Hard Times
by Walter Hill
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DVD Cover Information
Actor: Charles Bronson, James Coburn, Jill Ireland, Margaret Blye, Strother MartinDirector: Walter Hill
Brand: Sony
DVD: 2 Sides, Region Code 1
Audio: English (Original Language), Dolby Digital 2.0; Portuguese (Original Language), Dolby Digital 2.0; English (Subtitled); Spanish (Subtitled); Portuguese (Subtitled); Chinese (Subtitled); Thai (Subtitled)
Format: Closed-captioned, Color, Full Screen, NTSC
Picture Format: Letterbox, 1.33:1
Running Time: 94 minutes
DVD Release Date: 1999-04-06
Audience Rating: PG (Parental Guidance Suggested)
Studio: Sony Pictures
Movie Reviews of Hard Times
Movie Review: Superb
Summary: 5 Stars
This movie is a favorite.
I have the WS/FS version. The transfer is not very good; the soundtrack is mono, and does not do justice to the film. Technical issues aside, the movie is flawless. It has no special features.
If you're going to like this movie, you'll know it from the opening sequence: silence up to a diesel's rumble & whistle on the way into New Orleans; imagery to match.
Every element--acting, directing, writing, music, cinematography--is pitch-perfect. The music, in particular, is fabulous. Folk, cajun/zydecoe, dixieland, an extraordinary black gospel sequence. The location shooting, too: riverside warehouse, industrial interiors, barges and ferries, bayou community life, flop house, oyster house, Latin Quarter. Period street scenes, gorgeous automobiles, prohibition night life. You can practically smell the booze, sweat, shellfish and tobacco smoke.
The leads are truly wonderful: Bronson, Coburn, Strother Martin and Jill Ireland. So is the supporting cast.
There are many comments about the fight scenes, and I suppose they are good, but that's not what makes the movie for me. The protagonist (Bronson/Chaney) fights for money, not pleasure. He prefers knocking other people down to being himself knocked down, but he doesn't enjoy it.
Chaney has the self-confidence that comes from being good at what he does. He supports himself with his fighting, but does not live for it. Chaney lives for "the in-betweens." He is a drifter because being settled in hard times gives him no satisfaction; Chaney is an upright man in a beat-down time. His mannerisms are not genteel, though his spirit is. He does not say much, but his actions are compelling.
"Hard Times" is an old-fashioned movie about honor, loyalty, and decency and a great way to spend evening.
Summary of Hard Times
The tale of a fighter a sharpster and their illegal bare-knuckle bouts. Studio: Sony Pictures Home Ent Release Date: 03/22/2005 Starring: Charles Bronson James Coburn Run time: 94 minutes Rating: Pg Director: Walter HillWalter Hill's colorful directorial debut has quite a cult following for its toughness and violence; it may well be his best film, in fact. Charles Bronson plays a silent street fighter in New Orleans in the '30s managed by the cool James Coburn. Jill Ireland, Strother Martin, and Michael McGuire costar in this spare existential Depression dirge. It owes a lot to its noir origins that Hill adores so much, yet there's something very fresh and vital about its subject and approach. That's really what made so many of these films from the '70s so endearing. An added bonus is the love and affection displayed by the real-life husband and wife team of Bronson and Ireland. --Bill Desowitz
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