Ep. 82 Prime Cut

How do you solve the aesthetic-philosophical problem of Michael
Ritchie, the not-quite-auteur/not-quite-journeyman director of
satirical social comedies like The Candidate and Smile and such
eccentric comedy classics as The Bad News Bears and Fletch?
Christopher Funderburg and John Cribbs decided to go at it the hard
way by diving into Prime Cut, Ritchie's sort-of second feature (it
debuted a day before The Candidate) - hands-down his weirdest and
nastiest movie. What on the page seems like an easy grand slam - a
70's crime thriller that pits an M76-packing Lee Marvin against
Gene Hackman under the vast and gorgeous Kansas sky - is in
practice more an outlandish curio with its scenes of mob rivals fed
through a slaughterhouse, young naked women auctioned in pens like
cattle and extended set piece featuring Marvin and rookie star
Sissy Spacek running from a deadly combine harvester that threatens
to harvest them. Is it a case of Ritchie tripping himself up,
finding his sensibilities as a filmmaker at odds with the gritty
material, or is there more to it than that? Join us in appreciating
the clear merits and murkier demerits of this bizarre tale of meat
and machine guns. Support our Patreon: www.patreon.com/thepinksmoke
The Pink Smoke site: www.thepinksmoke.com The Pink Smoke on
Twitter: twitter.com/thepinksmoke Christopher Funderburg on
Twitter: twitter.com/cfunderburg John Cribbs on Twitter:
twitter.com/TheLastMachine Intro music: Unleash the Bastards / “Tea
for Two” Outro music: Marcus Pinn / “Vegas"