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

2 wins & 2 nominations.

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

Alex Cutter (Heard) came back from war minus an eye, a leg, and an arm and mad as hell. He lacks direction, drinks too much, and abuses his wife (Eichhorn). One night his friend Richard Bone (Bridges) witnesses someone dumping something in an alley; it turns out to be the body of a young girl. When Cutter hears about it, he embarks on a crusade to expose the killer, enlisting the help of the murdered girl's sister. Bone reluctantly joins them. Are they right or are they in search of their white whale?

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Plot Keywords:

vigilantism | vietnam war veteran | amusement park | friend | houseboat | 

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Taglines:

On March 20, 1981 a film titled "Cutter and Bone" opened in New York. In the months that followed the film became a legend.

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Genres:

Crime | Drama | Mystery | Thriller

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Certificate:

R

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

10 February 1982 (France)

Also Known As:

Cutter and Bone

Filming Locations:

800 Alvarado Place, Santa Barbara, California, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$3,000,000 (estimated)

Gross USA:

$1,729,274

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$1,752,634

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

Ivan Passer once said in an article entitled "Passer's Way", published in the July/August 1981 edition of "Film Comment" magazine, "You can assassinate movies as you can assassinate people. I think UA murdered the film. Or at least they tried to murder it".

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Goofs

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

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Quotes

Richard Bone: You know, you've got one big problem.
Alex Cutter: What's that?
Richard Bone: Your imagination.
Alex Cutter: These are just the facts, Rich. I mean, I haven't even begun to let my imagination loose on this one.

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Connections

Referenced in Die schlechtesten Filme aller Zeiten: Sharknado (2014)

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Soundtracks

We're Old Enough to Know
Music by Jack Nitzsche
Lyrics by John Byrum
Vocals by Jack Nitzsche

User Reviews

Radically better than anyone could expect....

Ostensibly this film appears to be a buddy movie from the 1980s, but it is actually something much more interesting. Employing standard Hollywood clinches with its thriller/ investigation narrative and many of of its "stock" characters and situations, the little guys - Heard and Bridges - take on Mr Fat Cat Capitalist who rules the peacetime world like an untouchable and corrupt monarch. The film, though well-executed and enjoyable, at first seems no more than a well-scripted, well-acted (Heard is particularly good as the embittered, crippled Vietnam Veteran) genre piece. However, what emerges by the end is something far more exciting and radical - an indictment of US politics and power relations, and a genuinely bleak reflection on the impossibility and rarity of real justice both at the micro and macro levels.

Vietnam and its true significance is used to great effect in the film, as is the interplay between the two buddies. Whilst Bridges won't accept that he has witnessed the ultimate, bleak truth of US power relations until the film's abrupt, punchy end, Heard knows the truth intuitively and automatically because he understands and hates the world from the the start. He has given up on notions such as forgiveness and even the need for legal process, and seeks only revenge on the rich and the powerful. He understands, correctly, that is the only way a kind of momentary justice is possible, since everything else is either controlled by the elites or made to protect them. Without wishing to spoil the film's brilliant final moments, it is here that the whodunnit story is stripped away and the guilt they have been seeking to prove, as Richard Bone realises, becomes entirely political or metaphysical, and the the crime itself becomes irrelevant.