"Give the man his goddamn doll."

This is a thriller in the same way Moby-Dick is an adventure tale, on paper about a team of heroes taking on a dastardly villain but in its substance and its details a story about hopeless tragedy and the differing responses people have to it. I've never been more shocked to find out a movie wasn't made in the 70s.

The last American hero. A melancholy, boozy beachside noir that lives in the shadow of Vietnam and treats its central mystery like an afterthought. Instead, it's all about commitment and purpose; a crippled war vet and his flighty floozy of an Ivy League burnout pal coming to terms with the fact that they self-actualized people they hate without even realizing it along the way. Arcs are certainly achieved, but also culminate in the bleakest final shot in all of cinema. A stunning work out of time. [35mm]

“Any minute now Prince Charming will, uh, ride by on his grand, white Charger and take me in his arms and carry me away.”

“My Charger’s got a bad battery, but will I do?”

“Hell, no.”

Exposes America’s heroes (i.e. our soldiers) as purveyors of imperialism who refuse to question the status quo because they think they’ll benefit from the country’s exploitation of foreigners. By the time they wake up and realize that they’ve been fucked over by the system, too, though, they’ve spent so long oiling the machine that they’re incapable of shutting it down and saving anybody. This would’ve been great if it had had a better sense of vitality.

First half hour great and John Heard was incredible but then it went no where and became dull and boring with main characters not showing up anymore in the movie lol

'You know, the routine grind drives me to drink. Tragedy, I take straight.'

Have wanted to watch this for some time now, and it lived up to the hype. The central trio of Bridges, Hearn and Eichhorn all deliver powerful performances. I felt the cinematography could have delivered more and a key character disappears from the plot when they could have brought even more ambiguity and shade into the narrative.

Looking forward to revisiting this further down the line, and bowled over by the way-above-average dialogue and performances.

This is the kind of movie that is forgotten. It flies under the radar in its initial run (in this case, it had two “initial” runs). It gets respect from critics, and many of the people who see it, like it. But over the years, it never quite reaches cult status. Fast-forward a few decades and you’ve got a forgotten film that a lot of people might like if they saw it today. I know I was looking forward to finally seeing it after all these years. Except I wasn’t all that impressed. I could see why it has its champions, but I’m not one of them. Its rambling nature didn’t work for me, and while John Heard as Cutter offered an impressive piece of work, it was more “give me an acting award” impressive than anything else.

Superbly polished neo noir. But the story took far too long to play out for me. And it lacked the atmosphere, tension, or sense of dread I want from something like this. More focused on the characters than anything else.

Fantastic. This shambolic neo-noir, adapted from Newton Thornburg's superb novel, is one of the great underrated films of the 80s. It’s an examination of the fallout of the 70s and a tragicomic character study. And what rich characters these are (the performances and screenplay are fucking great).

Director Ivan Passer doesn’t put a foot wrong here.

If Home Alone Heard was all you ever Heard, then you ain’t Heard nothin’ yet, and CUTTER’S WAY might give you a raging Heard-on (or so I’ve Heard, cough cough). Great film!

John Heard is goddamned great.

A forgotten classic of '70s neo-noir.