Prime Cut

Let’s take a walk on the wilder side of 70’s action thrillers.  And that’s mainly due to the story involving young women trapped in white slavery who are harvested for meat.  I’ll let that sink in for a min.

Mary Ann (Gene Hackman (Narrow Margin)) runs this operation out of his legit meat plant (where he apparently also manufactures dope) on the farmlands outside Kansas City.  He stiffed the Chicago Irish mob for half a mill which by itself is a big no no.  But then on top of that he kills some low level goons who try to collect even turning one poor bastard into sausage.  Yuck!  I’d say the message he’s sending is loud and clear.  So now it’s up to enforcer Nick (Lee Marvin (Emperor of the North)) to set this asshole straight and get the money.

The whole atmosphere of this movie is strange.  The concept of gangsters butting heads is as old as time but the added angle of human meat production definitely makes things unsettling.  It’s almost like we took a wrong turn and somehow wound up in a very peculiar corner of the Texas Chainsaw universe where they do things a little different.

We’re introduced to the meat plant first in the opening credits that takes you through the whole process, from cattle off the truck to packaging preformed hamburger patties.  They make sure to let you know this isn’t your ordinary factory by quickly flashing a human mixed in with the other carcasses going off to the grinder.  I could see this part alone making some folks feel a touch squeamish.

Later on we meet Mary Ann and his boys during what seems like either an auction or a dinner party (or both).  They’re in a barn full of guests with a banquet laid out and all these streamers and there are girls locked in enclosures laying on bales of hay naked all drugged up to the point where they look dead.  People gawk at them like they’re livestock.  Maybe they’re bidding on them or maybe Mary Ann is showing off his inventory but either way the sight is absolutely fucked up.

Hackman plays such an amazing asshole too where he smiles almost constantly while insulting the shit out of everyone.  I do kinda love that we’re introduced to him while he’s shoveling an enormous plate of nasty greasy brown meat into his mouth.  He’s basically arrogance incarnate with no intention of stopping his operation or handing over a penny to Nick.

Mary Ann’s brother, Weenie (Gregory Walcott (The Sugarland Express)), is another piece of crap that Nick has to deal with.  He runs the plant, is always grimy, smirks at everything and is constantly eating some piece of meat, usually hot dogs (hence his name).  He’s portrayed as a dummy for sure being the muscle of the outfit.  And there’s a part where we’re led to think he likes to wear women’s clothes but maybe that isn’t really the case.  Plus the villains names are Mary Ann and Weenie (both are dudes) which could point to gay undertones.  I dunno.  It’s pretty blurry.

Marvin’s badassery is cranked all the way up as usual here with his take-no-shit attitude, few words spoken, menacing glare and suave way with the ladies.  Marvin telegraphs so much with his body language, eyes and simple gestures.  He’s without a doubt the coolest motherfucker in the room. 

Anyway, what’s kinda funny is Nick doesn’t seem to care about the meat harvesting or the dope dealing.  He’s there because Mary Ann owes a ton of mullah and offed a few of his boss’/partner’s guys.  Order needs to be restored.  And of course he’s up to the task.

Nick damn near kills himself to complete his mission when it’s clear Mary Ann won’t fork over the dough.  He works his way through several shootouts, gets chased by one of those monstrous combine harvesters with spinning blades on the front and there’s a great sequence where he hijacks an eighteen-wheeler and crashes it right into the meat plant’s huge greenhouse.  He doesn’t give a fuck.

Perhaps Nick’s motivations change a bit after he steals a girl named Poppy (Sissy Spacek (The Ring Two) in her first movie) who’s destined for the chopping block.  She tells him about the “orphanage” where the girls come from (really just a prison to raise and keep future victims) and how scared they get.  Once Nick’s face to face with the reality of the situation I think he recognizes he can’t let this shit go on.

This was directed by Michael Ritchie who had a long career doing mostly comedies like The Bad News Bears and Fletch.  Robert Dillon had also been around a while writing for TV but he would eventually pen The French Connection II and Flight of the Intruder. 

So I mean this isn’t an amazing picture but it’s sort of a fun time even though the subject matter is dark as hell.  The film comes across like a horrible dream set to an eclectic score by Lalo Shiffrin that includes easy listening, country and fuzzed out guitar driven jazz.

Ironically I don’t know if I’d call this a prime cut since everyone involved has done better work, but it’s engaging and well, just kinda fuckin’ weird.