Cutter's Way (Blu-ray)

Cutter’s Way (1981) – director Ivan Passer’s and screenwriter Jeffrey Alan Fiskin’s slashing adaptation of Newton Thornburg’s novel, Cutter and Bone – provides a devastating look at post-Vietnam, post-Watergate America, as exemplified by its trio of damaged protagonists: a slightly dim beach-boy gigolo (Jeff Bridges), a ferocious disabled veteran (John Heard), and the cynical, alcoholic young woman (Lisa Eichhorn) they both love. All three actors are nothing short of combustive here, in a dark tale (set against a gorgeously sunny Santa Barbara) about the attempt to pin a murder on a fat-cat plutocrat (Stephen Elliott) – who may, in fact, be guilty.