Review of Cutter's Way (1981) by Andrew S — 06 May 2009
A film about impotence, apathy, narcissism and responsibility, that asks whether our actions give our lives meaning. Jeff Bridges plays Richard Bone, an apathetic gigolo who witnesses a man disposing of a dead girl in a dark alley.
He is quite willing to dismiss and forget about what he saw, but his friend Alex Cutter (John Heard) has other ideas. Cutter is an embittered, alcoholic Vietnam veteran who's missing an eye, a leg, and an arm, and he develops an obsessive drive to prove that a prominent local businessman was the murderer.
It's a remarkable, Ahabesque performance from Heard, turning the film into a fascinating fusion of Chinatown and Moby Dick. No less impressive, in much more low-key performances, are Bridges as the terminally passive Bone and Lisa Eichhorn as Cutter's depressed, alcoholic wife.
The film also features an awesome score from Jack Nitzsche that uses a combination of glass harmonica, zither and electric strings to haunting effect. Released the same year as some higher profile revivalist noir films -- such as "Body Heat" and "The Postman Always Rings Twice" -- I think Cutter's Way got lost in the mix and has never really received the acclaim it so richly deserves.
It is modern-day noir at its best.
This review of Cutter's Way (1981) was written by Andrew S on 06 May 2009.
Cutter's Way has generally received positive reviews.
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