Cutter’s Way — Cutter’s Way( Blu Ray)
Cutter’s Way is an intriguing, often compellingly potent blend of drama, character study, and murder mystery. The film is from the early 1980s and features an accomplished cast, moments of dark humour, and a tangible feeling of tragedy coming from its cast of broken & troubled folk. Here from Radiance Films, as part of their Fun City Editions sublabel- is a new region B release of the film, taking in a new scan of the picture, and a nice selection of new & archive extras.
Cutter’s Way was released in the year 1981. It was directed by the Prague Czech Republic-born Ivan Passer, and was based on the 1976 novel Cutter And Bone written by Newton Thornburg. Passer had nine feature-length credits to his name- these went from Czech New Wave comedy drama Intimate Lighting (1965), romantic crime drama Crime and Passion (1976), Sci-fi Comedy featuring Peter O’Toole Creator (1985), and period war drama Nomad: The Warrior (2005).
The film opens with Richard Bone (Jeff Bridgers) a moustached gigolo drifter who has just bedded an older married woman, and is getting dressed in her hotel bedroom. He asks her for a little cash, and makes his way out into the night- getting into his car, and driving back into the city. It’s started raining and his car cuts out in an alleyway, just as he’s deciding what to do, a car pulls up behind him- out jumps a man, who dumps something large in the rubbish- nearly knocking down Richard as he drives by- the rain starts getting heavier, so instead of seeing what was dumped, he heads back to where he’s living at present with Alex Cutter(John Heard) an eye batched, cynical/ speaks his mind Vietnam Vet, and his alcoholic wife Maureen ‘Mo’(Lisa Eichhorn).
The next morning Richard’s car is found, so the police bring him in- because what was dumped was the body of a battered & abused woman. Richard is released with him heading down to watch the city carnival with Alex & Mo- here he sees a shade-wearing older man on a horse, and he’s sure this is the man he saw dumping the body. The man is J.J Cord( Stephan Elliott), who is a powerful corporate boss.
As the film unfolds Richard, who is working as a luxury boat salesman, starts to doubt his memory. But Alex has become focused and obsessed with Cord being the killer, and this is increased by the appearance of twenty-something Varie( Ann Dusenberry) who is the sister of the dead woman.
The mystery of who the killer is does pull the film along, but it’s not its key focus- that is the relationship between Richard, Alex, and Mo. With the flow/ focus of the film broken with lengthy dwells in the interaction between the three- so if you're expecting a focused & firm murder mystery, you will be rather frustrated/ disappointed by Cutter’s Way.
Acting-wise, it's all top draw- Bridgers's portrayal of drifting, not wanting to be tied down/ have any responsibilities Richard is pitch perfect. Heard is wonderful as the very un-PC, raging, and highly cynical Vietnam vet. And Eichhorn plays the damaged & troubled Mo with great flair. There is a real tangible feel tragic & felt camaraderie between the three, and this is very much one of the film's big pulls.
Cutter’s Way plays at just shy of the one hour and fifty minutes mark- and yes, some scenes slow both the pace & the key focus of the film down, but ultimately these make the whole thing more impactful & memorable- than just your run of the mill genre crime thriller/neo-noir film. On the whole, I found it a spelling-binding & distinctive film, yes you do want to know who the killer is, but this becomes less important, as you get pulled into the lives of the three lead characters.
Moving onto this new Blu-Ray release. We get a nice crisp & clean 2k scan taken from the original 35MM print. On the new extras, we get an audio commentary track from novelist/ critic Matthew Specktor- this is largely an observation-based track, though we get a few interesting titbits of info- like a discussion regarding the differences between the book & the film, Richard Dreyfuss nearly getting the Cutter role, and a few other things. The tracks Ok, for an observation-based affair- though it’s a little sporadic, and at points, Specktor does come off a little smug/ pretentious. Otherwise, we have Mo's Way (38.53) an on-camera interview with actress Lisa Eichhorn- this is a nicely in-depth affair. She moves from talking about how she got the acting bug at Oxford University, moving on to discussing notable roles, and of course Cutters Way. Lastly on the new stuff is From Cutter and Bone to Cutter's Way (11.16) an audio-only interview with UA Classics exec Ira Deutchman, who relaunched the film after it flopped under its original title Cutter and Bone.
On the archive side, we get a bumper crop of things, taking in: two commentary tracks- one with film historians Julie Kirgo and Nick Redman, and the other with assistant director Larry Franco and unit production manager Barrie Osborne. Interview with director Ivan Passer, interview with writer Jeffrey Alan Fiskin, interview with producer Paul Gurian, a featurette on composer Jack Nitzsche, audio introduction by Jeff Bridge, and a video introduction by director Bertrand Tavernier. theatrical trailers & isolated music track.
The finished release finds the blu ray in a card slip, with a sixteen-page inlay booklet featuring a new essay by DJ and writer Margaret Barton-Fumo and an archival essay by Cult Movies author Danny. This slip/ booklet edition is Ltd to 2000 copies.
Cutter’s Way mix of drama, character study, and murder mystery is wonderfully well realized. And one really does become fascinated by these deeply flawed/troubled, but rather marvellous characters. With this new presentation from Radiance Films/ Fun City Editions being very much deserved.