made painfully aware of Bone's incurable drive to bed women as she falls prey to his momentary sympathies ..when coupled with her husband's(Cutter) inability to give a soft refuge to her is so tragically realistic...tears flow. Everyone's shortcoming's cross-up everyone else's and as the surrealistic climax develops its symbolism and power are Shakespearian. This movie works as a crime thriller, a portrait of the underbelly of American culture most evidenced in its loss of confidence and embrace of cynicism that came to the surface post-Vietnam...but most successfully as a great character-driven love story and tragedy.