United Artists, 1981
starring: Jeff Bridges, John Heard, Lisa Eichhorn, Stephen Elliott
directed by: Ivan Passer

the plot: Bone (Bridges), a ne’er-do-well boat salesman in Santa Barbara, thinks he’s seen a killer dump the body of a teenage girl, but he becomes a suspect. Cutter (Heard), Bone’s one-armed, one-legged, one-eyed Vietnam War vet buddy, imaginatively formulates a theory—based on Bone’s own facts—that the killer just might be J.J. Cord (Elliott), a powerful oil millionaire. Neglecting his long-suffering wife, Mo (Eichhorn), Cutter ropes Bone into a fatalistic blackmail scheme to bring Cord to justice.

why it’s good: “Cutter’s Way” opens with a monochrome, slow-motion credits sequence of a Fiesta Days parade featuring composer Jack Nitzsche’s blend of upbeat, distant Mariachi and immediate and disturbing “singing saw” twang—an instrument also used to memorable effect in Nitzsche’s score for “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest” (1975). From the start, we know we’re in the presence of something different and very good. Bridges was a 32-year-old golden boy, and he delivers an excellent portrayal of a disillusioned drifter (which was presumably alien to his experience). John Heard was accused of scenery chewing, but repeated viewings show he deserved an Oscar nomination. The plot is just complex enough to keep you guessing, and ends with a shocking, last-second climax that is pure power.

why you should own it: Ivan Passer was as odd a choice to direct this very American script as fellow Czech Milos Forman was to helm “Cuckoo’s Nest.” Passer made his first splash with the dual punch of “Loves of a Blonde” (1965) and “The Fireman’s Ball” (1967) in his native Czechoslovakia. He came to the United States in the ’70s and, like von Sternberg, Lang, and Renoir before him, got lost on the Hollywood back lots. In “Cutter’s Way,” he shows a master’s touch with actors, lighting, camera, and editing. Based on a novel by Newton Thornburg, one of the most underrated of post-war American writers, this film was released and dumped by United Artists due to internal politics. Good sense and moral pressure prevailed, and the movie was re-titled and re-released to critical acclaim, then relegated to cult status. The magnificent United Artists studio became no more than a suffix for MGM’s Home Entertainment division. This film is now more than 30 years old, but the horribly maimed and alcoholic Vietnam vet Cutter’s diatribes against corporate America (“Ever notice it’s never their ass? I mean never?”) resonates just as well in the collective echo brought to us by Enron, the Lehman Brothers, and Goldman-Sachs. “Cutter’s Way” leaves you with the unsettling feeling that it never was their ass, and it certainly never will be. The well-transferred MGM/UA DVD boasts only a theatrical trailer.