Prime Cut
Encyclopedia
Prime Cut is a 1972
American
film produced by Joe Wizan
and directed by Michael Ritchie
, with a screenplay written by Robert Dillon
. The movie stars Lee Marvin
as a mob
enforcer from Chicago
sent to Kansas
to collect a debt from a meatpacker boss played by Gene Hackman
. Sissy Spacek
appears in her first credited on-screen role as a young orphan sold into prostitution
.
The movie was considered highly risqué for its time based on its violence, as well as its graphic depiction of female slavery
, including a scene depicting the auction
ing of young women in the manner of beef cattle
. It is also noted for its depiction of the beef slaughtering process, and a famous chase scene involving a combine
in an open field.
process in from the unloading of the cattle to the making of sausage
s; however, inexplicably, a man's shoes drops onto the conveyor belt during the process. The woman operating the sausage machine is interrupted by Weenie (Gregory Walcott
), who has timed the machine using his watch. He stops the machine, wraps up a string of sausages, and marks the package with an address in Chicago.
It is later revealed that Weenie is the brother of Mary Ann (Gene Hackman
), the crooked operator of the slaughterhouse in Kansas City, Kansas
. The particular sausages that Weenie was wrapping were made from the remains of an enforcer from the Chicago Irish mob sent to Kansas City to collect $500,000 from Mary Ann.
After the head of the Irish mob in Chicago receives the package, he contacts Nick Devlin (Lee Marvin
), an enforcer with whom he has worked previously, in order to go to Kansas City to collect the debt. He tells Devlin about the sausages and that another enforcer sent to Kansas City was found floating in the Missouri River
.
Devlin agrees to the fee of $50,000 and asks for some additional muscle. He receives a driver and three other younger members of the Irish mob for help, including the young O'Brien (Les Lannom
), who makes Devlin meet his mother as he leaves Chicago.
It is later revealed that Devlin and Mary Ann have a shared history involving Mary Ann's wife Clarabelle (Angel Tompkins
), who previously had an affair with Devlin.
Devlin and his men drive to Kansas City. They stop at a flop house, where Devlin finds Weenie in an upstairs room. He beats up Weenie and tell him to inform Mary Ann that he is in town to collect the debt.
The next day Devlin and his men find Mary Ann in a barn where Mary Ann is entertaining guests during a white slavery auction. He demands the money from Mary Ann, who tells him to come to county fair the next day to get it. Mary Ann tells Devlin that Chicago is "an old sow, begging for cream" that should be melted down.
As they are standing next to a cattle pen with young women offered for auction, one of them, who is later revealed to have the name Poppy (Sissy Spacek
), begs Devlin for help. Devlin takes her with him "on account". Back at the hotel he puts the woman in a large bed in their suite to recuperate. When she wakes up, she tells Devlin about her history of growing up at an orphanage in Missouri
with her close friend, Violet (Janit Baldwin), before they were both brought to the slave auction. Devlin promises to take her to the fair the next day.
The next day at the county fair, in the midst of a livestock judging competition, Mary Ann gives Devlin a box that supposedly contains the money. When Devlin cracks the box open on the spot, he finds it contains only beef hearts. Betrayed by Mary Ann, before his men can take Devlin away, Violet distracts Weenie, who claimed her after the auction, and Devlin is able to escape with Poppy.
Mary Ann's men chase Devlin, his men, and Poppy through the fair. O'Brien is killed underneath a set of bleachers. Devlin and Poppy escape into a nearby wheat
field, where they escape detection. When they try to leave the field, however, they are chased by a combine operator. Poppy falls while running and they are nearly sliced by the combine's blades.
Devlin and Poppy are saved by the arrival of Devlin's men in their car, which they abandon and let ram into the front of the combine. Devlin's driver kills the combine operator. In one of the most memorable scenes from the movie, the entire car is demolished by the threshing apparatus and turned into bales of hay and metal.
With their car destroyed, Devlin and his men hitch a ride back into Kansas City on a truck. Devlin jumps off the truck near the river and sends the rest of them with Poppy back into town. He enters a houseboat
, the luxurious accommodations of Clarabelle, purchased for her by Mary Ann, who is there alone. He gets information on the whereabouts of Mary Ann. Clarabelle attempts to seduce him, but he rebuffs her. Clarabelle tells him she would be perfectly happy being a widow and joining Devlin again.
