Review of Cutter`s Way

Introduction

Richard Bone (Jeff Bridges) is a bit of a drifter, who does a bit of work in the local marina. He lives alternately between a boat and the house of his friend Alex Cutter (John Heard) and his long-suffering wife Mo (Lisa Eichhorn). One night, after a bout of negotiation with an older lady interested in one of the boats, Bone`s car breaks down in a back alley. It`s a dark and stormy night, and Bone is surprised by a set of headlights looming out of the darkness behind him. The other car stops. Bone cranes to catch a look but can see nothing other than a silhouette. Stepping out of the car to ask for assistance, he is taken aback when the car suddenly rushes off and almost knocks him down. Bone is about to go back to where the car stopped to investigate a little further when a sudden downpour of rain changes his mind quickly and he rushes off to the local bar to find Cutter and shelter, leaving his car behind. Cutter is a one armed one-eyed Vietnam vet who is almost permanently drunk and loves to argue.

The following morning, the local binmen find the corpse of a young girl. Bone is quickly pulled in by the police and subjected not only to questioning, but a pretty unorthodox piece of police work where he is forced to meet the sister of the dead girl and invited to explain what he had seen (or not as the case may be). Eventually he is released and meets up with Cutter and Mo, and the trio watch the local parade. Bone is constantly being questioned by conspiracy theorist Cutter on what he had seen, and in a moment of clarity/insanity/frustration identifies a passing man on a horse as the man he had seen the previous night. Cutter knows this man as JJ Cord, a local and influential businessman and thus a major conspiracy theory begins to evolve.

Bone quite quickly changes his mind about the identification of Cord, but Cutter has something to get his teeth into and forges on, even involving the willing sister Valerie (Ann Dusberry). Bone is unsure of where this is all leading but eventually is sucked into Cutter`s plan and a series of events is triggered that will lead to tragic circumstances…

Video

No visible defects that I could detect upon viewing, seems a bit soft-focus though…

Audio

A choice of soundtracks and subtitles, none that impressive but then not every film requires a 5.1 soundtrack anyway…

Features

Nothing...

Conclusion

Another bare bones MGM release, but a bit of a gem today. Cutter`s Way is a film I had never heard of and was pleasantly surprised by. The acting is first rate in places, with Jeff Bridges effective as the drifter caught up in circumstances he knows he should stay well away from. John Heard is magnificent as the drunken conspiracy theorist, not sure how much is acting as per the script or how free reign he was given but I haven`t seen him in a better role. The sexual tension between Bridges and Eichhorn is very palpable, but it`s played so well that you`re never quite sure whether they`ll ever get it together.

This is a simple story about a murder and the suspicions of a seriously flawed man that spiral completely out of control, sucking up and involving everyone he knows. Bridges doesn`t really want to be involved even though he is in actual fact a witness, whereas Eichorn seems to see how flimsy the whole theory is. Despite their misgivings, the pair are swept along in the wake of Heard, who seems to have a disregard for everything other than his love of drink and his obsession with Cord.

The film ends extremely abruptly, which shakes the viewer initially. The story had an ending as such, but it is a circumstantial ending at best and doesn`t resolve anything for definite. This leaves the viewer to actually decide for themselves whether Cord is the guilty man or not, and it is not cut and dried by any means, one way or the other.

Over all this film is worth a look at least. It has it`s flaws, and it`s yet another bare bones release from the masters of the bare bones release, but it delivers an entertaining story and a couple of neat punches along the way. Rent first though…