Hard Times (1975)

Director:

Walter Hill

Writers:

Walter Hill (screenplay) and
Bryan Gindoff (screenplay) ...

Release Date:

4 September 1975 (Netherlands)

Genre:

Action | Drama

Tagline:

New Orleans, 1933. In those days words didn't say much. [DVD]

Plot:

In the depression, Chaney, a strong silent streetfighter, joins with Speed, a promoter of no-holds-barred street boxing bouts...

Plot Keywords:

New Orleans | Gambling | Tough Guy | Bare Knuckle Fighting | 1930s

Cast

Charles Bronson	...	Chaney
James Coburn	...	Spencer 'Speed' Weed
Jill Ireland	...	Lucy Simpson
Strother Martin	...	Poe
Margaret Blye	...	Gayleen Schoonover
Michael McGuire	...	Chick Gandil
Felice Orlandi	...	Le Beau
Edward Walsh	...	Pettibon
Bruce Glover	...	Doty
Robert Tessier	...	Jim Henry
Nick Dimitri	...	Street
Frank McRae	...	Hammerman
Maurice Kowaleski	...	Caesare
Naomi Stevens	...	Madam
Lyla Hay Owen	...	Waitress

Also Known As:

Street Fighter (Philippines: English title)
The Streetfighter (UK)

Runtime:

93 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Metrocolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Australia:PG | UK:AA (original rating) | West Germany:16 (f) | Finland:K-16 | Netherlands:12 | Norway:15 (video rating) | Norway:16 (original rating) | Singapore:NC-16 | Sweden:15 | UK:15 | USA:PG

Filming Locations:

New Orleans, Louisiana, USA

Company:

Columbia Pictures Corporation

Trivia:

Chick Gandil, the gambler in the film, was also the name of one of the Black Sox players who conspired with gambler Arnold Rothstein to fix the 1919 World Series.

Goofs:

Anachronisms: The herald information for the railroads painted on the boxcars after the last big fight scene are 1960's vintage rather than the era the movie suggests.

Quotes:

Lucy Simpson: What does it feel like to knock somebody down?
Chaney: It makes me feel a hell of a lot better than it does him.
Lucy Simpson: That's a reason?
Chaney: Hey, there's no reason about it. Just money.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Fight Club (1999)

A truly great movie.

This is one of my favorite films. There is a quality about it that touches the soul. Charles Bronson, James Coburn and Strother Martin are superb. Coburn is the character. The story is great, the acting is great and the music is great, particularly the closing piece of blue grass. I saw Hard Times when it first came out and it never left me. I'm not even sure why. Perhaps because all the characters, even the antagonists are depicted as real humans and not caricatures. For example, the loan sharks mean business but aren't bloodthirsty. They want their money and do what they have to to collect. Interestingly they seem genuinely pleased with the resolution of their problem. Even the film's "heavy" has the decency to pay due homage to the skill of his nemesis. And once business is concluded personal relationships are renewed. In my mind this is a true classic.