Ember's analysis
- Pacing
- Brisk
- Intensity
- Strong
- Complexity
- Easy to follow
- Violence
- Graphic
- brutal
- stylized
- sardonic
- late night crime cinema
- 1970s film marathon
What critics said
Critics broadly regarded the film as an unusual, stylish, and highly violent departure from conventional gangster cinema, though its comic-strip pulp approach is divisive.
What sets it apart
May contain story progression spoilers
The slaughterhouse and sausage-making operation frame criminal violence through cattle processing and bodily menace.
Nick Devlin is a mob enforcer sent to collect a debt, yet the rancher's trafficking and slaughterhouse practices establish a deeper level of cruelty.
The film's heightened action, lurid violence, and sharply drawn villains support the comic-strip quality noted in its critical reception.
A Chicago enforcer's debt-collection mission brings organized crime into conflict with a Kansas City cattle rancher and his small community.
Films like Prime Cut, and why
Point Blank
hard-boiled gangster violence, stylized pulp tone, and morally brutal criminal underworld
The Long Goodbye
eccentric crime plotting, bleak humor, and heightened 1970s gangster aesthetics
Bring Me the Head of Alfredo Garcia
rural criminal exploitation, graphic violence, and grimy Americana atmosphere
Movie Details
- Director
- Michael Ritchie
- Release Date
- 1972-06-01
- Runtime
- 88 min
- Rating
- 6.5 / 10 (138)
Cast
- Lee Marvin
- Gene Hackman
- Angel Tompkins
- Gregory Walcott
- Sissy Spacek
- Janit Baldwin
- Bill Morey
- Clint Ellison
- Howard Platt
- Les Lannom
Common questions
- What is Prime Cut about?
- A Chicago mob enforcer enters a grotesque Kansas City meatpacking feud where criminal debt, human trafficking, and frontier brutality collide.
- What is Prime Cut like to watch?
- Ember's analysis rates the pacing of Prime Cut as brisk, its intensity as strong and its storytelling as easy to follow.
- Is Prime Cut violent?
- Yes. Ember rates the violence in Prime Cut as graphic.
- What did critics think of Prime Cut?
- Critics broadly regarded the film as an unusual, stylish, and highly violent departure from conventional gangster cinema, though its comic-strip pulp approach is divisive.
- Which films are like Prime Cut?
- Films with a similar feel include Point Blank, The Long Goodbye, and Bring Me the Head of Alfredo Garcia.
- How long is Prime Cut?
- Prime Cut runs 88 minutes.
