Customer Reviews

Prime Cut [VHS]

5 star:		(11)
4 star:		(14)
3 star:		(6)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

They don't make 'em wilder than this.

"Prime Cut" is essentially the ancient fairy tale about the ogres preying on innocent maidens until the knight comes to town updated to a rural Kansas mob-war milieu. The chief ogre here is Mary Ann (not "Mother") a Great Plains gang leader played by Gene Hackman with the relish of a man who knows he may never see a role quite like this one again. His shaven-headed brother Weenie (Gregory Walcott) does things like run rival mobsters through meat-grinders and attack limos with pitchforks. The representative maiden is played by Sissy Spacek, back when she looked cute rather than merely odd. Lee Marvin plays the knight, flourishing a submachine gun while wearing a pricey 70s-style silver-gray suit.

None of which goes anywhere near far enough in relaying the serious strangeness of the thing. For that you need scenes like the one introducing Mary Ann tucking into a plate of beef guts ("I like 'em!"). Or the young gangster eagerly introducing boss Marvin to his mother. Or the shootout in a field of enormous sunflowers. Or Lee's visit to ex-mistress Clarabelle (I swear I'm not making up these names) who lives on a houseboat that looks as if it was designed by Christo collaborating with Heidi Fleiss. And I could go on.

Ritchie later made a number of innocuous comedies and Robert Redford vehicles of the "Downhill Racer" variety. But just once (the very late "Alleged Cheerleader-Murdering Texas Mom" being a partial exception), he got out of the cage and ran wild, and "Prime Cut" is the result. Compare it to Tarantino if you must, but if he or any of the other bravos has ever matched this, I haven't heard about it. "Prime Cut" is sui generis. They don't make 'em like this any more for the very simple reason that they never did in the first place. That's our loss.

...and oh yeah, I'll have mine well done.

A ENJOYABLE FILM DONE WITH THE RIGHT AMOUNT OF ACTION AND COMEDY. Lee Marvin one of the all time greats plays a chicago hitman who is hired to take down an old nemesis from kansas city, who has been invovled in the slave trading business. This film even by today's standards can still be considered a delight to see. the old time dixie music and the farmland scenery is a throwback to what life was like a long time ago. Gene Hackman plays "mary ann" the one who tries to compete in the slave industy. another standout was this was Sissy Spacek's film debut. As for lee marvin Hollywood lost an icon when he passed away. There will never be another Lee Marvin as far as i'm concerned. And when you see this film or any other of his films you'll see why.

As a teenager of the 70's, my family used to attend movies together and we would often go to the latest John Wayne movie. Well, one double feature later we were watching Prime Cut. We were captured by the grittiness and good ol' boy syndrome of this film. The first part caused my family to give up hot dogs for about 10 years!!!! The action was so fascinating, for that time period, that you found yourself running across that wheat field with Marvin & Sissy. And Violet's nickels, the part they always cut out of TV showings. I know they tried to put out a series after the film, with Lawrence Luckinbill (Mr. Lucy Arnez)as the lead character, but it never really caught on. But we loved it then and we love it now. Hope you will too.

Lee Marvin is on top form in this fantastic film from director Michael Ritchie.Sissy Spacek gives an affecting performance as one of the girls trapped in Gene Hackman's white slave trade ring.Some fantastic location photography in America's mid west makes this an unusual addition to the modern gangster film.
It's a shame the video uses a cropped image as this superb film would really benefit from a proper widescreen transfer.

Tough, unsettling movie whose subject matter is unusually unpleasant given that it was made in 1972. Pretty, innocent girls are treated as one rung up the evolutionary ladder from cattle, and mobsters who fall foul of other mobsters end up as human meat. This isn't Kansas City as I remember it, but you never know what goes on in those farms and meat-packing plants. One of Lee Marvin's best roles.

