The Cutter

Set in Spokane, Washington , USA ,the suspenseful plot centered around a two-fisted detective named John Shepherd (Chuck Norris) who comes to the aid of an aged diamond cutter (Bernie Kopell) and his niece (Joanna Pacula) . When the veteran Jew cutter is kidnapped John goes into action. This time Chuck Norris confronting an ominous psycho-killer named Dirk (Daniel Bernhardt) who will stop at nothing to get his aims . Along the way there is developing a screenplay revolving around diamond cutting , pursued Jewish people from concentration camps , jewelry robbing , a violent killer and previous Nazis tracking down a cutter . The past holds the key!

This Chuck Norris recital contains action-packed , thrills , car chases , chills and lots of blood and violence . Chuck Norris demonstrates still his qualities as an action hero on the fights against the largest-than-life murderous , an expert fighter : Daniel Bernhart , by means of punches , slaps , kicks , bounds and leaps . This is a film financed by Milennium pictures : Boaz Davidson , Trevor Short , Danny Dimbort , Avi Lerner , Danny Lerner , as long time ago Norris said goodbye to Menahem Golan- Yoran Globus , from Cannon film company , who produced a lot of Chuck movies . Large support cast formed by usual secondaries of the 80s and 90s , such as : Daniel Bernhardt , Bernie Kopell , Todd Jensen , Rick Avery , Marshall Teague and the always gorgeous Tracy Scoggins. This action-thriller is an inferior Norris film , in fact Norris was far from his best period with hits , such as : ¨The Octagon¨ , ¨An eye for an eye¨ , ¨Forced vengeance¨ , ¨Lone Wolf MacQuade¨ ,¨Missing in action trilogy¨ , ¨Delta Force¨ , among others . Rating : Average but entertaining . The picture will appeal to Chuck Norris fans though results to be a so-so outing , and after making this movie Chuck retired from acting.

It contains a moving and stirring score by Elia Cmiral , as well as atmospheric cinematography by Peter Moss , shot on location in Spokane , Washington State. The motion picture was regular but professionally directed by William Tannen . Bill Tannen directed in 1984 his first feature, "Flashpoint" for Tri Star and HBO . It starred Kris Kristofferson, Treat Williams, Rip Torn, Tess Harper and Jean Smart. He has directed ten other feature films for Cannon, Village RoadShow, Disney, ShowTime, Millenium, LifeTime, etc. Bill has also directed several television series', music videos and episodes as High tide , Mowgli , Epic adventures of Tarzan , Hollywood Detective . And some films as Night of Terror , Ozzie , Nobody Knows Anything! , Love lies bleeding , Deadly Illusion , Flashpoint and Hero and the terror with Chuck Norris .

John Shepherd (Chuck Norris) is a private investigator with a heart of gold. One day, he runs across attempted kidnap victim Elizabeth Teller (Joanna Pacula). She and her uncle Issac (Bernie Kopell) are expert gem cutters. Dirk (Daniel Bernhardt) is a murderer and raided an archaeological dig in the Sinai desert. He stole the Breastplate of Aaron from the dig, and kidnaps Issac to do a specific cut on the gems in the breastplate.

This is a pretty good movie if it was made in the late 80s. Chuck Norris, Joanna Pacula, Bernie Kopell, and Tracy Scoggins are great blast from the past. The action is explosive enough ... for the 80s. The fact is movie making has moved on. It's not like Chuck has gotten any better as an actor. He doesn't have the same moves as his younger self. This is no more than a relatively good B-movie.

Geeze, with all the negative reviews I see on IMDb for the films of Chuck Norris, Jean-Claude Van Damme, Steven Seagal, and Don "The Dragon" Wilson, I have to wonder just what is the point of some of those reviews. Do those reviewers simply want people to stop renting these guys' films so they stop making money and movies altogether? I am on the other end of the spectrum. I want to see these guys star in MORE films (and in continually BETTER films). With that being said, here's a review from one of the "good guys in black".

THE CUTTER is definitely worth a rental. It's a fast-paced little actioner with touches of drama and mystery thrown in.

The film opens with a bang involving a hang-glider, a mummy excavation, and one mean villain played by Daniel Bernhardt. Then Chuck makes his first appearance. He's a private eye out to rescue a hostage being held for ransom. After he dispatches the criminals, an investigating detective asks Chuck, "Did you have to throw him out of the window?" In classic deadpan form, Chuck responds, "I needed some air." Nobody can deliver a line like that as well as Chuck Norris!

