Cut And Run

Cut and Run (Inferno In Diretta) (1985)

Runtime: 88 minutes

Directed by: Ruggero Deodato (RIP)

Starring: Lisa Blount, Leonard Mann, Willie Aames, Richard Lynch, Michael Berryman

From: It’s an Italian movie but New World released it on the United States, and that’s the print I saw

RIP Ruggero Deodato. Before last night I had only seen two of his movies, despite thinking the back half of Cannibal Holocaust is brilliant (except for the whole "slaughtering animals" thing) and one of the best poliziotteschi films is Live Like a Cop, Die Like a Man. As there was nothing I needed or felt like checking out on the last Thursday of 2022, I had a few films that are easily found online. It’s officially on YouTube (via the Filmrise channel; the same cut is also on Tubi) and for a long while now I’ve known of the awesome opening/ending credits song-from Claudio Simonetti-so that’s what I went with.

The most important thing to note now: two different cuts were released back in the 80’s. There was a “tamer” version that was released in the United States, the UK and some other places; the rest of the world got a cut a few minutes longer that includes graphic gore. It wasn’t until after the fact that I learned this. I can always visit the bowe… er, I mean “purchase the Blu-ray from Code Red” for the extended version. Was there anger at missing out on even more sleaze and blood? On the contrary, it was fine to see a movie that was still trashy, still had nudity, and was in HD.

Its cast also stood out: Lisa Blount, Leonard Mann, Richard Lynch, Michael Berryman, Willie Aames (!), Richard Bright, John Steiner, Karen Black for a few minutes, and Eriq La Salle. Turns out, La Salle plays a pimp for several scenes, and imagine my surprise at seeing Berryman as a badass who kills fools via machete; it’s a happy surprise, to clarify. The plot is nonsense revolving around various factions feuding over THE 80’s substance: cocaine. The basic plot is that reporter Blount goes to South America to try and track down Lynch, who not only is part of a drug operation that involves natives and Berryman, but was also a part of Jonestown. I know, kind of skeevy to attach a horrible tragedy to a fictional villain’s backstory; then again, such behavior is almost expected with old Italian genre movies.

The same goes for its occasional incoherent nature. Another plot point is that Aames and the director’s hot younger girlfriend at the time were stuck in the camp. He always wears a Mickey Mouse shirt, which is just classic. What was seemingly implied yet never explicitly stated was that the feud going on in South America had spilled over in America, including a slaughter in Miami straight out of Cocaine Cowboys-the documentary, I mean. As it’s Miami in the 80’s, perhaps Griselda Blanco was responsible for those deaths…

Any criticisms aside, overall I was at least entertained by this nonsense. There are some scares, action scenes, nudity, an 80’s-riffic score, some footage from South Florida-the rest being the scenic areas of Venezuela-blow darts, and animals that thankfully do not die. From now on, I’ll try to see something from the director at least once in a blue moon.