Cutter's Way was a bit confusing to me the first time I saw it. It took me awhile to understand exactly what relationship there was between Cutter, Bone and Mo, but once I figured that out, the rest of the movie became clear.
The film is an odd whodunit...Bone (Jeff Bridges) is a young gigolo/yachtsman with no direction to his life who witnesses someone dumping a body in an alleyway and then thinks he sees the same person in a parade, the person being one of the most powerful and influential people in the town. Cutter latches on to his identification and the situation and wants to bring him to justice for the murder (the body was that of a young hitchhiker). Bone doesn't really want to be a part of it, but Cutter (and the hitchhiker's young sister) bring him into it. Cutter's wife Mo is mostly on Bone's side, but is very out of touch with her own life. She later dies in a suspicious fire that prompts Cutter to action and he and Bone confront the suspected man, and Bone finally makes a decision...about Cutter, the suspect, and everything else.
Jeff Bridges is excellent in the film but it is really John Heard's performance as one-eyed, one-armed, one-legged war veteran Cutter that makes the film. Compared to a lot of Heard's other, more introspective roles, the brash Cutter and his unique philosophy is a welcome change.
The film is an odd whodunit...Bone (Jeff Bridges) is a young gigolo/yachtsman with no direction to his life who witnesses someone dumping a body in an alleyway and then thinks he sees the same person in a parade, the person being one of the most powerful and influential people in the town. Cutter latches on to his identification and the situation and wants to bring him to justice for the murder (the body was that of a young hitchhiker). Bone doesn't really want to be a part of it, but Cutter (and the hitchhiker's young sister) bring him into it. Cutter's wife Mo is mostly on Bone's side, but is very out of touch with her own life. She later dies in a suspicious fire that prompts Cutter to action and he and Bone confront the suspected man, and Bone finally makes a decision...about Cutter, the suspect, and everything else.
Jeff Bridges is excellent in the film but it is really John Heard's performance as one-eyed, one-armed, one-legged war veteran Cutter that makes the film. Compared to a lot of Heard's other, more introspective roles, the brash Cutter and his unique philosophy is a welcome change.