When he returns to the hotel with a new car for his crew, Devlin finds an ambulance out front, with one of his men being hauled away. He learns that Mary Ann's men ambushed them and took Poppy. When he returns to Weenie's hotel to look for him, he finds that Violet has been gang-raped, apparently as a warning to what will happen to Poppy.
He and his two remaining men drive out to Mary Ann's farm to finally take care of business. On the way, Devlin takes out a Smith & Wesson M76
submachine gun
from a case.
Devlin stops the car on the edge of a field of sunflower
s near Mary Ann's farm. They approach the farm through the field and engage in a long gun battle with Mary Ann's men. Both of Devlin's men are hit. He tells them to stay behind while he advances with the submachine gun. Unable to get past Mary Ann's men, he stops a semi truck driver hauling livestock. He commandeers the truck and uses it ram the gate and smash into the greenhouse
on the farm, demolishing it.
Devlin kills several of Mary Ann's men then advances into the barn where Mary Ann and his brother are holding Poppy. From behind a bale of hay, he hits Mary Ann, who falls injured from the top of the barn. Enraged at seeing his brother shot, Weenie runs toward Devlin, who kills him. As he dies, Weenie tries to stab Devlin with a sausage.
Devlin carries Poppy out of the barn. They pass the wounded Mary Ann, flat on his back, next to a sow pen. Mary Ann taunts Devlin to kill him, telling him to finish him off, like he would an animal. Devlin tells him that since Mary Ann is not an animal, he won't do that. He walks away, leaving Mary Ann to die on his back.
Note: the scene involving Mary Ann at the end was adapted somewhat in the 1992 movie Unforgiven
, written by David Webb Peoples and directed by Clint Eastwood
, in which Hackman plays a villain who taunts his killer while lying wounded on his back after a gun battle.
1972 in film
The year 1972 in film involved some significant events.-Top grossing films :- Awards :Academy Awards:*Avanti!, directed by Billy Wilder, starring Jack Lemmon and Juliet MillsB...
American
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
film produced by Joe Wizan
Joe Wizan
Joe Wizan was an American film producer and studio executive. He was head of 20th Century Fox's motion picture division from 1983 to 1984. His credits as a producer or executive producer include Junior Bonner, The Last American Hero, Audrey Rose and Along Came a Spider...
and directed by Michael Ritchie
Michael Ritchie (film director)
Michael Brunswick Ritchie was an American film director.Ritchie was born in Waukesha, Wisconsin, the son of Patricia and Benbow Ferguson Ritchie...
, with a screenplay written by Robert Dillon
Robert Dillon
Robert Dillon is a screenwriter and film producer. In 1976 he was nominated by the Writers Guild of America for Best Drama Written Directly for the Screen for French Connection II. In 2001 he was nominated for an Independent Spirit Award for Best Screenplay for Waking the Dead...
. The movie stars Lee Marvin
Lee Marvin
Lee Marvin was an American film actor. Known for his gravelly voice, white hair and 6' 2" stature, Marvin at first did supporting roles, mostly villains, soldiers and other hardboiled characters, but after winning an Academy Award for Best Actor for his dual roles in Cat Ballou , he landed more...
as a mob
Organized crime
Organized crime or criminal organizations are transnational, national, or local groupings of highly centralized enterprises run by criminals for the purpose of engaging in illegal activity, most commonly for monetary profit. Some criminal organizations, such as terrorist organizations, are...
enforcer from Chicago
Chicago
Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...
sent to Kansas
Kansas
Kansas is a US state located in the Midwestern United States. It is named after the Kansas River which flows through it, which in turn was named after the Kansa Native American tribe, which inhabited the area. The tribe's name is often said to mean "people of the wind" or "people of the south...
to collect a debt from a meatpacker boss played by Gene Hackman
Gene Hackman
Eugene Allen "Gene" Hackman is an American actor and novelist.Nominated for five Academy Awards, winning two, Hackman has also won three Golden Globes and two BAFTAs in a career that spanned five decades. He first came to fame in 1967 with his performance as Buck Barrow in Bonnie and Clyde...
. Sissy Spacek
Sissy Spacek
Sissy Spacek is an American actress and singer. She came to international prominence for her for role as Carrie White in Brian De Palma's 1976 horror film Carrie for which she earned her first Academy Award nomination...
appears in her first credited on-screen role as a young orphan sold into prostitution
Prostitution
Prostitution is the act or practice of providing sexual services to another person in return for payment. The person who receives payment for sexual services is called a prostitute and the person who receives such services is known by a multitude of terms, including a "john". Prostitution is one of...
