Cutter's Way

John Heard's career is simultaneously impressive and depressing. I'm not sure if he had bad breaks or got lucky. A bit of both for C.H.U.D. Anyways, this movie is great even if it doesn't make you feel great.

Excellent and under-appreciated existentialist drama about the necessity of making a decision in order to live, with noirish elements, political elements, a wry script and an overwhelming sense of impending doom. Deserves to be much more widely seen. Very fine performances by the principals.

John Heard, holy shit.

If we did this my way the movie would be over in 5 minutes because I wouldn't have gone out because it was raining.

Outstanding character-driven film that doesn't spoon-feed its audience. Heard is so good in this that I don't understand why he didn't get more famous. And Lisa Eichhorn--what a great role and what a performance. I was really touched by Mo and the way that the film included her; female characters don't usually get that kind of treatment.

What the fuck did I just watch? I thought I was signing on for a slick L.A. neo-noir along the lines of Thief. But for a movie ostensibly centered around a murder mystery, the focus is largely on the depressed/depressing lives of aimless lower-middle-class alcoholics. The tone veers all over the place, from low-key character drama to moody noir to (weirdly) slapstick comedy at times. Also, the climax involves a man on a horse flying through a window. It was, uh, definitely interesting...

A neo noir in spirit if not in style. Bridges and Heard are both stellar, their respective ambitions and frustrations reveal themselves as much in the way they move and present themselves as in the things they say. They are what allow the commentary on class and war to have depth well beyond what's written in the script, and it's a strong script. The pacing is a bit loose in that 70s new Hollywood way, but there's always enough forward momentum and intrigue to keep one interested.

looks like i have a new favourite disenfranchised world-weary alcoholic deadbeat neo-noir. the coens obviously had it in mind when casting bridges in LEBOWSKI, although this one's too burdened by rage, terror and loss to become any kind of comedy, and heard is obviously the beating heart. one of those performances that goes so hard and deep it moves beyond all notions of good or bad.

Great performances by all but like everyone has says Heard reeeeealllly brings it. The paranoia of a post Vietnam American populace. A neo-noir about the realization that the elites never answer for anything and most don’t care. “it’s never their ass that’s on the line. It’s always somebody else’s. Always yours, mine, ours.”

This feels like one of the last holdovers from the 70s, with its depiction of a lost and angry generation of young men and women. Cutter is searching to stay relevant in a society that doesn't respect him or what he has sacrificed. When an opportunity arises he takes it. John Heard steals the show, but Bridges and Lisa Eichorn are also fantastic. This is a film that is sadly forgotten.

Well acted. Well written. Well directed. And the musical score is also well done. An 'action packed' film without that much action, which is another way of saying it is impactful without recourse to cheap tricks/thrills and/or simplistic moralising of what is good and bad (in this case in the broader context of organised crime and the Vietnam War). Like many such films from this period, it's 'gritty'.

These sort of genre deconstruction films just don't thrill me in any way. I don't mind watching them, but afterwards I always feel like "so what?". I also gotta say that Jeff Bridges has never done anything for me, and John Heard's performance is alternately compelling and embarrassing. Having said that, I did enjoy the movie, to a mild degree. I did find the characters interesting. Overall, it's just not kind cup of tea.

oyuncu performansları ve iyi yazılmış diyaloglar etrafında dönerek anlatılan iyi bir hikaye. watergate sonrası başlayan paranoyak gerilimlere de esasen güzel bir son: Martha Mitchell etkisini asla bırakmayan sürükleyici bir noir.

Its refusal to resolve its murder mystery is one of its greatest virtues, even if the genre elements do not always synch well with the character ones. Whether the man accused of murder is really guilty or not is less relevant than Cutter's relentless desire for 'justice' that is arguably more motivated by bitterness and resentment than it's by any sense of morality. Heard gives a risky performance that borders on parody, and the casual but doom laden atmosphere keeps the plot unpredictable.

B+

One of my favorite films as a teenager, I haven't seen it since but feel like I would like to.

Here's a film that just gets better with each viewing. It's easy to see the film as a parable about the collapse of America's faith in institutions, but if anything, it's even more about the collapse of faith in idealism. Bridges, Heard and the magnificent Lisa Eichhorn are all engaged in destructive behavior meant to distract from the loss of meaning and as a way to not get jobs and become middle-class citizens.

A different take on the standard neo-noir as this delves much deeper into the characterizations of the "heroes," rather than the standard plot-driven story. Its ambiguity veers a little close to preachy. Heard's portrayal is both amazing and reprehensible (he manages to insult just about everything in the first 20 minutes of the film, and then never stops).

Critics love this one and it might have gone over my head. I thought it was unique for a crime thriller and had potentially interesting characters, but the writing didn't come together for me. Good performances though by Jeff Bridges and John Heard.

Great little neo-noir that ends up packing quite an emotional punch. Awesome cast, too.

Both John Heard and Jeff Bridges give good performances in this film. The script has some slow spots and some interesting ones. Overall I would recommend this film.

Emerging in the twilight of the New Hollywood years, Cutter's Way sees a practically bygone knack in American film for setting mood, evoking place and exploring unpredictable states of mind through a knowing, cynical, claustrophobic script, awash in the disgruntlement and mental cave-in of post-Vietnam America. Superbly acted by Jeff Bridges, Lisa Eichorn and particularly John Heard as the mangled, plastered vet, this forgotten treasure stays in the memory long after other films have faded.

It's too bad this film insists on some loose thriller plot-injections (complete with jarringly lame ending), because as a character portrait it's superb. Bridges is, as indeed he was in many of his earlier roles, somewhat dull, but Eichhorn is a low-key, tormented wonder and Heard delivers a wild, sputtering, frenzied career best as the titular Cutter.

This turned out to be a major disappointment. For some reason I just found it to be tedious and dull from the beginning. Maybe it is not my kind of film.

OK yeah yeah yeah it has a cult following. It still feels like an inferior retread of _Who'll Stop the Rain_

921

Very good.

84.500

922

#978

Meandering and muddled and clumsily wrapped around its McGuffin.

Movie 3200.

(...)Der Film kam 1981 in die Kinos aber atmete immer noch die Atmosphäre der späten 60er. Fast scheint es so, als ob die verlorenen Ideale der Zeit nur noch von ein paar ausgebrannten Überlebenden hochgehalten werden.(...)

The movie gets points for a quirky comedy/thriller, but it ultimately doesn't work well--mainly because of the acting/casting of John Hurt and LIsa Eichorn. (Bridges is solid in this.) Hurt's one-eyed, limping and scruffy look makes him seem like a bad parody of a Blackbeard. It could have been a good film.

Caso de Assassinato/Obstinação estreava em Los Angeles há 40 anos. Se me perguntam por que revi esse filme, se pelo trabalho brilhante de Passer ou pela atuação visceral de Heard, prontamente lhes direi: pelo Bridges no pico da gostosice nos anos 80. BlurayRip RARBG.

# 831

I am disappointed with this murder mystery with every detail shrouded by doubt. It is never revealed if the man suspected, and ultimately punished, was indeed responsible. Cutter is a bitter man eager for justice and has nothing much to lose. The clues amount to a circumstantial case, but he believes he has correctly connected the dots. The ending was too abrupt and failed to resolve the question, leaving me wanting more. The characters felt real except that Cutter was a bit over the top.