Hard Times (1975 film)
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| Hard Times | |
|---|---|
 Original theatrical poster |
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| Directed by | Walter Hill |
| Produced by | Lawrence Gordon |
| Written by | Walter Hill (screenplay) Bryan Gindoff (story & screenplay) Bruce Henstell (story & screenplay) |
| Starring | Charles Bronson James Coburn Jill Ireland Strother Martin Margaret Blye |
| Music by | Barry De Vorzon |
| Cinematography | Philip H. Lathrop |
| Editing by | Roger Spottiswoode |
| Distributed by | Columbia Pictures |
| Release date(s) | October 8, 1975 (USA) |
| Running time | 93 min |
| Country | USA |
| Language | English |
| IMDb profile | |
Hard Times is a 1975 movie starring Charles Bronson as Chaney, a street fighter who travels to Louisiana during the Great Depression to make his living in illegal boxing matches. It is notable for being Walter Hill's directorial debut.
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[edit] Characters
The main characters are:
- Chaney – (Charles Bronson) “a man of few words and no past” at all except for the notion that he is a man devoid of any permanent friendships and of limited financial resources.[1]
- Spencer 'Speed' Weed - (James Coburn) an agent who represents Chaney.
- Lucy Simpson - (Jill Ireland) a woman Chaney develops a relationship with.
- Jim Henry - (Robert Tessier) a muscular, bald, grinning streetfighter.
- Street - (Nick Dimitri) ice-cold pro hired to fight Bronson in the bare-knuckle climax.
[edit] Plot
After arriving in town as a stowaway aboard a cargo train, Chaney meets Speed and asks him to be his agent. They travel to New Orleans where Speed enters Chaney into matches against the top fighters in the state with the hopes of winning. Chaney proves himself to be an excellent street fighter, which is good for Speed because he is deep in debt with the local mob. He promises the mobsters to pay his debts in two days, but when it seems unlikely that Speed will have the money, the mob becomes more threatening. This forces Chaney to enter one last fight to get his agent out of trouble.
[edit] Analysis
Pauline Kael called the setting of Hard Times “elaborate period recreations that seem almost to be there for their own sake” (6). The film is about the personalities of local street fighters and their agents; a group that has always been on the outskirts of society. On the other hand, setting the film in the Depression might have been a way for Hill to make Chaney a more sympathetic character. Kael explains, “Put [Charles Bronson] in modern clothes and he’s a hard-bitten tough guy, but with that cap on he’s one of the dispossessed—an honest man who’s known hunger” (6).
[edit] References
- Kael, Pauline. “The Visceral Poetry of Pulp.” CSUN Cinematheque Notes: Hard Times, The Driver. 2005: 6-7.