.
The movie was considered highly risqué for its time based on its violence, as well as its graphic depiction of female slavery
Sexual slavery
Sexual slavery is when unwilling people are coerced into slavery for sexual exploitation. The incidence of sexual slavery by country has been studied and tabulated by UNESCO, with the cooperation of various international agencies...
, including a scene depicting the auction
Auction
An auction is a process of buying and selling goods or services by offering them up for bid, taking bids, and then selling the item to the highest bidder...
ing of young women in the manner of beef cattle
Cattle
Cattle are the most common type of large domesticated ungulates. They are a prominent modern member of the subfamily Bovinae, are the most widespread species of the genus Bos, and are most commonly classified collectively as Bos primigenius...
. It is also noted for its depiction of the beef slaughtering process, and a famous chase scene involving a combine
Combine harvester
The combine harvester, or simply combine, is a machine that harvests grain crops. The name derives from the fact that it combines three separate operations, reaping, threshing, and winnowing, into a single process. Among the crops harvested with a combine are wheat, oats, rye, barley, corn ,...
in an open field.
Plot
The movie opens with a credit sequence that follows a slaughterhouseSlaughterhouse
A slaughterhouse or abattoir is a facility where animals are killed for consumption as food products.Approximately 45-50% of the animal can be turned into edible products...
process in from the unloading of the cattle to the making of sausage
Sausage
A sausage is a food usually made from ground meat , mixed with salt, herbs, and other spices, although vegetarian sausages are available. The word sausage is derived from Old French saussiche, from the Latin word salsus, meaning salted.Typically, a sausage is formed in a casing traditionally made...
s; however, inexplicably, a man's shoes drops onto the conveyor belt during the process. The woman operating the sausage machine is interrupted by Weenie (Gregory Walcott
Gregory Walcott
Gregory Walcott is an American television and film actor. He is perhaps best known for having appeared in the 1959 Ed Wood film, the cult classic Plan 9 from Outer Space.-Early life and career:...
), who has timed the machine using his watch. He stops the machine, wraps up a string of sausages, and marks the package with an address in Chicago.
It is later revealed that Weenie is the brother of Mary Ann (Gene Hackman
Gene Hackman
Eugene Allen "Gene" Hackman is an American actor and novelist.Nominated for five Academy Awards, winning two, Hackman has also won three Golden Globes and two BAFTAs in a career that spanned five decades. He first came to fame in 1967 with his performance as Buck Barrow in Bonnie and Clyde...
), the crooked operator of the slaughterhouse in Kansas City, Kansas
Kansas City, Kansas
Kansas City is the third-largest city in the state of Kansas and is the county seat of Wyandotte County. It is a suburb of Kansas City, Missouri, and is the third largest city in the Kansas City Metropolitan Area. The city is part of a consolidated city-county government known as the "Unified...
. The particular sausages that Weenie was wrapping were made from the remains of an enforcer from the Chicago Irish mob sent to Kansas City to collect $500,000 from Mary Ann.
After the head of the Irish mob in Chicago receives the package, he contacts Nick Devlin (Lee Marvin
Lee Marvin
Lee Marvin was an American film actor. Known for his gravelly voice, white hair and 6' 2" stature, Marvin at first did supporting roles, mostly villains, soldiers and other hardboiled characters, but after winning an Academy Award for Best Actor for his dual roles in Cat Ballou , he landed more...
), an enforcer with whom he has worked previously, in order to go to Kansas City to collect the debt. He tells Devlin about the sausages and that another enforcer sent to Kansas City was found floating in the Missouri River
Missouri River
The Missouri River flows through the central United States, and is a tributary of the Mississippi River. It is the longest river in North America and drains the third largest area, though only the thirteenth largest by discharge. The Missouri's watershed encompasses most of the American Great...
.
Devlin agrees to the fee of $50,000 and asks for some additional muscle. He receives a driver and three other younger members of the Irish mob for help, including the young O'Brien (Les Lannom
Les Lannom
Les Lannom is an American actor and musician. Lannom is best known for playing Lester Hodges on the television series Harry O from 1974 to 1976, and his role as Sergeant Casper in Southern Comfort.-Career:...
