Prime Cut is a 1972 American
action thriller crime film produced by
Joe Wizan, directed by
Michael Ritchie from a screenplay written by Robert Dillon, and starring
Lee Marvin as Nick Devlin, a
mob enforcer from the
Chicago Irish Mob sent to
Kansas to collect a debt from a meatpacker boss played by
Gene Hackman. The picture co-stars
Sissy Spacek in her first credited on-screen role as a young orphan being sold into
prostitution as well as
Angel Tompkins[2] and
Eddie Began.
The film was considered highly risqué for its time based on its violence and the hint of a homosexual relationship between two brothers. Its graphic depiction of
female slavery includes a scene depicting naked young women (including Sissy Spacek and
Janit Baldwin) in pens being auctioned like
cattle. It is also noted for its depiction of the beef slaughtering process and for a chase scene involving a
combine harvester in an open field.
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