Search - Cutter's Way on DVD

MPAA Rating: R Content Advisory: Violence, Nudity, Adult Situations, Not For Children, Adult Language, Profanity Movie Release: 1981 DVD Release: 07/10/2001 Format: DVD - Enhanced Wide Screen Letterbox for 16x9 TV Edition: Special Collection Audio Tracks: English, French, Spanish Subtitles: English, French, Spanish SwapaDVD Credits: 1 Number of Discs: 1 Run Time: 1 hrs 49 mins Studio: MGM Members Wishing: 3 Genres: Crime, Crime Thriller

After emigrating to the United States in 1969, Czech-born director Ivan Passer finally broke through to American audiences with his fourth film, a unique blend of mystery and social commentary. Cutter's Way is set in Santa Barbara, CA, a community of wealth and power. Its main characters, however, are among the town's have-nots: Richard Bone Jeff Bridges, a beach-boy gigolo starting to go to seed; Bone's best friend Alex Cutter (John Heard), a Vietnam veteran maimed in body and spirit; and Mo (Lisa Eichorn), Cutter's alcoholic wife. When Cutter spots one of the community's most prominent citizens in the act of covering up a murder, Bone insists that the police would never take their word over that of a man of wealth and prestige. Cutter seizes the opportunity to blackmail the killer, as a means of striking back at a system he thinks sent him off to an unjust war and ruined his life. The film was fortunate to fall into the hands of United Artists Classics, a new division of the company crippled by the financial disaster of Heaven's Gate. UA Classics adroitly marketed Cutter's Way, riding a wave of rave reviews and good word-of-mouth among more discriminating filmgoers to modest box-office success. ~ Tom Wiener, All Movie Guide

Jeff Bridges - Richard Bone
John Heard - Alex Cutter
Lisa Eichhorn - Maureen "Mo" Cutter
Anne Dusenberry - Valerie Duran
Stephen Elliott - J.J. Cord

A brooding character study of post-Vietnam War dropouts dressed up as a murder mystery, Cutter's Way has amassed a loyal cult following over the years. This MGM DVD release of the movie offers an excellent anamorphic widescreen transfer, a well-balanced audio track, a trailer, and little else in the way of bonus material. The anamorphic widescreen transfer is a real coup since Jordan S. Cronenweth's dark, atmospheric cinematography never resorts to any of the usual sun-stroked clichés, instead it vividly portrays a wintry Southern California. Though the usually excellent John Heard is playing a character who can't control his anger, he sometimes goes over the top in the title role. Jeff Bridges' and Lisa Eichhorn's nuanced performances as the two equally lost people who won't desert Heard's crippled, near suicidal, Vietnam vet are as honest as they come. Perhaps a future DVD release will include extras that explore some of the details that make Cutter's Way such a compelling movie. ~ Nick Dedina, All Movie Guide