), who makes Devlin meet his mother as he leaves Chicago.
It is later revealed that Devlin and Mary Ann have a shared history involving Mary Ann's wife Clarabelle (Angel Tompkins
Angel Tompkins
Angel Tompkins is an American actress and Golden Globe nominee, who appeared in several films and television shows.-Career:...
), who previously had an affair with Devlin.
Devlin and his men drive to Kansas City. They stop at a flop house, where Devlin finds Weenie in an upstairs room. He beats up Weenie and tell him to inform Mary Ann that he is in town to collect the debt.
The next day Devlin and his men find Mary Ann in a barn where Mary Ann is entertaining guests during a white slavery auction. He demands the money from Mary Ann, who tells him to come to county fair the next day to get it. Mary Ann tells Devlin that Chicago is "an old sow, begging for cream" that should be melted down.
Sissy Spacek
Sissy Spacek is an American actress and singer. She came to international prominence for her for role as Carrie White in Brian De Palma's 1976 horror film Carrie for which she earned her first Academy Award nomination...
), begs Devlin for help. Devlin takes her with him "on account". Back at the hotel he puts the woman in a large bed in their suite to recuperate. When she wakes up, she tells Devlin about her history of growing up at an orphanage in Missouri
Missouri
Missouri is a US state located in the Midwestern United States, bordered by Iowa, Illinois, Kentucky, Tennessee, Arkansas, Oklahoma, Kansas and Nebraska. With a 2010 population of 5,988,927, Missouri is the 18th most populous state in the nation and the fifth most populous in the Midwest. It...
with her close friend, Violet (Janit Baldwin), before they were both brought to the slave auction. Devlin promises to take her to the fair the next day.
The next day at the county fair, in the midst of a livestock judging competition, Mary Ann gives Devlin a box that supposedly contains the money. When Devlin cracks the box open on the spot, he finds it contains only beef hearts. Betrayed by Mary Ann, before his men can take Devlin away, Violet distracts Weenie, who claimed her after the auction, and Devlin is able to escape with Poppy.
Mary Ann's men chase Devlin, his men, and Poppy through the fair. O'Brien is killed underneath a set of bleachers. Devlin and Poppy escape into a nearby wheat
Wheat
Wheat is a cereal grain, originally from the Levant region of the Near East, but now cultivated worldwide. In 2007 world production of wheat was 607 million tons, making it the third most-produced cereal after maize and rice...
field, where they escape detection. When they try to leave the field, however, they are chased by a combine operator. Poppy falls while running and they are nearly sliced by the combine's blades.
Devlin and Poppy are saved by the arrival of Devlin's men in their car, which they abandon and let ram into the front of the combine. Devlin's driver kills the combine operator. In one of the most memorable scenes from the movie, the entire car is demolished by the threshing apparatus and turned into bales of hay and metal.
With their car destroyed, Devlin and his men hitch a ride back into Kansas City on a truck. Devlin jumps off the truck near the river and sends the rest of them with Poppy back into town. He enters a houseboat
Houseboat
A houseboat is a boat that has been designed or modified to be used primarily as a human dwelling. Some houseboats are not motorized, because they are usually moored, kept stationary at a fixed point and often tethered to land to provide utilities...
, the luxurious accommodations of Clarabelle, purchased for her by Mary Ann, who is there alone. He gets information on the whereabouts of Mary Ann. Clarabelle attempts to seduce him, but he rebuffs her. Clarabelle tells him she would be perfectly happy being a widow and joining Devlin again.
When he returns to the hotel with a new car for his crew, Devlin finds an ambulance out front, with one of his men being hauled away. He learns that Mary Ann's men ambushed them and took Poppy. When he returns to Weenie's hotel to look for him, he finds that Violet has been gang-raped, apparently as a warning to what will happen to Poppy.
He and his two remaining men drive out to Mary Ann's farm to finally take care of business. On the way, Devlin takes out a Smith & Wesson M76
Smith & Wesson M76
The Smith & Wesson M76 submachine gun was produced by Smith & Wesson from 1967 to 1974. It is a clone of the Carl Gustav M/45.-History:In 1966, the Swedish government blocked the sale of firearms to the United States because it opposed the Vietnam War...
submachine gun
Submachine gun
A submachine gun is an automatic carbine, designed to fire pistol cartridges. It combines the automatic fire of a machine gun with the cartridge of a pistol. The submachine gun was invented during World War I , but the apex of its use was during World War II when millions of the weapon type were...
from a case.
