Cutter’s Way (aka Cutter and Bone) is a 1981 neo-noir thriller, directed by Ivan Passer (Intimate Lighting, Haunted Summer and Crime and Passion). The film stars Jeff Bridges (The Big Lebowski, Starman and Crazy Heart), John Heard (Cat People, Big and After Hours), Lisa Eichhorn (The Vanishing, The Europeans and About Time), Ann Dusenberry (Jaws 2, Lies and The Men’s Club) and Stephen Elliott (Death Wish, Beverley Hills Cop and Arthur).

Based on the 1976 novel Cutter and Bone by Newton Thornburg, Cutter’s Way is a story of two friends Richard Bone (Bridges) and Alex Cutter (Heard). Rich and Cutter’s wife Mo (Eichhorn) were former lovers who probably would have been together if Rich had stuck around when he was younger. Cutter is a Vietnam veteran who lost an eye, a leg and his arm during the war and has since descended into drunkenness to cope with his disabilities. Richard Bone witnesses a murder without realising it. One rainy night in Santa Barbara, Bone sees a woman’s body being dumped in a back alley, at the time, he doesn’t realise what he’s seen, but he later thinks he recognises the man who dumped the body. The only problem is, when he and Alex (Heard) spot the man he thinks murdered the girl at a parade, it’s wealthy, successful oil baron J.J. Cord (Elliott). Cord’s movements that night suggest that the pair are onto something. The pair join up with the dead girl’s sister, Valery Duran (Dusenberry) and tries to find a way to bring Cord to justice.

Cutter’s Way is a vastly underrated thriller, with standout performances from Bridges as the key suspect/witness and Heard as the pissed off Vietnam vet who has struggled to come to terms with his disabilities but finds a new lease of life when he’s thrust into trying to prove Cord’s guilt. While Eichhorn is excellent as the woman who links the two main protagonists, her ex-lover and her husband. Her reaction to finding out about Cutter and Bone’s plot to blackmail Cord is one of the film’s highlights; it doesn’t feel like acting so much as raw emotion spilling forth as she rants and raves about the stupidity of their plot, in fact this is just the tip of the iceberg. Mo is probably the strongest character in a movie of interesting, well-fleshed-out characters, her affection for both men is heartbreaking at times, as neither man has ever amounted to what she wants them to be.

Overall, Cutter’s Way is a fascinating study of the human condition, a character-driven love story and a revenge thriller all in one. The cast is excellent, the direction and the script are top-notch, and it remains a mystery to me why this film is not better known. This new Blu-ray/ UHD release from Radiance features an excellent new print of the movie restored in 2k from the original 35mm negatives. On top of that, there are a number of new and archival interviews with the cast and crew, as well as audio commentaries with film historians Julie Kirgo and Nick Redman, and another with assistant director Larry Franco and unit production manager Barrie Osborne and the obligatory trailer. 

Cutter’s Way is a really good thriller that deserves to be seen by many more people. Radiance has done it again; they’ve dug up a largely ignored or forgotten movie that deserves to be better known and given it the release it deserves, highly recommended!