Prime Cut (1972)

SERIOUSLY. This is what the crap Hollywood still puts out?

Lack of good storyline.

It is a performances centric movie

Let me be very fair here, this is not the best movie in my opinion. But, this movie is fun, it has purpose and is very enjoyable to watch.

It is quite something to see a hit man take care of exploited prostitutes. Rather cheesy romantically, but there you have it, that is the story of Prime Cut. In this movie Lee Marvin gets an assignment to assassinate Gene Hackman, a red neck drug dealer, who has been skimming of money from the mob. The violence involved with this assassination attempt is portrayed rather cool and righteous. However the good guy story about the hit man who starts caring about women who get used as prostitutes is not very convincing, although it certainly is a nice gangsters fairytale. Sissy Spacek in her younger years portrays one of those prostitutes who gets saved from further exploitation.Acting is great though. Gene Hackman as well as Lee Marvin both play two ruthless killers, however Lee Marvin is the righteous gentleman killer, who only kills if he has to, like a cool headed professional would.Gen Hackman on the other hand plays a real psychopathic bastard. Great performance. Sissy Spacek became a wonderful actress later in life, but in her first role ever she plays a terribly naive child girl and her acting is not very convincing, mainly because of the rather cheesy romantic sub story, wherein the hit man suddenly feels the need to start caring for exploited women. It is not her fault, but the stories fault.To summarize: Action is suspenseful. Acting is cool. Story somewhat cheesy at certain moments, especially the very rosy ending, which I wont reveal here. All in all a tough seventies hit man flick, with an out of place cheesy Hollywood happy ending.

To my personal knowledge Le Marvin played a totally sympathetic and totally non-violent character only once, in Jack Webb's superb Pete Kelly's Blues, but here his outwardly violent 'enforcer' displays significant sympathetic traits which add depth to his performance whereas Gene Hackman, an equally fine actor, is content to phone in a one-trick pony performance. Marvin is working out of Chicago but the bulk of the footage unspools in Kansas where Eddy Egan (the real-life cop on whose Hackman character Popeye Doyle in The French Connection was based) sends him to sort out Gene Hackman and recover the fifty large that Hackman has skimmed off the mob. As good as anything in the genre and Marvin is at his best.

Prime Cut (1972) *** (out of 4) Fun crime picture has a Chicago enforcer (Lee Marvin) heading to Kansas City where an evil cattle baron (Gene Hackman) owes the big boys some money but he doesn't plan on cutting them in on his business. PRIME CUT is a film that not too many people know, which is pretty surprising when you consider how popular these type of crime films are. Not to mention the film is probably the only one in history to feature three Oscar winners as well as a man who appeared in PLAN 9 FROM OUTER SPACE. Overall director Michael Ritchie does a very good job at keeping the picture running very smoothly and while the picture certainly has some flaws, it's still a highly entertaining and at times sleazy picture. One of the highlights come early on when Marvin and his men show up at a "cattle" auction only to discover that Hackman has a major business of selling off women. The women, all in cages like cattle, serve up quite the image. The film also manages to have some great violence, although none of it really goes over-the-top or gets too graphic. There's a terrific sequence during a fair as well as another in a sunflower field. I'm not going to ruin either sequences but they contain some nice suspense. Of course, one of the greatest aspects is the terrific cast. While each cast member has been better in other movies, there's no doubt that it's still very fun to see them all together. Marvin and Hackman really appear to be having fun in their roles and we also get Angel Tompkins in a brief role as the woman who was with both of them. Sissy Spacek appears in a pretty thankless role but it's still fun seeing her. Gregory Walcott, a veteran of Edward D. Wood, Jr., appears as one of the major bad guys. As I said, there are certainly some flaws including the entire relationship between Marvin and Spacek but fans of 70's crime pictures will still want to check this out.

An interesting item on the resume of Michael Ritchie, the late director whose other credits include "Downhill Racer", "The Candidate", and "Fletch", the fast-paced and tongue-in-cheek crime drama "Prime Cut" succeeds at being an amusing piece of work. It's just sleazy and off kilter enough to make it a good if not memorable entertainment. It's well worth viewing for fans of the cast, establishing its tone early on when the mob in Chicago learn of the fate of one of their hired guns. Ritchie mines the rural settings for lots of atmosphere and uses the 2.35:1 aspect ratio to his advantage. There are also some real highlights in terms of action: a chase and a climactic shootout, both of which happen in fields. Enhancing all of it is a wonderful score by Lalo Schifrin.Star Lee Marvin doesn't exactly have to stretch himself here, exuding that trademark cool as Nick Devlin, a mob enforcer assigned the task of collecting a debt from a Kansas rancher, played by Gene Hackman. (Another indication of this movie's tone is the fact that Hackman's character has a female name, Mary Ann!) Mary Ann doesn't want to pay his debt because he has no respect for the Chicago mafia. So Nick and a few others travel to Kansas City to pay Mary Ann a visit. Naturally, Mary Ann makes full use of his slaughterhouse, turning all of his enemies into cuts of meat! Nick also learns that his quarry is depraved enough to sell young girls as sex slaves, and rescues one of these girls, Poppy, played by the endearing Sissy Spacek.Hackman's performance is great fun, and also appearing on screen are the delectable Angel Tompkins as Nick's former flame Clarabelle, Gregory Walcott as Mary Ann's thuggish brother "Weenie", Janit Baldwin as Poppy's friend Violet, and legendary police officer Eddie Egan as mob boss Jake. They all make this movie a pleasing diversion, one that, as previously mentioned, injects some trashy elements but never dwells too much on the darkness in the story. The big confrontation at the end is very moody and well done overall, and there's a satisfying wrap-up at the end.Seven out of 10.