An entertaining but oddball choice for its two stars (Lee Marvin and Gene Hackman) and for its director (Michael Ritchie). Hackman and Marvin play Kansas City and Chicago gangsters, respectively, who go face-to-face for control of the Midwest syndicate. Hackman's truly vile enterprise features a slaughterhouse that doubles as a handy body disposal service for his slain rivals and (literally) a stable of young women who are kidnapped from orphanages and then raised to be auctioned off as sex slaves when they reach womanhood (how did Russ Meyer miss this one?) The film is so over the top that I have to believe director Ritchie was going for an ultra-violent black comedy (does "Pulp Fiction" seem so original now?) Marvin plays the role of the city boy in the country with his patented stoic cool. Not a lot of plot development involved, but the film is notable for some interesting set-pieces like a memorable thresher machine chase and the opening slaughterhouse sequence, which is sure to put you off eating sausage for quite a while. "Prime Cut" also introduced audiences to Sissy Spacek, who gives much more depth to her character than you would expect. The film is quite an anamoly for its director, who went on to give us more low-key satires like "Smile", "Downhill Racer" and "The Candidate". I think a lot of movie buffs would rejoice if this one were re-issued in widescreen on DVD (the heartland backdrops are well-utilized) and it would certainly be an easy sell with the Tarantino crowd. Revel in the sleaze!

I have always liked Gene Hackman (real different role for him) and Lee Marvin. Simple plot, Mobster is skimming money, enforcer is sent by mob boss to get it back. Unreal situations from start to finish. However, if you are looking for 70's style B movie with gangster type action, give Prime Cut a try. I enjoyed it and it is one of my guilty pleasures, for action type shows. The DVD itself wasn't the greatest quality, but it had been 30 years since I had seen it in the theater, so the quality may not have been that good to begin with. The movie's quality is still good enough to watch.

Sissy Spacek was in her prime when she did the nude scenes.

Yeah, buy this sucker.

Being from Kansas City I'm always interested in any cinema shot here, especially since there are so very few movies made in this part of the country.

When I learned about the existence of this movie with Gene Hackman and Lee Marvin I had to see it. I added the DVD to my collection and what can say? This movie and it's implications are almost beyond my comprehension; if this is truly how Hollywood sees the midwest, I am thrilled!

Man-butchering ganster farmers, drug controlled sex slaves on the auction block, nordic looking homo-erotic henchmen, groin-punching good times between manical brothers, and Hackman's "Mary Ann" character riding high on a wave of murderous lunacy declaring his love of eating guts!

The mind boggles under the weight of this grindhouse style masterpiece that makes "Blue Velvet" look like "The Santa Clause"!

In spite of all of this glorious surrealism, the only improvement I could possibly suggest would be that it should have been a musical. I will swear to my dying day that if this movie would have had some lavish musical numbers no one would have ever even thought twice about "The Rocky Horror Picture Show". If Lee Marvin could have done that dreadful "Paint Your Wagon" movie, he could have been up to the task of turning this macabre little film into a up-roar that college kids would still be quoting every day.

This film should be required viewing for anyone even thinking about coming to this part of the country.

I'm going to go do my part to live up to this film's dipiction of KC by putting on my mother's wedding dress and making sausage out of whatever isn't fast enough to escape my grasp!

Vivo el Meatpackers!

Though short of classic status, "Prime Cut" has alot to recommend it. Director Michael Ritchie has a sharp eye for Middle-America ambience and stages some good action set pieces. Lee Marvin is in classic tough guy form as Devlin, the bagman sent by the Chicago bosses to collect a debt from sleazy Mary Ann(Gene Hackman), whose Kansas City meat plant is a front for a more lucrative trade in white slavery and narcotics. Hackman, in what is in essence an extended cameo, makes a colorful impression here. Sissy Spacek, as a girl entrapped in Hackman's operation, isn't really given much to do in her film debut but is easy on the eyes in a fresh-faced kind of way. The film breezes by at an economical 86 minutes. Interesting casting here with Gregory Walcott("Plan 9 from Outer Space" infamy) as Hackman's brother and Eddie Egan(the real-life inspiration for Popeye Doyle of "The French Connection" fame) as a Chicago mob boss.