Release CalendarDVD & Blu-ray ReleasesTop 250 MoviesMost Popular MoviesBrowse Movies by GenreTop Box OfficeShowtimes & TicketsIn TheatersComing SoonMovie NewsIndia Movie Spotlight
    What's on TV & StreamingTop 250 TV ShowsMost Popular TV ShowsBrowse TV Shows by GenreTV NewsIndia TV Spotlight
    What to WatchLatest TrailersIMDb OriginalsIMDb PicksIMDb Podcasts
    OscarsBest Picture WinnersBest Picture WinnersEmmysAPA Heritage MonthSTARmeter AwardsSan Diego Comic-ConNew York Comic-ConSundance Film FestivalToronto Int'l Film FestivalAwards CentralFestival CentralAll Events
    Born TodayMost Popular CelebsMost Popular CelebsCelebrity News
    Help CenterContributor ZonePolls
For Industry Professionals
  • All
  • Titles
  • TV Episodes
  • Celebs
  • Companies
  • Keywords
  • Advanced Search
Watchlist
Sign In
  • Fully supported
  • English (United States)
    Partially supported
  • Français (Canada)
  • Français (France)
  • Deutsch (Deutschland)
  • हिंदी (भारत)
  • Italiano (Italia)
  • Português (Brasil)
  • Español (España)
  • Español (México)

Prime Cut

  • 19721972
  • RR
  • 1h 28m
IMDb RATING
6.7/10
5.1K
YOUR RATING
  • Cast & crew
  • User reviews
  • Trivia
  • IMDbPro
Gene Hackman and Lee Marvin in Prime Cut (1972)
Watch {VideoTitle}
Play trailer2:34
1 Video
91 Photos
  • Action
  • Crime
  • Drama

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... Read allA 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.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.

IMDb RATING
6.7/10
5.1K
YOUR RATING
  • Director
    • Michael Ritchie
  • Writer
    • Robert Dillon
  • Stars
    • Lee Marvin
    • Gene Hackman
    • Sissy Spacek
Top credits
  • Director
    • Michael Ritchie
  • Writer
    • Robert Dillon
  • Stars
    • Lee Marvin
    • Gene Hackman
    • Sissy Spacek
  • See production, box office & company info
    • 79User reviews
    • 62Critic reviews
  • See more at IMDbPro
  • Videos1

    Official Trailer
    Trailer 2:34
    Official Trailer

    Photos91

    Gene Hackman and Lee Marvin in Prime Cut (1972)
    Gene Hackman, Sissy Spacek, and Lee Marvin in Prime Cut (1972)
    Lee Marvin in Prime Cut (1972)
    Sissy Spacek and Lee Marvin in Prime Cut (1972)
    Sissy Spacek and Lee Marvin in Prime Cut (1972)
    Sissy Spacek in Prime Cut (1972)
    Sissy Spacek in Prime Cut (1972)
    Sissy Spacek in Prime Cut (1972)
    Sissy Spacek in Prime Cut (1972)
    Gene Hackman and Sissy Spacek in Prime Cut (1972)
    Lee Marvin in Prime Cut (1972)
    Lee Marvin in Prime Cut (1972)

    Top cast

    Edit
    Lee Marvin
    Lee Marvin
    • Nick Devlinas Nick Devlin
    Gene Hackman
    Gene Hackman
    • Mary Annas Mary Ann
    Sissy Spacek
    Sissy Spacek
    • Poppyas Poppy
    Angel Tompkins
    Angel Tompkins
    • Clarabelleas Clarabelle
    Gregory Walcott
    Gregory Walcott
    • Weenieas Weenie
    Janit Baldwin
    Janit Baldwin
    • Violetas Violet
    Bill Morey
    Bill Morey
    • Shayas Shay
    • (as William Morey)
    Clint Ellison
    • Delaneyas Delaney
    Howard Platt
    Howard Platt
    • Shaughnessyas Shaughnessy
    Les Lannom
    Les Lannom
    • O'Brienas O'Brien
    Eddie Egan
    Eddie Egan
    • Jakeas Jake
    Therese Reinsch
    Therese Reinsch
    • Jake's Girlas Jake's Girl
    Bob Wilson
    • Reaper Driveras Reaper Driver
    Gordon Signer
    Gordon Signer
    • Brockmanas Brockman
    Gladys Watson
    • Milk Ladyas Milk Lady
    Hugh Gillin
    Hugh Gillin
    • Desk Clerkas Desk Clerk
    • (as Hugh Gillin Jr.)
    E. Lund
    • Mrs. O'Brienas Mrs. O'Brien
    David Savage
    • Ox-Eyeas Ox-Eye
    • Director
      • Michael Ritchie
    • Writer
      • Robert Dillon
    • All cast & crew
    • See more cast details at IMDbPro

    More like this

    Point Blank
    7.3
    Point Blank
    The Outfit
    7.0
    The Outfit
    The Laughing Policeman
    6.3
    The Laughing Policeman
    The Seven-Ups
    6.8
    The Seven-Ups
    Night Moves
    7.1
    Night Moves
    The New Centurions
    7.0
    The New Centurions
    Cisco Pike
    6.5
    Cisco Pike
    The Hunting Party
    6.2
    The Hunting Party
    Zandy's Bride
    6.4
    Zandy's Bride
    Charley Varrick
    7.5
    Charley Varrick
    The Stone Killer
    6.1
    The Stone Killer
    Emperor of the North
    7.2
    Emperor of the North

    Storyline

    Edit
    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. —Brian J. Wright <bjwright@acs.ucalgary.ca>
    • combine harvester
    • shootout
    • rape victim
    • slaughterhouse
    • meat processing factory
    • 59 more
    • Plot summary
    • Add synopsis
    • Taglines
      • Any way they slice it, it's going to be murder.
    • Genres
      • Action
      • Crime
      • Drama
      • Thriller
    • Certificate
      • R
    • Parents guide

    Did you know

    Edit
    • Trivia
      Lee Marvin had a serious feud with director Michael Ritchie, because Ritchie wanted him to have love scenes with the too young actress Sissy Spacek. Marvin hated Ritchie for this lack of respect for Spacek.
    • 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.
    • 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 each other and dream how a man's hands would feel on us. I'd talk to her in a really deep voice and I'd say, "I love you Violet." Then I'd kiss her so she wouldn't cry. We tried to run away once. But the old woman caught us. She said we couldn't leave that we were being raised up special. But that when we were done there would be lots of handsome men loving us forever.