Devlin stops the car on the edge of a field of sunflower
Sunflower
Sunflower is an annual plant native to the Americas. It possesses a large inflorescence . The sunflower got its name from its huge, fiery blooms, whose shape and image is often used to depict the sun. The sunflower has a rough, hairy stem, broad, coarsely toothed, rough leaves and circular heads...
s near Mary Ann's farm. They approach the farm through the field and engage in a long gun battle with Mary Ann's men. Both of Devlin's men are hit. He tells them to stay behind while he advances with the submachine gun. Unable to get past Mary Ann's men, he stops a semi truck driver hauling livestock. He commandeers the truck and uses it ram the gate and smash into the greenhouse
Greenhouse
A greenhouse is a building in which plants are grown. These structures range in size from small sheds to very large buildings...
on the farm, demolishing it.
Devlin kills several of Mary Ann's men then advances into the barn where Mary Ann and his brother are holding Poppy. From behind a bale of hay, he hits Mary Ann, who falls injured from the top of the barn. Enraged at seeing his brother shot, Weenie runs toward Devlin, who kills him. As he dies, Weenie tries to stab Devlin with a sausage.
Devlin carries Poppy out of the barn. They pass the wounded Mary Ann, flat on his back, next to a sow pen. Mary Ann taunts Devlin to kill him, telling him to finish him off, like he would an animal. Devlin tells him that since Mary Ann is not an animal, he won't do that. He walks away, leaving Mary Ann to die on his back.
Note: the scene involving Mary Ann at the end was adapted somewhat in the 1992 movie Unforgiven
Unforgiven
Unforgiven is a 1992 American Western film produced and directed by Clint Eastwood with a screenplay written by David Webb Peoples. The film tells the story of William Munny, an aging outlaw and killer who takes on one more job years after he had hung up his guns and turned to farming...
, written by David Webb Peoples and directed by Clint Eastwood
Clint Eastwood
Clinton "Clint" Eastwood, Jr. is an American film actor, director, producer, composer and politician. Eastwood first came to prominence as a supporting cast member in the TV series Rawhide...
, in which Hackman plays a villain who taunts his killer while lying wounded on his back after a gun battle.
Production
- Mickey Borofsky - associate producer
- Kenneth L. Evans - executive producer
- Joe Wizan - producer
- Michael Ritchie - director
- Robert Dillon - screenplay
- Carl Pingitore - editor
Cast
- Lee MarvinLee MarvinLee Marvin was an American film actor. Known for his gravelly voice, white hair and 6' 2" stature, Marvin at first did supporting roles, mostly villains, soldiers and other hardboiled characters, but after winning an Academy Award for Best Actor for his dual roles in Cat Ballou , he landed more...
- Nick Devlin - Gene HackmanGene HackmanEugene Allen "Gene" Hackman is an American actor and novelist.Nominated for five Academy Awards, winning two, Hackman has also won three Golden Globes and two BAFTAs in a career that spanned five decades. He first came to fame in 1967 with his performance as Buck Barrow in Bonnie and Clyde...
- Mary Ann - Angel TompkinsAngel TompkinsAngel Tompkins is an American actress and Golden Globe nominee, who appeared in several films and television shows.-Career:...
- Clarabelle - Gregory WalcottGregory WalcottGregory Walcott is an American television and film actor. He is perhaps best known for having appeared in the 1959 Ed Wood film, the cult classic Plan 9 from Outer Space.-Early life and career:...
- Weenie - Sissy SpacekSissy SpacekSissy Spacek is an American actress and singer. She came to international prominence for her for role as Carrie White in Brian De Palma's 1976 horror film Carrie for which she earned her first Academy Award nomination...
- Poppy - Janit Baldwin - Violet
- William Morey - Shay
- Clint Ellison - Delaney
- Howard Platt - Shaughnessy
- Les Lannom - O'Brien
- Eddie EganEddie EganEdward Walter "Eddie" Egan was a New York City Police Department detective whose exploits were the subject of a book and movie, both entitled The French Connection...
- Jake - Therese Reinsch - Jake's Girl
- Bob Wilson - Reaper Driver
- Gordon Signer - Brockman
- Gladys Watson - Milk Lady
- Wayne Savagne - Freckle Face