Le Bagarreur

Just a few days ago I saw HARD TIMES again, after I had seen it already twice some 10 to 20 years down the road. I did remember that I liked it a lot then, but I was not prepared to see how great it actually is! This is one of the movies that gets better with every viewing (liek THE OUTFIT with Bob Duvall)!! Glorious, just perfect and that in EVERY DEPARTMENT!! The OPENING SCENE is so beautiful, it makes you fall on your knees! A long shot of a slowly arriving train in beautifully landscape and run-down buildings of New Orleans, SUPERBLY shot in first rare camera-work, THE MAN standing framed in the door of one of the trains' wagons, the music (and what music, DeVORZONs probably best score, still unreleased = a shame!) starting slowly and you immediately realize here's a drifter, a taciturn MAN arriving in town. Charlie looks sad, run down, tired, WITHOUT mustache, not having had much luck in live. These are just the first 3 or 4 minutes, but one probably never will forget them. GREAT! Like many of the directors, who started their work in the 70ies, Walter HILL is no exception to the "rule", that most of them (if not all of them) made their BEST picture within their first 3 movies released (Carpenter: ASSAULT, Spielberg: DUEL & SUGARLAND EXPRESS, Coppola: THE CONVERSATION, M. Ritchie: PRIME CUT, John Boorman: POINT BLANK, ...): Wlater HILL made HARD TIMES as his debut and although he made some nice pictures later-on, none of his later pictures (the DRIVER, which is # 2 included) could beat HARD TIMES. It's - like EMPEROR OF THE NORTH POLE - a really beautifully shot study of depression-era America.

Bronson's muscles are - THE MAN being in his mid-50ies then !! - just unbelievable, slim, trim, knock-out hard, every ounce hardened flesh (check out CHATO'S LAND, too!), his acting is 100% on target (he does not look "bored", how some stupid critics wrote, but the way unlucky-in-life depression-era people would most likely look: sad), he is the ideal man for this role, and that just a year after he made DEATH WISH, which proves he was not out for an easy follow-up movie and certainly far away from getting as type-cast as Golan & Globus made him from Death Wish II (1982) onwards (sigh & weep).

JAMES COBURN is great, too, maybe slightly overdoing his sleaziness, but great nevertheless. Jill Ireland has her usual bit-part, she's fine & OK, but not outstanding, whereas nearly all the other character parts are just that: outstanding! Nobody plays himself into the foreground, but everybody fits his part 100%. You'll hardly find any other movie, where the whole cast is as great as in this one.

The STORY is simple but true! I just can't stand those fancy elaborated twist-here twist-there stories , straight forward simple but high-crafted storytelling, one of THE craftsmanship's of US cinema in the 40ies to 60ies (Ford, Mann, Huston) is brought here to another peak! The Camera-work is outstanding, too,a s is Barry DEVORZON's superb bluegrass/jazz/hillbilly score (release it, please!), which is probably just half an hour of music, but certainly deserved a full or at least half-CD release.

In short: BREATHTAKING and certainly one of Charlies best movies of the 70ies (when he made all of his best movies), truly at the same level as MECHANIC & CHATO'S LAND, beating (a little) BREAKOUT and MR. MAJESTYC.

10 out of 10! Go and see yourself!

Great role for Bronson.

Compare Bronson's fighting style with almost any other fight movie like Kirk Douglas in 'Champion' or Stallone in the 'Rocky' series. Bronson slips and ducks his opponent's punches like a real fighter does, putting as much effort into not getting hit as he does hitting the other guy. Any fighter taking the hits that most movie boxers take would be unconscious or dead in a matter of minutes, and even sluggers like Rocky Marciano and George Frazier were constantly moving, never offering a good target.

This depression era movie is similar in flavor to the Lee Marvin Ernest Borgnine vehicle 'Emperor of The North'. Both movies have unsentimental, tough, taciturn heroes who communicate more with glances and gestures.

A desperate hobo boxes to make some extra money in the Depression. No love story, no cute little kids, no happy ending, no redemption. Just a hard man doing what he has to in order to survive. But on his terms.

To understand why HARD TIMES is a masterpiece, compare it to other films from around this time.

BONNIE AND CLYDE, THE STING, and PAPER MOON were all massive box office hits, set in the Depression. All three movies "strain" for a sense of desperate characters in a dog-eat-dog world, but every one of them cops out with Hollywood glitz and glamor. Here's giggly Warren Beatty pretending he knows what it's like to be poor. And here's Faye Dunaway, the dead-end girl, wearing scrumptious couture while she robs banks. Here's Robert Redford, the ultimate preppy blonde pretty boy, delicately hobnobbing with down-to-earth "Negroes" and glowing with his own virtue. Here's Ryan O'Neil, tough as nails and a real fighter, but hey, it's okay -- he's got a cute little girl along for the ride! One close up of Charles Bronson's face takes you to a place no other Depression picture dares to go. The ugly violence and the hopelessness in this film are so real that they actually build up the character even more than Bronson's natural authority and physical presence. It's the perfect vehicle for the perfect star.

Bronson is enough -- but there's so much more. James Coburn as the manager Speed, so dishonest yet completely likable and in his own way a real hero. Maggie Blye and Jill Ireland, both sexy and authentic as Depression women -- Jill too sickened by failure to ever love again, Maggie too aware of how short life is to ever let a minute go by without a laugh. Either one of them could wipe the floor with "Bonnie" from Bonnie and Clyde. Strother Martin as Poe, the dope addict cut man who adds his own humor, sadness and resignation to a movie utterly packed to the brim with memorable characters.

This is the most powerful and honest movie ever made about hard times.

A depression era drifter (Bronson) gets involved in the world of street fighting for big bucks. Good vehicle for Bronson who, like Eastwood, can say more with a look than with 20 words. He's the epitome of a hard edged, down but not out, tough guy. James Coburn plays his seedy, gambliholic, money hungry, 'manager' to the hilt. If you're looking for an actor who can make it look easy, watch Coburn in this film. Strother Martin plays a mulatto, hop-head Doctor (kicked out of Med school) they hire to treat Bronsons wounds. This is a man's movie. And the grit is captured perfectly by Director Walter Hill who would go on to direct 48 HRS. Throw in love interest (and Bronson wife) Jill Ireland, New Orleans and The Mob and you've got one hellava film. Don't look for any phony special effects which would have to be included for today's audience, just good acting, plot and grit.

Saw this movie when it first came out and I loved it. I watched it again last night and my opinion has not changed at all. It's just a fabulous movie and definitely my favorite Bronson flick. Fine work from Bronson, James Coburn and Strother Martin. The dialog is sharp and the fight scenes are excellent. This is no "Rocky" fantasy, but a tough look at a brutal game. The film really conveys what a desperate place Depression-era America was. The final fight scene is great. No roaring crowds, no dramatic music, just two tough guys pounding away at each other. Coburn is great and Strother Martin has some of the best lines in the picture. ("Some are born to fail...") Also we get to see some great New Orleans locations,which are painful to look at now in light of the damage caused by Hurricane Katrina.