It was nice to finally see Ruggero Deodato's "Cut and Run" uncut, as the only version I had seen before this solid Blue Underground release was a heavily cut Vestron Video release where practically all the affective gore was excised, leaving a somewhat exciting jungle action thriller which alternates between Miami and Venesuela as a supposedly dead colonel, Brian Horne(Richard Lynch, who believes his character was modeled after Col Kurtz from the novel "Heart of Darkness") long gone off the deep end and considered a mastermind in the Guayana suicide massacre, has natives led by two vicious henchmen taking apart cocaine operation camps throughout South America, removing the goods, distributing the drugs themselves. Miami is a city where he recently sent men in to remove drug dealers, as he has in other places like New Orleans and New York. A hungry news reporter, Fran Hudson(Lisa Blount) and her camera man, Mark(Leonard Mann) decide to seek out the location of Horne and their boss' missing son, Tommy(Willie Aimes, in a hideous performance), hoping to get a big scoop which will lift their careers substantially. What they don't expect is to be in danger of Horne and his dangerous army of homicidal natives, and in order to get the story they so desire, will have to brave the elements, the sweaty, uncomfortable surroundings of a jungle and what lies within, which could very well cost them their lives.
With John Steiner and Michael Berryman as soldiers armed with machetes and natives who spit-shoot poisonous darts that sometimes go all the way through the neck of victims, Richard Lynch doesn't have to carry the burden of being a chief heavy, in fact, he's really only in the film towards the end, which, to be honest, for a fan such as I am, it was a bit of a drag to see so little of him. As he always does, Lynch commands the screen when he appears, and his exit is certainly a memorable one.
Regarding the gore, you see one victim ripped from crotch to neck by a rope trap as two trees make a wishbone out of him. Three glorious beheadings, a stomach slit open with guts spewing out, a blade penetrating a poor soul's neck(Berryman relishes his role as a nasty brute who breaks through wooden floors, emerges from swamp waters, and sneaks from behind camp guards out of the darkness of the jungle)and one poor girl getting sticks stabbed into her legs(the most unpleasant scene, in my opinion, the girl struggling as natives rip open her clothes, stabbing her with great big smiles on their faces).
It was great seeing Eriq La Salle as a Miami pimp whose whistle blowing gets him in deep doo-doo. Also featuring the ravishing Valentina Forte(Deodato's lover at the time) taking a shower, attempting to wash the filth of a helicopter pilot from her body after having to submit sexually or else perish at the hands of her boss, cocaine camp leader Manuel(the sleazy Gabriele Tinti), a real piece of trash who mistreats Tommy, only allowing him to live because he's white. Tommy just wants to leave and his father Bob(Richard Bright), desperately wants to find him, hoping Fran and Mark will run into the young man. Karen Black guest stars as the producer of a cable station helping fund the expedition into the jungle. I'm glad this doesn't resort to cannibalism just to recapture Deodato's past success(he admits that he had no plans whatsoever to go in this direction when others wished for him to). I also enjoyed the use of skeletal remains in a key sequence involving the attempt to secure a trapped canoe and accompanying crocodiles. Superb score from Claudio Simmonetti just adds pop to this well-paced actioner that rarely lets up.
With John Steiner and Michael Berryman as soldiers armed with machetes and natives who spit-shoot poisonous darts that sometimes go all the way through the neck of victims, Richard Lynch doesn't have to carry the burden of being a chief heavy, in fact, he's really only in the film towards the end, which, to be honest, for a fan such as I am, it was a bit of a drag to see so little of him. As he always does, Lynch commands the screen when he appears, and his exit is certainly a memorable one.
Regarding the gore, you see one victim ripped from crotch to neck by a rope trap as two trees make a wishbone out of him. Three glorious beheadings, a stomach slit open with guts spewing out, a blade penetrating a poor soul's neck(Berryman relishes his role as a nasty brute who breaks through wooden floors, emerges from swamp waters, and sneaks from behind camp guards out of the darkness of the jungle)and one poor girl getting sticks stabbed into her legs(the most unpleasant scene, in my opinion, the girl struggling as natives rip open her clothes, stabbing her with great big smiles on their faces).
It was great seeing Eriq La Salle as a Miami pimp whose whistle blowing gets him in deep doo-doo. Also featuring the ravishing Valentina Forte(Deodato's lover at the time) taking a shower, attempting to wash the filth of a helicopter pilot from her body after having to submit sexually or else perish at the hands of her boss, cocaine camp leader Manuel(the sleazy Gabriele Tinti), a real piece of trash who mistreats Tommy, only allowing him to live because he's white. Tommy just wants to leave and his father Bob(Richard Bright), desperately wants to find him, hoping Fran and Mark will run into the young man. Karen Black guest stars as the producer of a cable station helping fund the expedition into the jungle. I'm glad this doesn't resort to cannibalism just to recapture Deodato's past success(he admits that he had no plans whatsoever to go in this direction when others wished for him to). I also enjoyed the use of skeletal remains in a key sequence involving the attempt to secure a trapped canoe and accompanying crocodiles. Superb score from Claudio Simmonetti just adds pop to this well-paced actioner that rarely lets up.