Hard time - Coup dur

Burt Reynolds and Charles Durning play aging cops and longtime partners. Charles Durning plays Detective Charlie who is on the cusp of retirement and definitely slowing down more than a bit. He is busy trying to talk his partner Det. Logan McQueen into slowing down as well...including signing the two of them up for graffiti patrol. This does not prevent Logan from taking chase after two thieves. He manages to corner them until they turn the tables on him taking both his gun and his handcuffs. This ends up having terrible consequences as one of the thieves winds up dead, shot with Logan's gun and handcuffed to a case containing the stolen money. Only it wasn't all of the drug runner's money, some of it was missing. This gets Logan not only in trouble with the law but with Connie Martin.

Set in colorful California it was fun to see these two friends together on screen. It was also fun to see Mia Sara play Myler...Logan's reluctant lawyer. The real question becomes will Logan solve this puzzle before it's too late?

I wouldn't necessarily seek it out, but it was decent late night tv.

Star-director Burt Reynolds is a cop paired with Charles Durning. Durning, at 75, plays a man looking at retirement, and neither man is as young as he used to be. In the opening sequence, they're pursuing a man, and Reynolds puffs as he runs, while Durning waddles.

The plot concerns the fallout from a suspect being killed, and the attempts of Our Heroes to clear themselves. For a TV movie, it's decently written, Reynolds gets good performances out of Robert Loggia, Mia Sara, Billy Dee Williams, and Alice Ghostley. In fact, it's just what I expected it to be, a modern B movie, with few surprises - except for the final one -- with everyone coming in to do a good job for a paycheck.

Hard Time is an excellent film!It's filled with great action sequences,has a good plot,the cast is amazing,and this film could easily be a sequence for 1981's Sharky's Machine.Burt Reynolds is one of the most talented actors i've ever seen,and his been there presence helps to compose with surgical precision his character,a hard,though and implacabe cop!the time has passed,but Burt Reynolds still has that look in his eyes that makes everybody shake!this film doesn't even look like a television movie!no,it looks like a real movie,a cinema movie!what we see here is the kind of movie that doesn't offer to the audience easy solutions,instead,this film is complex and thrilling!we have that feeling that makes cinema one of the best things of the world,we are involved by the story.Burt Reynolds made a brilliant comeback,after Boogie Nights!i can't wait for his next ones:Stringer,The Progenitor,and Deliverance 2!just a suggestion:wouldn't it be nice to see Sharky's Machine 2? and how about to cast,for this film,Laura Linney,Reese Witherspoon and Tom Selleck? Congratulations,Burt!you're still the best!and Hard Time is the best thriller i've seen.

Now, while I had never actually heard bout this 1998 crime action movie "Hard Time", from director Burt Reynolds, I have to admit that I wasn't really harboring the biggest of expectations. But I still opted to keep an open mind and watch the movie, giving it a fair chance.

And color me impressed. Writers David S. Cass Sr. And Steve Wesley put together a surprisingly entertaining script and storyline, when taking into consideration that "Hard Time" is a TV movie. I was genuinely and wholeheartedly entertained throughout the course of the 90 minutes that the movie ran for. In fact, I will actually go as far as to saying that this movie is definitely in the top ten of Burt Reynold-starred movies.

The storyline was nicely constructed, and there was a good pacing to the narrative. So the writers really managed to pull this one off quite well. Surprisingly well, in fact.

The cast ensemble in the movie was quite impressive. There is a good amount of familiar faces on the cast list, both in bigger and smaller roles. Burt Reynolds carries the movie quite well in the role of Det. Logan McQueen. And he is joined by the likes of Charles Durning, Robert Loggia, Mia Sara, Billy Dee Williams, John D'Aquino, Ja'net DuBois and Roddy Piper to mention but a few. The acting performances in the movie are good.

If you enjoy crime action movies, then "Hard Time" is definitely a movie that is well-worth sitting down and watching. I was rather surprised, and quite entertained, by what director Burt Reynolds delivered here.

My rating of "Hard Time" lands on a six out of ten stars.

This is definitely a top grade TNT made for television movie. If you get a chance you should try to see it! Burt Reynolds does a great job of acting! It's about Logan (Reynolds) a police detective trying to catch a bomber copycat murderer. I can't recall the last time I saw Burt Reynolds in this Action genre of film, he plays it very well, it's chocked full of great lines and if you like action movies, with suspense and tension you should try to catch Premonition!