Review of Prime Cut (1972) by Jason J — 16 Oct 2011

Top drawer hard-case of his time, Lee Marvin, plays the role of Mafia enforcer, appointed to collect some half a million dollars of outstanding dues from a mid-west beef-baron who has turned renegade named 'Mary Anne' played by Gene Hackman. Marvin, it seems, is the latest in a series of previously vanished enforcers sent to take care of Mary Anne, the last one being returned to the east-coast mob as a parcel of sausages! Mary Anne is a nasty piece of work - as well as making gourmet cannibal sausages and trading cattle, he holds special market days for naked girls who are drugged up to their eyeballs and sold to the highest bidder.

There are a number of memorable moments in which country cattle-hicks are depicted almost as a different race. A bloody gunfight breaks out during a country fair. At another time, a Cadillac and a combine-harvester go head to head, with results that are both grisly and comic! The final shoot-out comes as something of an anti-climax.

Prime Cut is a very off-beat piece of cinema that pulls few punches with regard to its subject matter, and still deserves its reputation for originality. Very enjoyable.