Cutter’s Way (1981)

Directed by Ivan Passer. Starring Jeff Bridges, John Heard, Lisa Eichhorn, Ann Dusenberry, Arthur Rosenberg, Stephen Elliott, Nina van Pallandt, Francis X. McCarthy, Patricia Donohue. [R]

Gripping neo-noir character study fixates on two aimless friends in Santa Barbara: a former radical named Bone (Bridges) who’s lost the will to fight, and a one-eyed and one-legged Vietnam vet named Cutter (Heard) who has nothing but fight in him, no matter the target or motive. When the former witnesses the corpse of an abused runaway girl being dumped into an alley trash bin (presumably by a rich and powerful tycoon portrayed by Elliott), Cutter jumps at the chance to get revenge on the sort of person who represents all that he hates about America. Seething with post-Vietnam disillusioned cynicism and the sort of murky ambiguity that may turn off viewers who demand reason and solutions, yet that very state of uncertainty is a critical factor in what makes this film so unnaturally appealing, something of a last gasp of the mood and theme-driven personal pieces of the 1970s. Only the overuse of symbolism, particularly “Cutter’s last stand” during the final sequence, comes up short. Bridges is good as expected, but he’s outshined by Eichorn’s subtle and lustrous work as Cutter’s resigned wife, and Heard’s bravura performance: fearless, unfiltered, and full of fury. Jack Nitzsche’s glimmering musical score matches the radiant tones of Jordan Cronenweth’s photography. Script adaptation by Jeffrey Alan Fiskin of Newton Thornburg’s book, “Cutter and Bone,” which was also the film’s title when it was first previewed. A too-often unsung gem with a small but devoted following.

92/100