John Heard does a good John Hurt from Midnight Express here.
Seriously thought he also makes it his own. Never seen him like this.
shareHe came through the screen for me, for sure. At the beginning, I was expecting something great because I'd HEARD how good he was in it, but I was surprised that Cutter came across that strong. And you could tell that the other characters felt the same way, like all of them. They were always like "Dang dude, chill out."
From the little I've seen, Vietnam veterans are hard to watch when they're portrayed as handicapped and drunk. I can't help but think of Lt. Dan, which I mean he and Cutter are similar in some ways. Both hardheaded, haunted by the war, just horribly maimed by it, and both searching for purpose after wandering for so long. Watching Cutter I kept thinking, "Man this guy will NOT let go of this girl's murder." And I started to understand that he had little else. It was that bad. But he went out a hero.
My dad was a tad too young to go to Vietnam, but he knew a lot of people who did, and he always restated that those guys never came back the same way. Some went criminal, violent. As crazy as Cutter is, it's a believable role. Shoot I known guys who've crashed into their neighbors' Toyotas.