The film's growing amount of positive reviews prompted United Artists to give the film to their "art" division, United Artists Classics, where they changed the film's title from "Cutter and Bone" to "Cutter's Way" (thinking that the original title would be mistaken by audiences for a comedy about surgeons). It was given the prestigious closing feature slot at the Seattle Film Festival. With a new ad campaign in place, Cutter's Way re-opened in the summer of 1981 in Seattle, Los Angeles, Boston, and New York City. Word of mouth helped the film turn a profit.