Prime Cut (1972)

A vicious Kansas City slaughterhouse owner and his hick family are having a bloody "beef" with the Chicago crime syndicate over profits from their joint illegal operations. Top enforcer Nick Devlin is sent to straighten things out.

Director:

Michael Ritchie

Writer:

Robert Dillon

Stars:

Lee Marvin, Gene Hackman, Sissy Spacek

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Lee Marvin	...	Nick Devlin
Gene Hackman	...	Mary Ann
Angel Tompkins	...	Clarabelle
Gregory Walcott	...	Weenie
Sissy Spacek	...	Poppy
Janit Baldwin	...	Violet
Bill Morey	...	Shay (as William Morey)
Clint Ellison	...	Delaney
Howard Platt	...	Shaughnessy
Les Lannom	...	O'Brien
Eddie Egan	...	Jake
Therese Reinsch	...	Jake's Girl
Bob Wilson	...	Reaper Driver
Gordon Signer	...	Brockman
Gladys Watson	...	Milk Lady

Storyline

A Chicago mob enforcer is sent to Kansas City to settle a debt with a cattle rancher who not only grinds his enemies into sausage, but sells women as sex slaves.

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Plot Keywords:

combine harvester | anti hero | shootout | organized crime | mob enforcer | 

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Taglines:

Any way they slice it, it's going to be murder.

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Genres:

Action | Crime | Drama | Thriller

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Certificate:

R

Did You Know?

Trivia

The hinted gay relationship between the two brothers was considered groundbreaking at the time.

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Goofs

When Nick enters the cornfield there's a spot on the back of his jacket. Next scene the strap on the pouch is covering it.

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Quotes

Poppy: I never knew a man before; not even to talk to.
Nick Devlin: Well where did they keep you?
Poppy: In the orphanage with the other girls.
Nick Devlin: And where was that?
Poppy: It was in Missouri. It's the only home I really remember. It was in the country.
Nick Devlin: Then you have nobody?
Poppy: Just Violet.
Nick Devlin: Who?
Poppy: Violet, the other girl that was with me. She's my sister... well, not truly but we're closer than that. Violet and me we'd climb into each other's bed when it was really cold in the winter time and hug each other really close. Sometimes we'd touch ...

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Crazy Credits

In all of the marketing media, Lee Marvin and Gene Hackman were both billed above the title. However, in the opening credits, only Marvin is.

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Connections

References Murders in the Rue Morgue (1971)

User Reviews

Lee Marvin was the ultimate in professional torpedoes

In the Fifties, in "Violent Saturday," he made a little name as the killer who kept using a nose spray while terrorizing Sylvia Sidney and a bank… When Don Siegel made the second version of Hemingway's "The Killers," he was the cool, hard gunman who knew he was being paid to do the job and would definitely do it, come hell or high water…

His "Prime Cut," is a study in professionalism… Before that came "Point Blank," in which again he was the unstoppable force… But watch him in "Prime Cut." Notice the care with which he handles the tools of his trade, the cavalry rifle which takes to pieces and is lovingly kept in a neat executive-style case…

He is a "hit man," a torpedo who can be hired by the new breed of businessman-gangster… Pressured into a job against his will, he is sent to Kansas City to enforce his employer's demands for payment from another gangster-type… From then on, a trail of murder, malice and killing makes the screen run red… If the baddies all come to sticky ends – so does at least one innocent person, whom Marvin involves – as in the case of the truck-driver whose vehicle he hijacks…

"Prime Cut" is a tremendously exciting film, if one disregards its moral values… At the end Marvin, the paid killer who keeps the weapons of his trade in velvet-lined cases, has destroyed all the other villains… yet walks off into the sunset without a hint of retribution

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

8 July 1972 (Japan)

Also Known As:

Kansas City Prime

Filming Locations:

Chicago, Illinois, USA

Box Office

Gross USA:

$520,493

Company Credits

Production Co:

Cinema Center Films

Technical Specs

Runtime:

88 min

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.39 : 1