The Cutting Edge (1992)

Taglines: When true love breaks the ice.

The Cutting Edge movie synopsis. Doug Dorsey is a hockey player for the US team in the 1988 winter Olympics. After a vicious game against West Germany. We then see figure skater, Kate Moseley doing her program and falling. Both have fought hard to get to the Olympics, and suddenly their dreams have been shattered.

Kate, a temperamental but talented figure skater, has had many partners, until her coach recruits hockey player Dorsey. Through the difficult training of 15 hours of skating a day, they finally prepare for nationals and the Olympics. A romance blooms, and their final show could make or break them as they try to achieve their dreams of Olympic gold.

The Cutting Edge is a 1992 American romantic comedy film directed by Paul Michael Glaser and written by Tony Gilroy. The plot is about a rich, spoiled figure skater (played by Moira Kelly) who is paired with an injury-sidelined ice hockey player (played by D. B. Sweeney) for Olympic figure skating. Competing at the 1992 Winter Olympics in Albertville, France, they have a climactic face off against a Soviet pair. The film was primarily shot in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada.

Music and Soundtrack

The original music score was composed by Patrick Williams. The film’s theme song “Feels like Forever” was performed by Joe Cocker and written by Diane Warren and Bryan Adams.

The soundtrack album was originally released by Rykodisc in 1998; in 2004 it was reissued by Varèse Sarabande with 20 minutes of Patrick Williams’s score (tracks 11–22).

1- Street of Dreams – Nia Peeples
2- Cry All Night – Neverland
2- Ride On Time – Black Box
4- Groove Master – Arrow
5- It Ain’t Over ’til It’s Over – Rosemary Butler & John Townsend
6- Shame Shame Shame – Johnny Winter
7- Turning Circles – Sally Dworsky
8- Baby Now I – Dan Reed Network
9- I’ve Got Dreams to Remember – Delbert McClinton
10- Feels Like Forever (Theme From The Cutting Edge) – Joe Cocker
11- Ich Namen Gita/Olympic Hockey
12- Battle of the CD’s
13- Limo to Mansion/Nine Months Later
14- Kate Skates Alone
15- Chicago Practices
16- Hoedown
17- Tequila
18- Olympic Fanfare/Dubois & Gercel
19- Doug & Kate Get Angry
20- The Russians Skate
21- Finale
22- End Credits

About the Story

Kate Moseley is a world-class figure skater representing the United States in the pairs event at the 1988 Winter Olympics in Calgary. She has genuine talent, but years of being spoiled by her wealthy widower father Jack have made her impossible to work with.

Doug Dorsey is captain of the U.S. ice hockey team at the same Winter Olympics. Just minutes before a game, he and Kate literally run into each other at the arena. During the game, Doug suffers a head injury that permanently damages his peripheral vision, costing him a shot in the NHL and forcing him to retire from hockey. During Kate’s event, her partner drops her during their program, costing them a chance at the gold medal.

While training for the 1992 Winter Olympics over the next two years, Kate has driven away all potential skating partners with her attitude and perfectionism. Her coach, Russian native Anton Pamchenko, has to find a replacement, an outsider who doesn’t know that Kate is spoiled and difficult.

He tracks down Doug, who is back home in Minnesota, working in a steel mill and as a carpenter on the side, living with his brother, and playing in a hockey bar league. Desperate for another chance at Olympic glory, Doug agrees to work as Kate’s partner, even though he has macho contempt for figure skating.

Kate’s snooty, prima donna behavior gets on his nerves immediately, and their first few practices do not go well as they antagonize one another. However, they develop a mutual respect as both strive to outdo one another in work ethic.

As their relationship grows warmer, they learn to set aside their differences, becoming a pair to be reckoned with both on and off the ice. Kate even boldly defends Doug to her former coach who patronizes and insults them, and Doug defends his unusual choice of sport to his own family and friends, whom he had expected to mock him.

At the U.S. Nationals, despite strong performances in the short program and long program, they place third and their Olympic dreams are shattered. However, when one of the leading pairs falls during the competition, they advance to second place, earning their spot on the Olympic team.

Their potential is threatened, however, by their growing attraction to each other. Kate attempts to seduce Doug after a night of drunken celebration, revealing that she broke off her engagement to a wealthy financier. Usually a ladies’ man, Doug uncharacteristically rebuffs her advances, fearing the possibility of regret and loss of respect for one another. When Kate discovers that Doug has bedded another woman (a rival skater) almost immediately after leaving her to sleep off her intoxication, she becomes enraged. The temporary rift is set aside, however, as they attempt to train a risky skating move invented by Pamchenko, which will assure them a gold medal if they can pull it off without serious injury.