Prime Cut Movie Review

Sounds far more interesting than it really is, and as the lead villain, Gene Hackman gets far too little screen time. Prime Cut is Lee Marvin's story, the mob enforcer sent from Chicago to collect half a million dollars in debts from Hackman's "Mary Ann," and decides to rescue poor Poppy (Sissy Spacek in her first speaking role) from Mary Ann's clutches.

This oddball production from Robert Dillon (X: The Man with the X-Ray Eyes) and Michael Ritchie (The Candidate) ends up with a familiar story (gangster unexpectedly takes waif under his wing -- The Professional mastered this one perfectly), but Marvin's stone coldness, Hackman's scenery chewing (literally, he's constantly eating in the film), and Spacek's freshness make Prime Cut more watchable than it ought to be.