Cutter's Way (Blu-ray)

In Ivan Passer's Cutter's Way, Jeff Bridges, John Heard and Lisa Eichhorn deliver exemplary performances as a trio of '60s casualties embroiled in a murder investigation that goes increasingly off-the-rails and threatens to swallow them whole.

Unambitious yacht salesman and gigolo Richard Bone (Bridges) skates on his good looks and avoids all responsibility. His best friend Alex Cutter (Heard) returned from Vietnam with his body ruined, but his mind sharpened and attuned to the injustices and politics that led to his predicament. After Bone witnesses a shadowy figure dump a young woman's body in the trash, he fingers local oil magnate J.J. Cord (Stephen Elliot, Beverly Hills Cop and Death Wish) as the killer. As Bone backs away from this accusation, Cutter charges forward on a crusade to make Cord pay not only for this murder, but for all the other crimes fat cats like him have routinely gotten away with. Cutter's long-suffering wife Mo (Eichhorn), struggles to keep her own head above the surface, while steering the two men toward saner waters.

Based on Newton Thornburg;'s 1976 novel Cutter and Bone, and initially released under that title to little notice the film was reborn as Cutter's Way and became a highly acclaimed cult favourite. The lush, sunny Santa Barbara setting, luminously photographed by DP Jordan Cronenweth (Blade Runner and Stop Making Sense), is an ironic counter to the deeply cynical and tragic vibes of this neo-noir. The distinctly beautiful score by pop and rock maestro Jack Nitszche ranks as one of his most stirring works. Helmed by Czech filmmaker Passer (Intimate Lighting and Born to Win), Cutter's Way is one of the most impassioned and truthful critiques of the American hierarchy ever filmed. Now, perhaps, more relevant as ever, it's been freshly restored in 2K from its 35mm interpositive. 

Region B Blu-ray - Australian compatible.

Special Features

• New 2K restoration from its 35mm interpositive
• "Mo's Way," a newly filmed video interview with star Lisa Eichhorn
• "From Cutter and Bone to Cutter's Way," a newly filmed video interview with UA Classics exec Ira Deutchman
• Archival video interview with director Ivan Passer
• Archival video interview with writer Jeffrey Alan Fiskin
• Archival video interview with producer Paul Gurian
• Archival video featurette on composer Jack Nitzsche
• Archival audio introduction by star Jeff Bridges
• Archival video introduction by director Bertrand Tavernier
• Theatrical trailers
• Isolated music track
• Newly recorded audio commentary by novelist Matthew Specktor
• Archival audio commentary by film historians Julie Kirgo and Nick Redman
• Archival audio commentary by assistant director Larry Franco and unit production manager Barrie Osborne