The rest of the story involves the kidnapping of an expert jewel cutter (Bernie Kopell, "Doc" from THE LOVE BOAT) and Chuck's attempts to find and rescue him. There are several show-stopping fights including Daniel Bernhardt's confrontation with an unknown grey haired agent whose fighting style resembles Jeff Speakman's kenpo moves, and a great close quarter fight between Bernhardt and Norris inside a passenger bus! Both of those are real doozies that should please any serious martial arts action fan. Overall, the fights in THE CUTTER are a little more reality based in style, and therefore shorter and sloppier than those found in many kung fu films, but hey, that's what real fighting looks like!

To add to the film's charm are a couple of lovely co-stars, Joanna Pacula (GORKY PARK) and Tracy Scoggins (BABYLON 5, DEAD ON). Both ladies are very pleasing on the eyes, and both have excellent chemistry with Mr. Norris.

It's great to see Chuck back in form as the star of a non-Walker movie (Although, I still can't wait for that next Walker reunion flick that will hopefully tie up the loose ends that were left in the last one!), and I hope he continues to make films on a more regular basis. His sons and brothers continue to show interest in working behind the scenes, and are lucky to have a great showcase to work with in their more famous relative. Here's to continued success for and from the Norris family!

Here's a quick list of other must-see Chuck Norris films for new fans: A FORCE OF ONE, CODE OF SILENCE, THE OCTAGON, AN EYE FOR AN EYE, WAY OF THE DRAGON (aka RETURN OF THE DRAGON), and SLAUGHTER IN SAN FRANSISCO.

Oh, and while I'm at it, here are a couple of other fairly recent martial arts movies that are well worth a watch, WAKE OF DEATH (Jean-Claude Van Damme), REDEMPTION, MOVING TARGET (Don "The Dragon" Wilson), UNDER THE GUN (Richard Norton), and INTO THE SUN (Steven Seagal).

The Cutter is basically the last action film starring the great Chuck Norris before he decided to retire from Hollywood altogether outside of a rare appearance here and there like in Expendables 2. Now, the movie is a Nu Image produced film, and they are known for mostly producing straight to DVD movies and I am guessing this was a straight to DVD distribution in 2005.

Anyway, right to the point. Definitely a decent to very good action movie for Chuck Norris to end on a high note. He plays a guy coming to the rescue of an aging man who worked cutting jewelry. The Cutter, played by Love Boat great Bernie Koppell is kidnapped and forced to cut two stones into a certain type of stone and here is where Chuck comes into the story and tries to rescue him and, I don't want to spoil it but you know the rest, Chuck always comes through.

The villain in this is Daniel Bernhart, from the awful Bloodsport part 3 - 5 movies. He does a decent job playing the villain and has a damn good final fight scene with our hero Chuck Norris.

It's a simple story, not much meat into this but The Cutter is an enjoyable action film to watch on a boring day. It's main attraction would be that this was the final action film starring one of the icons of the genre in Chuck Norris.

After a deadly kidnapping rescue gone wrong, a guilt ridden detective (Chuck Norris) goes out on his own to successfully rescue an aged diamond cutter from the hands of a murderous thief. With the kidnapped man's niece Elizabeth aiding in his rescue, Shep learns the diamond cutter perfected his skill during his years as an Auschwitz prisoner. Shep must learn the truth about the cutter's past to unravel the clues and rescue him before it is too late.

Being a fan of old school-style action films I enjoyed this Chuck Norris actioner, his last film before retirement, which could have been released in the 1980's. At 65, Chuck has still got the moves, kicking the bad guys, throwing them out of the window. His showdown with Daniel Bernhardt is quite good. Incidentally, Bernhardt makes a good villain, a chameleon-like character, a master of disguises. The Nazi and diamond-related story makes a change from the usual terrorist storyline, there's some good action, and a fast-paced plot, though the editing can be a bit jumpy and the story a little confusing. The Cutter is not exactly at the level of Code of Silence/Lonewolf McQuade, but it's better than any of late 80's-early 90's Norris films (Hitman, Sidekick, Hellbound etc.)