Cutter's Way

The catchphrase for ‘70s cinema was ambiguity. Not that David Lynch nonsense that leaves every scene open to interpretation, but the sort of morally murky, post-Watergate cynicism where the answers matter less than the questions they leave behind. Cutter’s Way was actually released in 1981, but it’s soaked in the neo-noir of Chinatown, the bleach-blond decay of Shampoo and the lazy disillusionment of Five Easy Pieces. So much so that when director Ivan Passer wrings it out to dry, the movie leaves its audience just as spiritually empty.

Richard Bone (Jeff Bridges) is a layabout lothario who happens to be at the wrong place at the wrong time. After witnessing a murder, he casually identifies the suspect as one of the Santa Barbara elite, a man above reproach and, perhaps, above the law. Bone is happy to leave well enough alone, but his friend, Alex Cutter (John Heard), a disfigured and disillusioned Vietnam vet, sees an opportunity to dispense justice and make some money at the same time. Their blackmail scheme seems destined to fail from the start but Alex is determined to see things through. 

What that synopsis fails to note is that almost all of the murder-mystery is simply background noise. The script (based on the 1976 novel) treats the central crime as less a puzzle to be solved than a catalyst of long simmering resentments between the three lead characters: Bone, Cutter and Cutter’s alcoholic wife, Mo (Lisa Eichhorn). Point in fact, there is nothing to tie the main suspect to the crime other than circumstantial evidence, evidence that Cutter is only too eager to prove correct. John Heard has the noisiest performance as Cutter, a volatile intellectual whose fatalism drags everyone down around him. But Jeff Bridges takes on the riskier role, another of his typical good-looking drifters on the surface, but a weak-willed coward underneath. It’s only in the film’s final scene that we see who the real hero of the story was all along.

Passer keeps the whole film deliberately off-balance, full of drifting conversations completely irrelevant to the plot but essential to the people involved. By the time the conspiracy comes to light, there’s still a question mark about who’s right, who’s wrong, who’s sane and who’s faking it. Cutter’s Way is a splintered character study that enjoys its subject’s flaws a little too much; and in true ‘70s fashion, never condescends to provide easy answers.

Radiance gives this one its 4K UHD world premiere along with a Blu-ray for good measure. And the new restoration is worth every penny, HDR doing an excellent job of capturing that golden SoCal sunshine disguising the grime underneath. Extras include an extensive new video appreciation, audio introduction by Jeff Bridges and original title sequence along with archival interviews, featurettes and isolated score track. The thick collector’s set includes a bound set of liner notes with spot-on writing on the film and newly commissioned artwork.