Rating summary

Movie		4.0
Video		3.5
Audio		3.5
Extras		1.0
Overall		3.5

Prime Cut Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Brian Orndorf July 29, 2015

1972’s “Prime Cut” is an efficient actioner with enough surges in oddity to keep it compelling. The feature is directed by Michael Ritchie and was released mere weeks after his breakthrough work on “The Candidate,” displaying the helmer’s gift with realism and satire, and his way with armed men and personal vendettas. I’m not convinced that “Prime Cut” is a lost classic, but it does reach a higher consciousness than most bruisers, investing in unsettling behavior to keep its routine plot interesting. It also helps to have leading actors in Lee Marvin and Gene Hackman, who trade death stares and punches as the big city goes up against the heartland in this periodically surprising exercise in distanced exploitation.

In Kansas, Mary Ann (Gene Hackman) is a human trafficker using a meatpacking facility as a cover for his pimping ways, aided by top goon, Weenie (Gregory Walcott). Owing $500,000 to the Chicago mob, Mary Ann returns threats with escalation, sending the last enforcer back to his bosses as hot dog links. Fed up, the big city crooks hired enforcer Nick (Lee Marvin) to press down on Mary Ann and retrieve the money. Traveling to Kansas with a handful of help, Nick is confronted with a farmland filled with toxic activity, discovering that Mary Ann is selling girls out of his barn, running the local crime syndicate. Claiming Poppy (Sissy Spacek, in her film debut) for himself, Nick tries to play nice with Mary Ann, only to find resistance and, eventually, retaliation, pushing the Chicago visitor too far. Armed and angry, with ties to Mary Ann’s wife, Clarabelle (Angel Tompkins), Nick returns to power with renewed intensity, dodging bullets and mowing down enemies as the situation gets personal.

“Prime Cut” doesn’t mess around. The picture opens with a tour of Mary Ann’s Kansas slaughterhouse facility, carrying from serene shots of the farmland in motion to the killing floor, where Weenie takes out cattle with a bolt gun and hammer, taking over for a colleague as a special human delivery emerges from the shadows. While it’s not PETA-style graphic, the sequence sets an unsettling tone for the feature, plainly depicting the process of making ground beef and hot dogs. We soon learn that a member of the Chicago mafia has been fed into the machine, emerging as a line of links that are sent north, offering perhaps the most disgusting warning imaginable. It’s also an effective starter pistol for “Prime Cut,” which sets a severe tone of unexpected retaliation, keeping the audience on edge as Nick is sent to Kansas to collect payment, entering an alien land where anything could happen, especially if it involves a bun, ketchup, and mustard.

Instead of underlining the stranger-in-a-strange-land premise, Ritchie keeps “Prime Cut” low to the ground, emphasizing growing hostilities between Nick and Mary Ann, who share a history of criminal pursuits and time with Clarabelle, who’s very happy to have her Chicago connection in town. With Marvin in the lead role, hysterics aren’t welcome, watching the iconic star growl lines and push around anyone who gets in his way, saving his most pointed encounters for Mary Ann as the crook’s business selling women is revealed, observing drugged-up “cattle” penned up while creeps circle and make their bids. Poppy is a member of the club, begging Nick for help, with the enforcer taking the victim to safety, though his intentions with the teenager are suspect at best, gifting Poppy a sheer dress for their first night on the town.

There’s no romance between Poppy and Nick, with the aggressor parental (okay, maybe more of a lecherous but protective uncle), learning all about Mary Ann’s “orphanage,” which houses the women. Poppy becomes more of a damsel-in-distress as “Prime Cut” unfolds, taking part in several of the action sequences. One chase erupts at the county fair, where Nick discovers Mary Ann’s position as a pillar of the community, shaking hands and passing out blue ribbons, eventually sending his goons to kill the visitor, who weaves through a turkey shoot gun range before he seeks cover in a flowing wheat field. Ritchie is generally good with the Midwestern atmosphere, generating a sense of expanse and everyday people engaged in Americana to backdrop a game of intimidation between Nick and Mary Ann. “Prime Cut” is visually quite pleasing, punctuated with bursts of violence and heated outbursts, generating an ideal amount of irritation and threat before all hell breaks loose in the finale.

Prime Cut Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

The AVC encoded image (2.37:1 aspect ratio) presentation respects the feature's raw qualities, delivering a grainy viewing experience that's filmic, if a tad uneven. Detail is preserved, working through period cinematography to take in the aged leads and their creased faces, and slaughterhouse visits are certainly textured, reinforcing their troubling intent. Sharpness is rare, but design particulars and sheerness on female outfits are preserved. Colors aren't amplified, but fade is minimal, carrying encouraging hues with exteriors, finding golden wheat fields and greenery intact, while costuming brings out punchier shades of green and blue. Delineation has its challenges, fighting a few contrast issues, but frame information isn't completely swallowed. Print displays speckling and minor scratches, and flicker emerges with regularity.

Prime Cut Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

The 2.0 DTS-HD MA sound mix isn't strong with definition, registering a slightly jumbled track of disparate elements competing for attention. It's not a mess, but not robust, emphasizing dialogue exchanges, which sound adequate, remaining intelligible throughout the feature. Scoring carries the mood satisfactorily, though Ritchie is more interested in a spare mood of silence, which isn't overwhelmed with hiss issues. Atmospherics are engaging, capturing slaughterhouse claustrophobia and carnival gatherings with variation and pronunciation.

Prime Cut Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• A Theatrical Trailer (2:35, SD) is included.

Prime Cut Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

"Prime Cut" is a simple picture, possibly trimmed down from something more substantial, as Hackman doesn't figure into the movie as much as expected, reduced to villain status without truly developing his reach of evildoing. However, Nick is also a question mark at times, with the feature playing as though it was hastily streamlined to best accentuate suspense. It works in way, and while depth is missing, the film does retain pace, hurriedly paging through confrontations before it settles on a firefight conclusion that solely focuses on physical acts of survival. "Prime Cut" is satisfying even if does feel a little thin, but such brevity isn't necessarily bothersome. After all, there's Marvin and Hackman chewing lines and bumping chests, Spacek in an unusually sexualized role, and Kansas is transformed into a black hole of bad behavior, contrasting naturalistic serenity with the cancer of crime. Little else is necessary when the basics are handled this effectively.