Richard Bone (Jeff Bridges) sees a man dumping a body of a teenage girl, but isn’t able to positively identify him. When he tells his friend, disabled Vietnam veteran Alex Cutter, Cutter makes his own enquiries and believes than oil tycoon J.J. Cord is the man responsible. Bone is not convinced, but the out of control Cutter is determined that Cord should face justice….but that it will be Cutter’s own type of justice. Events spiral out of control, and Alex and Richard find their lives threatened….
As always, Jeff Bridges turns in a superb performance, as the world weary, apathetic, commitment phobic Bone. John Heard and Lisa Eichhorn are also brilliant as the angry Cutter and his depressed and marginalised wife Mo. All three characters seem to be looking for something to give their life meaning (and in failing to find it, Cutter and Mo have turned to alcohol), and maybe the search for justice will give it to them. It’s a shame that not more people seem to have heard of this film; it’s well worth watching. Not brilliant – one character (the dead girl’s sister) seems to almost disappear without explanation, and the ending is something of a surprise – but well worth a watch.
Year of release: 1981
Director: Ivan Passer
Writers: Newton Thornburg (book), Jeffrey Alan Fiskin
Main cast: Jeff Bridges, John Heard, Lisa Eichhorn
Between the Pages 
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