Cutter's Way Movie Review-- On 4K & Blu-Ray March 24th from Radiance Films

 

Pre-order here

This is a film that I had heard of in my time watching movies, and for whatever reason, I had never seen the film before seeing it now, and for this review. Radiance Films has done an amazing presentation of the film, to start with.

The film itself is one of those films that might possibly age like a fine wine. There's nothing flashy here, just straight-up storytelling. Even though the film is from 1981, it's not as predictable as a lot of films being made today.

The casting is perfect and has quite easily the best performance that I have seen from John Heard as Alex Cutter. 

From internet sources:

The film, based on Newton Thornburg's 1976 novel Cutter and Bone, was renamed Cutter's Way (1981) primarily because United Artists executives feared audiences would mistake the original title for a comedy about surgeons or meat processors. After an initial, poorly received release under the original title, the studio’s Classics division rebranded it to better reflect the film's character-driven nature and focus on the obsessive Vietnam veteran, Alex Cutter.

For the film lover, on this edition of the film, the original title sequence has been newly scanned for the first time. You can start the film with either that title opening or the Cutter's Way title sequence. 

From 2022, there's an introduction from Jeff Bridges that explains how John Heard prepared for the day on set, tying his arm behind his back(as Alex is an amputee on his left arm), also putting some rope on his leg as the character has been injured in the war.

The story is that Richard Bone(Jeff Bridges) is heading to meet his friends in the bar, and after his car breaks down in an alley, he notices a car has pulled up a distance behind him. He gets out of his car to ask for help, but is almost run over as the driver speeds up to get away.

The camera pulls back to where the suspicious car was and shows the viewer a set of legs with high heels sticking out of a garbage can.

The tale then becomes a crime story, but one that is so well constructed, and as I said earlier, not one that is easy to figure out. Bravo to the filmmakers.

Also in the story is Mo(Lisa Eichhorn), sometimes the camera just loves people it is filming and she is definitly one of those people. The glances she gives the other actors, or the singular tear that runs down her face. Mo's a very depressed character, but Lisa gives her such life that she steals a lot of the scenes that aren't even centered on her character. Her smile lights up the screen.

Of course, there are other characters introduced along the way, but not enough to bog the film down with too much going on or side stories. I was on the edge of my seat for how things would work out in the end. There's not a lot more that I am going to say about the film. Try to go into this one like I did and just watch it, not knowing more than you need to. Watch it, and hopefully you will enjoy it as much as I did.

For the bonus features, there are over 2 hours of interviews, behind the scenes, to make anyone happy with this release. A good number of them are from previous releases of the film, but for someone who has never seen the film or any of these, it's a welcome friend.

I would like to thank Derek at MVD Entertainment Group for sending me the film for review. I was sent the 4K & Blu-Ray discs; both have the film and bonus features. I was sent the discs only, not any of the additional items that come with the release.

Below is a new trailer from Radiance Films.