Brad Loree | Through the Shattered Lens

A mad bomber is blowing up large chunks of Seattle and seems to have a vendetta against the city’s bomb squad. John Pierce (Sam Elliott), a burn-out who used to be the best of the best when it came to defusing bombs, comes out of retirement to help with the investigation. The only problem is that all of the evidence seems to be pointing at Pierce. Pierce does his best to prove his innocence while more and more members of the bomb squad get blown up.

The Final Cut has its moments. The lengthy opening scene features Amanda Plummer and John Hannah as two cocky members of the bomb squad who discover that defusing their latest explosive isn’t going to be as simple as they think it is. The final 20 minutes takes the film into Saw territory, with an underground lair and a woman who has been turned into a human explosive. In-between, though, the movie is often slow and Sam Elliott sleepwalks through a role that really demanded the low-budget equivalent of a Lethal Weapon-era Mel Gibson. (Wings Hauser comes to mind.) The actual identity of the bomber will be easy for anyone to guess though the bomber’s final fate is actually executed pretty well.

Director Roger Christian is a long-time associate of George Lucas’s and also worked on Alien as a production designer. That’s probably why the sets, especially that underground lair, look surprisingly good for what was obviously a direct-to-video B-movie. Five years after The Final Cut, Christian would attain an infamous immortality when he was the director unfortunate enough to be credited as directing Battlefield Earth. Compared to Battlefield Earth, The Final Cut is damn good movie.

Welcome to Retro Television Reviews, a feature where we review some of our favorite and least favorite shows of the past! On Sundays, I will be reviewing the made-for-television movies that used to be a primetime mainstay. Today’s film is 1993’s The Only Way Out! It can be viewed on YouTube.

“I’ll kill you before I let you go,” Tony (Henry Winkler) says to his terrified girlfriend, Lynn (Stephanie Faracy).

Agck! Those are frightening words and they are certainly not something that you would expect to hear from a character played by notorious Hollywood nice guy Henry Winkler. And, indeed, it would probably shock most of the characters in the film if they knew how Tony talked to Lynn. Tony is a grad student who has worked at any number of jobs. While some people might say all of those jobs prove that Tony has a hard time sticking to anything, Tony has obviously learned how to convince people that he’s actually a just a determined man working his way through grad school and taking whatever job will help to pay the bills. Tony is friendly and romantic and given to grand gestures. He’s the type who shows up unexpectedly at Lynn’s place of employment with flowers. He’s the type of guy that strangers applaud while those close to him look for any way to escape.

Lynn knows all about the other side of Tony. Tony is controlling, obsessive, and abusive. He hits her. He barks orders at her kids. When she tells him that she wants him out of her life, he refuses to go and blames her for all of their problems. He’s someone who can quickly go from being everyone’s friend to being a monster. He preys on insecurity and, whenever anyone stands up to him, he plays the victim. Tony is a classic abuser and the fact that he’s played by the likable Henry Winkler makes him all the more disturbing. Like most abusers, Tony knows how to turn on the charm. He knows the power of a smile and a few complimentary words.

Lynn is in the process of getting divorced from an architect named Jeremy (John Ritter). It’s been a remarkably amicable divorce, with Jeremy and Lynn agreeing on joint custody and apparently not bearing any ill feelings towards one another. The only problem is that Lynn cannot bring herself to actually sign the divorce papers. Jeremy wants to marry Susannah (Julianne Phillips) and Susannah is not happy about the long wait. She’s even less happy when Jeremy takes it upon himself to try to protect Lynn from Tony. Soon, Tony is stalking Jeremy and Jeremy finds himself considering a particularly extreme solution to his problem.

It’s John Ritter vs Henry Winkler and the casting of two of Hollywood’s best-known nice guys as violent rivals works surprisingly well. Winkler is memorably unhinged while Ritter plays a guy who is struggling to hold onto a life that, until Tony shows up, seemed to be perfect. In the end, it’s not just Tony who catches us by surprise by just how far he’s willing to take things. The film’s ending took me by genuine surprise. Featuring excellent dramatic turns from two actors best known for their comedic skills, The Only Way Out is a superior melodrama.