    • 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.
    • Connections
      Featured in Discovering Film: Sissy Spacek (2019)

    User reviews79

    Review
    Top review
    6/10
    Pretty Neat and Chic, but Within the Confines of Cheesy Auto-Pilot Genre Conventions.
    Prime Cut may feature charmingly gravelly Lee Marvin, always brilliant Gene Hackman and Sissy Spacek when she was young and pretty, and its plot may be a turn through an interesting alley in the gangster genre, but it is still essentially a cheesy action movie that settles everything interesting about the story with the same shootouts we've been watching since Edwin Porter dazzled us for 11 minutes in 1903. I like guys in suits from New York collecting debts as much as the next guy, just as said guy and I like guys from New York collecting debts from Confederate neanderthals, and movies from the 1970s right down to the score by Lalo Schifrin. Nonetheless, it is not very fair to be absorbed in a story like this only for director Michael Winner to sit comfortably half-facing us within the confines of auto-pilot genre conventions.

    Marvin plays a two-dimensional mob enforcer from Chicago sent to Kansas to collect a debt from Hackman's intriguingly characterized meatpacking boss. Spacek debuts as a young orphan sold into prostitution. There are already scores of ways scores of writers and directors could make an instant classic out of this material. There are some fantastically effective scenes in particular, a great deal of which derive from the reason why this otherwise assembly-line dirty-ol'-basterd picture was regarded as notably risqué for its time. The opening credits sequence is a composition of cleverly discreet images depicting the beef slaughtering process, with a very discreet twist. There is a striking portrayal of sex slavery in a scene where Hackman partakes in the auctioning of young women. There is a noted chase scene involving a combine in an open field.

    There are also fast-sketch expository scenes like one with Hackman and the character Weenie, his brother and right-hand man, where their day-to-day dialogue is interrupted by their sudden urge to rassle, Hackman's accountants making an effort to remain furniture no matter where the fight leads. Marvin's boss in Chicago gives him some back-up muscle in the form of a driver whose life he once saved and three other younger members of the Irish mob. There is a style here that seems to have influenced the chic male-centric palette of Guy Ritchie's thug films. There is a brief scene where one of these baby-faced enforcers makes Marvin meet his mother as they leave Chicago. It is a swift, omniscient and interesting little inference of this character before he becomes another pop-up board for the various sundry bullets he will be obligated to exchange with other pop-up men.

    A shootout never hurt a great movie, and not too many good ones. But this is one that could have been one of them had it not jumped to the guns so hastily without taking a stab at working out the thematic dilemmas first. The first inclinations when dealing with such a premise would be the themes of man and nature, culture clash, North and South, and other elements that could say a lot about the dual nature leading to opposing means of taking on the same criminal enterprises. Instead, it's simply Marvin the good guy and Hackman the bad guy, and they slice through their respective thickets of underlings until they come face to face, only then addressing the superiority of man over beast with a stunning irony I can only hope was intentional. But I don't think so.
    helpful•14
    5
    • jzappa
    • Oct 9, 2009

    Details

    Edit
    • Release date
      • July 8, 1972 (Japan)
    • Country of origin
      • United States
    • Language
      • English
    • Also known as
      • Kansas City Prime
    • Filming locations
      • Calgary, Alberta, Canada
    • Production company
      • Cinema Center Films
    • See more company credits at IMDbPro

    Box office

    Edit
    • Gross US & Canada
      • $520,493
    See detailed box office info on IMDbPro

    Technical specs

    Edit
    • Runtime
      1 hour 28 minutes
    • Color
      • Color
    • Sound mix
      • Mono
    • Aspect ratio
      • 2.39 : 1

    Related news

    Out Of The Past: Lee Marvin Vs. Gene Hackman In "Prime Cut" (1972)
    Out Of The Past: Lee Marvin Vs. Gene Hackman In "Prime Cut" (1972)
    Mar 13Cinemaretro.com
    15 Movies To Watch To Get Excited For Venom: Let There Be Carnage
    15 Movies To Watch To Get Excited For Venom: Let There Be Carnage
    Mar 30ScreenRant.com

    Contribute to this page

    Suggest an edit or add missing content
    Gene Hackman and Lee Marvin in Prime Cut (1972)
    Top Gap
    By what name was Prime Cut (1972) officially released in India in English?
    Answer
    • See more gaps
    • Learn more about contributing
    Edit page

    More to explore

    View list
    List
    The 10 Most Anticipated Marvel and DC Movies
    See the full list
    Image caption not available
    2:14
    The Most Anticipated Movies and Shows to Watch in May
    Watch the video

    Recently viewed

    Please enable browser cookies to use this feature. Learn more.
    Get the IMDb App
    • Get the IMDb App
    • Help
    • Site Index
    • IMDbPro
    • Box Office Mojo
    • IMDb Developer
    • Press Room
    • Advertising
    • Jobs
    • Conditions of Use
    • Privacy Policy
    • Interest-Based Ads

    © 1990-2022 by IMDb.com, Inc.