Rating summary

Movie		4.0
Video		4.5
Audio		4.0
Extras		1.5
Overall		4.0

Hard Times Blu-ray Movie Review

Ultimate Fighting Championship, circa 1933.

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman June 15, 2013

Charles Bronson and James Coburn were two highly distinctive actors who managed to craft long and successful careers despite not being typical “leading man” types. Though Coburn came on the scene a few years after Bronson, their careers followed remarkably similar paths. They both established themselves in the 1950s, and by the 1960s had begun to matriculate into higher profile roles, even co-starring together in such well remembered films as The Magnificent Seven and The Great Escape. Both actors had a rough and tumble quality about them, and both were able to hint at significant menace percolating beneath an apparently cool surface. Neither was traditionally handsome in a matinee idol sense, and neither were really ever typical romantic leads, either. Coburn perhaps was able to evince a certain affably suave ambience more than Bronson ever did, especially in such comic films as Our Man Flint and In Like Flint. Both actors are seen to rather good effect in the directorial debut of Walter Hill, the kind of odd 1975 drama Hard Times. This Depression Era set look at so-called “pick up fights” and the men who both promote them as well as get pummeled in them features Coburn as Speed, a man on the make who joins forces with Bronson’s character Chaney, a no nonsense man of few words who just happens to pack an incredible wallop when he puts his mind to it. I’m frankly not sure what Hill’s actual point is in Hard Times (he not only directed but co- wrote the screenplay with Bryan Gindoff and Bruce Henstell), but perhaps unexpectedly, it doesn’t matter all that much. Hard Times is relentlessly entertaining, a rather compelling miniature that takes a look at two desperate characters—one of them quiet, one of them rather brash—trying to wend their way through one of the most troubled times in our nation’s history.

Hill’s oeuvre is filled with films that exemplify male relationships in one way or the other (48 Hrs., where the two guys are partners, or 1978’s The Driver, where they’re adversaries), and quite often Hill’s heroes are laconic to the point where they might collectively be called the Men With No Names. That’s certainly the case in Hard Times, where hardscrabble Chaney expresses as much through his doleful countenance as he ever does with “mere” words. We see Chaney depart from a train—is he a hobo?—and soon he has stumbled upon a street fight where one of the main gamblers is Speed. Unfortunately Speed’s guy gets the worse side of this particular battle, but we see from Chaney’s response that certain wheels are cogitating in his mind. Chaney makes a proposition to Speed—set him up in a fight and bet his remaining six dollars at two to one odds. Speed agrees, and Chaney proves his mettle rather dramatically. Speed wants an instant partnership, coaxing Chaney to come to New Orleans, Speed’s home, and while Chaney tags along, he’s not one to jump into partnerships quite so quickly.

The fact that Chaney is so inherently taciturn is perhaps Hard Times’ hardest obstacle to overcome. The movie is really focused on Chaney, even if Speed is there, talking a mile a minute and making big plans for the two of them, but the fact that Chaney tends to be largely silent leaves a sort of vacuum at the center of this enterprise that is a bit perplexing at times. Chaney is a man of mystery—we know next to nothing about his past, live with his present for the couple of hours of the film, and then are left to wonder about his future. But what might be a fatal flaw in a less fully realized film turns out to be at worst a niggling qualm, although a notable one.

Hard Times does of course ultimately reunite Chaney and Speed (more than once, in fact), while also giving Chaney a putative love interest in Lucy (Jill Ireland, Bronson’s real life wife), a woman who makes no bones about being down on her luck, with an incarcerated husband and no prospects for the future. Chaney’s very quietness seems to work its magic—albeit fitfully—on Lucy, and the two engage in a kind of quasi-romantic relationship. But this aspect is never fully explored (Hill evidently engendered some hard feelings from Bronson by cutting a lot of Lucy’s role in the final film), leaving the bulk of Hard Times to deal with the interrelationship between Chaney, Speed and, a bit later, Poe (Strother Martin), a medical school dropout and opium addict who is Speed’s go-to guy to fix up his fighters after they get battered.

The film tends to be fairly anecdotal at times, drifting (much like Chaney himself) from fight to fight and with only the barest of connective tissue, namely Speed’s tendency to get himself into debt, sometimes dangerously so, weaving the story together. And here again Hard Times tends to defy conventional logic: the film doesn’t have the sure, solid narrative flow that defines the best in cinema, and yet it’s often an unforgettable experience. Coburn and Bronson are both excellent, the supporting cast is superb, and Hill stages things very effectively (aside from some weird framings in the final fight showdown). The film also has a palpable sense of time and place, bringing a sort of fetid Depression Era New Orleans fully to life.

Hard Times Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Hard Times is presented on Blu-ray with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 2.35:1. For my money, there is no better company releasing (or in this case, licensing) their deep catalog titles than Sony – Columbia. The care that this studio regularly lavishes on films that few remember is truly astounding, and it's once again completely in evidence in this beautiful high definition presentation of Hard Times. It probably goes without saying that this is a naturally filmic presentation (though one with a perhaps unexpected amount of grain at times), but the clarity and precision of the image here are really outstanding. Though the film tends to traffic almost exclusively in a pretty dour color scheme that highlights browns and grays, the palette here is surprisingly warm and inviting and always very accurate looking. Best of all, fine detail is exceptional throughout this presentation. There is some relative softness in just a couple of wide shots, which I am almost thinking were probably second unit material, but otherwise this is a first rate transfer and another beautiful example of the excellence Sony – Columbia is regularly providing to its licensors.

Hard Times Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Perhaps surprisingly Hard Times has been granted a repurposed surround mix which is delivered via DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1. The good news here is that this isn't an overly artificial sounding redesign. The bulk of the surround activity is limited to some of the crowd noises during the fight sequences as well as Barry De Vorzon's nice, rootsy score. Dialogue is very cleanly presented. The film has some fairly wide dynamic range courtesy of some bombastic foley effects and the roars of the crowd during the fight scenes.

Hard Times Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Original Theatrical Trailer (1080p; 2:23)


• Isolated Score. Barry De Vorzon's jangly, Americana roots inflected score is presented via DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0.

Hard Times Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Hard Times is a bit of an odd duck. Chaney is simply a cipher, albeit a compelling one. And Speed is kind of an annoying hack. The love interest is never fully developed and the film doesn't really have that much of a plot. And yet, you know what? I enjoyed watching Hard Times probably more than any vintage seventies' film I've seen over the past couple of years or so. The performances are pitch perfect, the look of the film is magnificent (even more so courtesy of this really nice looking Blu-ray), and while it may not amount to all that much, the film has a certain air of hopefulness that makes it very much a part of the American spirit. If taken on its own terms and accepted for being basically a character study (even if one of those characters is pretty opaque), there is a lot to admire about Hard Times. Highly recommended.