Blood and Cuts

I loved meeting and learning from cut man Chris Ray for a column I wrote for this week’s issue. Not only because he’s a swell guy and toils in a realm that fascinates me, but also because the conversations got me to seek out one of the most famous spilled-body-fluids clips in movie history: the “Cut me, Mick!” portion of the first and best chapter of the “Rocky” serial.

When it comes to jarring scenes from my ’70s adolescence, this one ranks right up there with the first shark attack in “Jaws” or the title character in “Carrie” taking a bucket of blood on prom night or poor Linda Blair throwing up on a poorer priest in “The Exorcist.”

It all seems so cartoony now…