Cut and Run (Film Review)

Like many I saw “Cut and Run” when I was a kid on Video and because I lived in Japan we got to see the whole thing uncut on video unlike the rest of the world that got an Alternate filmed soft-core version (In Terms of Violence).

This is all in response to Jack L. “Thoughts on the current state of Action films”. And I can’t do anything but agree, they don’t make classics like “Cut and Run” anymore… so to comeback this I decided to write some reviews on these old Italian action movies to show that the old stuff is still better even though they might be Low Budget (And I mean VERY Low Budget!).

Just imagine it… You are a reporter (And you have your Cameraman) and you have just stumbled into what might be the scoop of the century! But this scoop might just land you in the middle of the biggest drug war in South America… “Your Objective and Assignment”… Get the footage and GET OUT… your Assignment SURVIVAL!

In South America a major drug operation is underway and the criminals are already packing to move their first shipment to Miami… Then silently out of the water comes a machete wilding assassin leading a native tribe to steal the drugs and clear out… After one hell of a raid scene they clear out with all the drugs.

Meanwhile in Miami a smuggler is backpacking cocaine from the airport to her apartment that is being secretly watched by a Reporter-Fran Hudson and her Cameraman- Mark Ludman… But after some time the two move in only to find all the dealers dead and the killers gone, But they do find a photo that has their boss’s son in it who vanished 3 years ago and the man responsible for the Jones Town Massacre in it.

The two are granted to go and to South America and find his son as well as filming the ongoing war between drug lords.

-Story… Well there is a lot more too it then what I have just simply wrote and a matter of fact that’s the short version, I really just wanted to keep it simply. But overall it blew me right out of my chair that and it’s also a bizarre mix of different genres that really helps improve the story. The story itself kind of follows Cannibal Holocaust a bit but overall the story is pretty good very engaging enough to keep you watching and its thrilling enough up to the end.

-Acting… It has some very strong direction and the acting does nothing but pull throw very well and I might just call the performances excellent. Lisa Blount and Michael Berryman are really the two widest known cast members in this Michael Berryman of course being The Hills have Eyes fame. Of course it also stars Leonard Mann, Willie Aames and Richard Lynch as our main cast members.

But overall nothing I can’t really argue with or at all, the performances are great. BTW the reason being with all the American actors is to gain more distribution outside of Italy into different country’s as if it where some type of American made action film.

-Production… When it comes to the films score what can I say? BEST STARTING THEME MUSIC EVER!!! We are so far still the only country to have the films score on CD and I bought it not long ago after hearing the music in this… Claudio Simonetti soundtrack is EPIC!

These are the kinds of Special Effects you just don’t see anymore because of this new CGI crap always being used in Action movies. But overall they are excellent in design and the killing scenes are just gory as hell.

The sets designs are pretty good and they look fantastic when they really reflect with Jungle life and ECT… Same goes for the camera work that we see used in this.

But if you will refer to the top I talked about how we had the Hard-Core Version… See there are two known versions of Cut and Run with different special effects and camera angles to make it seem less gory and more of a straight forward action film. The cut version is the widest seen version but the uncut version didn’t see light until 2002. And that version was only made for markets in the 80s such as Italy, Japan, Germany, Hong Kong. They demanded more gore.

-Final… Well its low budget not as good as Cannibal Holocaust but still worth a watch for any fans of action films or just gore in general. It can get slow in my opinion but overall I could watch it again one day if I ever found the time. But there is plenty of direction and Deodato being very professional about his film.

 (BTW this review is a work in progress but commening is still fine)

Jesse’s Cut and Run score 8/10