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Prime Cut (1972)
Prime Cut
Prime Cut is a solid & dependable 70s action flick. There are no great negative points to the film, but then there are no real outstanding one's either. Everything here is as you'd expect it: Lee Marvin plays Lee Marvin & Gene Hackman plays the Gene Hackman we've seen in almost everything he's been in (the notable exception being Coppola's 'The Convocation'.). While neither of these things are bad, in fact its probably why we watch most of their pictures, Prime Cut delivers them in a very unexceptional way. Neither actor really pulls out any stops and neither performance will go down in ethers roll of honour list. Much the same can be said about the plot. If you're currently 15mins into this film and think you have an idea of how its going to pan out, I can tell you now that you're almost definitely right. I appreciate this is coming across as a real slating of the film. Its not. As I said, Marvin playing Marvin and Hackman, Hackman are what we tune in for. As predictable as the plot is its certainly not unenjoyable. The shoot-outs are fun to watch and the dialogue pretty slick. Cinematographer Gene Polito did a fantastic job on the tense combine harvester scene, which echo's of Hitchcocks crop duster chase in North By Northwest. Hackman comes across well as a pretty brutal and sadistic bad guy, which is set up very effectively mostly by showing us the aftermath of his crimes as they've occur off screen and leaving it to the viewers imagination.
Prime Cut is a fun action flick, but nothing really more than that. You'll enjoy the experience but probably wont be adding it to that 'Films to Re-Watch' list you have on IMDb. If you're ever presented with the choice, go with Don Siegels classic Lee Marvin action flick Point Blank (1967), or Night Moves (1975) with Hackman instead.
Fun to watch and brutal at times, but predictable and ultimately nothing special.
7/10 (Good).