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List Price: $14.98 | | Label: Paramount
Salesrank: 18541
Released: June 14, 2005 |
| Our Price: $8.25 |
| Used Price: $8.26 |
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MPAA Rating: R (Restricted)
Media: DVD |
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Editorial Review:
In PRIME CUT, a Chicago mob enforcer (Marvin) is sent to Kansas City to settle a debt with a man called Mary Ann (Hackman) who sells women as sex slaves
Description of Prime Cut:
Prime Cut is a strangely likeable if decidedly oddball thriller from 1972. A happy collision of gangster genre grit (validated by Lee Marvin's granite-faced lead performance) with a strain of shameless (though shrewd) exploitation not unfamiliar to screenwriter Robert Dillon (X: The Man with the X-Ray Eyes), plus the kinetic, semi-documentary wit of director Michael Ritchie (The Candidate) makes Prime Cut both a straightforward noir and a satire of itself. Marvin plays Nick, an aging enforcer for the Chicago mob, sent to Kansas City to deal with a ruthless cattle baron (Gene Hackman) who owes a half-million to Windy City racketeers. Hackman's character (inexplicably named Mary Ann), dismissive of old-guard crime chieftains, has set up his own heartland empire guarded by a weird contingent of blond, lookalike young men with rifles. Not only does he render the bodies of his enemies into sausage meat, Mary Ann is making a fortune trafficking in naked, enslaved young women. One of the latter, played by Sissy Spacek (in her film debut), falls under the protection of Nick, who sets about taking Mary Ann down. Ritchie's highly energized, absurdist scenes (e.g., a gunfight in an endless field of sunflowers) are nicely counterpointed by Marvin's smooth anti-heroics and the self-conscious cheesiness of the sex slave angle. --Tom Keogh
Prime Cut Reviews:
American Gothic 
2009-10-10 - This thing is whack! Very edgy and ahead of its day of 1972. Lots of hand held camera work, weird angles and off-beat cutting. The opener of a man ground up in a hamburger machine gives you a clue to what's ahead. The acting really isn't much by today's standards. Lee Marvin maintains a macho poker face throughout. Hackman is a lot younger, but still seems like he's over 50. Sissy Spacek got a lot of notice for this film back in the day, but all she does is look wide-eyed most of the time. The violence is not as perfect as today's films, but this is beautifully photographed. How many mafia tales are set in Kansas City? None. See this. And it's less than 90 minutes long, too.
Probably Ingrid Newkirk's favorite movie
2007-11-16 - Lee Marvin as an enforcer for the Chicago Irish (?!) mob, Gene Hackman playing a character named Mary Ann, Sissy Spacek (before she started looking like a leprechaun) in a see-through dress, and a fight between a limousine and a wheat harvester- this is what people go to the movies for! OK, maybe just male people. Add a proto-feminist-vegan comparison of the exploitation of animals to the exploitation of women and a great performance by one of the cast members from Plan 9 From Outer Space and you have the most unjustly neglected film of the 70's. If possible, watch it on a bleary, worn-out full-screen VHS copy like I did for for the full sleazy effect.
Lee Marvin V Gene Hackman
2007-07-17 - This is a rarely seen movie which basically is a showcase for the great acting of Hackman and Marvin - stoic Marvin taking on out of control pig farmer and sausage maker Hackman in a battle of wills with bizarre overtones.
You have to see Hackman at the end in the slaughter house to really believe it - a cacophony of screaming pigs
being the backdrop to Hackman's demise.
Yummy!
2007-02-13 - SO many of the best films came out of the 70's and this is certainly one of them. Mobsters, sex slave trade, and most of all good ole' country cuisine make Prime Cut a real winner. The photography is beatiful, the direction very cunning, and the performances terrific. A real oddity in some ways, but a great twisted ride for those willing to take the chance on on older film.
Oldy but Goody
2007-01-16 - This a classic with great acting and some light nudity that was well before its time. Worth a watch or two just so you can brag about having seen it. Gene Hackman, Lee Marvin (at the top of their games) and a very young Sissy Spasick- need more be said?
The Bobster
