Cutter's Way (1981) (Jeff Bridges)

bnt

Anyone going to see this at the IFI, or seen it before? All I know about it is what I'm getting from the glowing IFI review, and critic Jim Emerson (Scanners) calling it his favourite film of the 1980s. It was reportedly a victim of film company politics and didn't get the distribution and marketing it needed. It sounds like just the kind of ambiguous, intelligent thriller I like.

Manchegan

Another glowing review on its re-release here:
Cutter's Way is a cinematic masterpiece,
John Patterson, The Guardian, Saturday 4 June 2011

rednik

A very good film with strong performances from Jeff Bridges and John Heard. Watched it many times at home and saw it in the cinema on release, well worth going to see it again.

It's one of my all time favourite films, the last great film of the 70s. May head up and see if I can catch it in the cinema

Nolanger

It's out on DVD for years.

bnt

Nolanger wrote: »

It's out on DVD for years.

Yeah, but I didn't even know it existed!

I went to see it earlier today: very impressed, especially with John Heard who, as Vietnam veteran Alex Cutter, got all the best lines. Lisa Eichhorn also stood out as his harrassed alcoholic wife Mo. Alex is physically disabled and mentally warped: drinking non-stop and angry at everything. There's a hilarious scene that involves his drunken attempts to pull in to his driveway, at the expense of the neighbours' little Toyota (and their sanity).

Jeff Bridges plays a character (Richard Bone) who seems, to me, to be almost a young Dude; he has a job selling boats, but we only see his office once and never see him working. His other job is "servicing" the wives of Santa Barbera, apparently. It's not entirely clear why he's still friends with the disabled and crazy Alex, at least not at first.

When Bone witnesses someone dumping a girl's body and tentatively identifies the murderer as a local oil tycoon, Alex becomes obsessed with "justice". The involvement of the victim's sister (Ann Dusenberry) complicates matters further. A blackmail plot is hatched, but things spiral out of control, as Alex piles on all his emotional baggage, with conspiracy theories about the government, industry and the war. Bone half-heartedly tries to rein Alex in, but doesn't take him sufficiently seriously to do it properly, with tragic results.

I came away thinking that the Coen Brothers must have seen this film at some point. There's a blackly comic, absurdist tone to the events; the blackmailers frankly have no idea what they are doing, and their efforts are fractured and laughable, but things go very wrong in an entirely unexpected way. The ending is ambiguous: did they have the right bad guy after all? We never find out.

johnny_ultimate

Saw it today, absolutely fantastic film. Must say it escaped my attention up until now, but glad I went to see it.

Script is extremely well written - a wonderful mix of humour, threat, sadness and all sorts of other themes and ideas. The three lead performances are absolutely fantastic - Bridges is always reliable, but Heard is sensational and Eichhorn gives a truly heartbreaking performance. It threatens to occasionally become absurd, but it never does, until the surreal but brilliant ending that left quite a few folks in the cinema smiling and quite a few others frustrated :pac:

Can't say enough good things about it, and would definitely recommend anyone interested to check it out while it's still knocking around in the cinema. Having heard so little about it before, it was a genuine surprise, and one of the best films I've seen recently. Don't know if Hollywood has ever made a film quite like this one.

nlgbbbblth

great film, I recorded it off BBC2 in the late 1980s and still play it. Jeff Bridges finest.

Kooli

bnt wrote: »

I came away thinking that the Coen Brothers must have seen this film at some point. There's a blackly comic, absurdist tone to the events; the blackmailers frankly have no idea what they are doing, and their efforts are fractured and laughable, but things go very wrong in an entirely unexpected way. The ending is ambiguous: did they have the right bad guy after all? We never find out.

I read the book (Cutter and Bone) and really enjoyed it, but I remember thinking exactly the same thing, seeing all the links with the Big Lebowski. And then I heard there was a film with Jeff Bridges in it!
Delighted to have a chance to go see it - tried on Sunday and it was sold out, so heading along tomorrow night, can't wait.

karma_

Hadn't heard of this film either, but, I'm intrigued now and definitely want to check it out. Thanks for bringing it up OP.

APrender

Went to see it last night @ IFI... but they had technical difficulties and the show was cancelled. Was funny though, they tried to start the film three times; when Bridges would appear all you could hear was the lion's roar from the MGM intro.

Ordered the DVD on Amazon for around €4 there this morning.

Kess73

nlgbbbblth wrote: »

great film, I recorded it off BBC2 in the late 1980s and still play it. Jeff Bridges finest.

Never seen Cutter's Way, but have seen a large number of films with Bridges in them, and it is high praise to say that CW is his finest given how many excellent performances he has put in.

Going to have to make a point to get CW to check it out on the back of the praise it is getting in this thread.