Prime Cut Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		4.0
Video		3.5
Audio		4.5
Extras		2.0
Overall		3.5

Prime Cut Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Dr. Svet Atanasov April 13, 2014

Michael Ritchie's "Prime Cut" (1972) arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of Swiss label Explosive Media. The supplemental features on the disc include an original trailer for the film; promotional (posters, lobby cards, stills, photos); and original trailers for other Explosive Media releases. In English or German, without optional subtitles for the main feature. Region-Free.

Yeah, I like eating guts.

A Chicago mafia boss (Eddie Egan, The French Connection) hires aging enforcer Nick Devlin (Lee Marvin, Shout at the Devil, Point Blank) to go to Kansas City and convince cattle rancher Mary Ann (Gene Hackman, Riot) to pay back the $500,000 he owes. Before they part ways, the boss shows Devlin a small gray packet and tells him to be careful because the sausages in it is all that is left from the last guy he used to recover his money.

Assisted by a couple of eager to please Chicago boys, Devlin arrives in Kansas City and quickly locates Mary Ann. They meet at his ranch, where in addition to cows, Mary Ann sells young white girls. Devlin tells him that he has a day to pay back what he owes and then leaves with one of his girls, Poppy (Sissy Spacek, Badlands), who is so drugged up that she can’t even move. Shortly after, the enraged Mary Ann vows to send more fresh sausages to Chicago.

Michael Ritchie’s Prime Cut is a fascinating hybrid of a film. It blends the rawness of Sam Peckinpah’s crime films with the attitude of Fernando Di Leo’s mafia films, but it has the moody atmosphere of a late film noir classic. Throughout the film, there are also splashes of very dark humor.

The film is broken into multiple episodes and the majority of them are very unusual. In one of them, Devlin warms up to Poppy and the two go out for a fancy dinner, but there is no romance and roses. The whole episode is very anticlimactic. In another, Devlin meets Mary Ann’s wife Clarabelle (played by the stunningly beautiful Angel Tompkins), who tries to seduce him, but at the crucial moment he does what James Bond wouldn’t do – he walks away. There is also a really intense episode in which Mary Ann’s right-hand man, Weenie (Gregory Walcott, Thunderbolt and Lightfoot), attacks Devlin with a wiener. All of these episodes are shot with a degree of seriousness that makes it very difficult to decide whether Prime Cut was meant to be a serious gangster film or some sort of parody.

But this is what makes Prime Cut so fascinating to behold. It is totally out there, and it feels like it might have been conceived by the great Robert Altman before he figured out that you can have a great film without having a great story. (Nashville was released only a couple of years after Prime Cut). It is about atmosphere, attitudes, and all the clichés gangster films have rehashed over and over again, mixed with a good dose of very dark humor which makes the final product look surprisingly fresh.

The cast is excellent. Marvin wears white shoes and looks jaded yet dangerous, the type of good ol’ boy from Chicago that is guaranteed to stick out like a sore thumb in Kansas City. Hackman looks exactly like the type of lunatic that can make a fortune selling the people what they want – dope and flesh. Spacek’s role, her acting debut, is a small one, but she does leave a lasting impression. Walcott could not have been better as the crazy butcher.

Gene Polito’s (Westworld, Futureworld) cinematography is unusually beautiful. It is easy to tell that the film had a limited budget, but Polito made it look gorgeous. Lalo Schifrin's (Cool Hand Luke, Bullitt) score is also terrific. It is deceivingly simple but very elegant, reminding of the great scores legendary Italian composers such as Piero Piccioni and Armando Trovajoli created for various genre films.

Prime Cut Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Presented in an aspect ratio of 2.36:1, encoded with MPEG-4 AVC and granted a 1080p transfer, Michael Ritchie's Pirme Cut arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of Swiss label Explosive Media.

The high-definition transfer has been struck from a dated source, but the film looks quite good in high-definition. Most close-ups boast pleasing depth and despite some minor fluctuations clarity never disappoints. During the darker indoor scenes light noise occasionally sneaks in, but it never becomes overly distracting (see screencaptures #17 and 18). There are a couple of scenes where traces of light fading are also present (see screencapture #10). Generally speaking, colors are stable and natural, but they can be rebalanced. The best news is that no attempts have been made to digitally re-polish the film. In other words, the grain that was present on the master has been retained. There are some very minor fluctuations causing sporadic softness, but none of them are distracting. There are no traces of new and problematic sharpening corrections. Lastly, a few specks and dirt occasionally pop up, but the film looks clean and stable. All in all, even though there is some room for improvements Prime Cut does have a good organic appearance. (Note: This is a Region-Free Blu-ray release. Therefore, you will be able to play it on your player regardless of your geographical location. For the record, there is no problematic PAL or 1080/50i content preceding the disc's main menu).

Prime Cut Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

There are two standard audio tracks on this Blu-ray release: English LPCM 2.0 and German LPCM 2.0. For the record, Explosive Media have not provided optional subtitles for the main feature.

Prime Cut would not have been as charming as it is without Lalo Schifrin's score. It is deceivingly simple but very elegant, reminding of the great scores legendary Italian composers such as Piero Piccioni and Armando Trovajoli created for various genre films. Fortunately, the lossless English track allows it to shine in all the right places. Overall dynamic intensity is somewhat limited, but during the shootouts the sound has plenty of depth. Clarity is very good. The dialog is crisp, stable, and easy to follow. Also, there is no problematic background hiss, crackle, audio dropouts or distortions to report in this review.

Prime Cut Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Trailer - original trailer for Prime Cut. Original theatrical trailer for Prime Cut. In English, not subtitled. (3 min, 1080p).

• Gallery - promotional materials (posters, lobby cards, stills, photos) for Prime Cut. With music. (4 min, 1080p).

• Trailer Gallery - original trailers for other Explosive Media releases. In English. (16 min, 1080p).

• Cover - reversible cover.

Prime Cut Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Completed three years after Downhill Racer, Michael Ritchie's Prime Cut is a cracking gangster film that has all the right ingredients to be considered a minor classic. I thought that it was as quirky as Robert Altman's Nashville, but a lot darker and a lot funnier. Prime Cut has been released on Blu-ray by Explosive Media, a terrific Swiss label that is bringing classic cult westerns and gangster films to the European market with the same enthusiasm Scream Factory releases horror gems in the United States. It looks lovely on Blu-ray. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.