Titreenp SERIOUSLY. This is what the crap Hollywood still puts out?

Aneesa Wardle The story, direction, characters, and writing/dialogue is akin to taking a tranquilizer shot to the neck, but everything else was so well done.

Sanjeev Waters A movie that not only functions as a solid scarefest but a razor-sharp satire.

Guillelmina The film's masterful storytelling did its job. The message was clear. No need to overdo.

Michael_Elliott Hard Times (1975) **** (out of 4)Criminally underrated gem set in Louisiana during the Depression. A hustler named Speed (James Coburn) strikes gold when he meets bare- fist fighter Chaney (Charles Bronson). The two strike up a business relationship as the loner Chaney tries to woo a lady (Jill Ireland) but it doesn't take long for Speed to run into some crime people that he owes money.HARD TIMES is a pretty unique gem that came out of nowhere and quickly became a modest hit, got some good reviews and remained a favorite to fans of the cast. With that said, Walter Hill's film has never really gotten the credit it deserved because it really is one of the best films of its type and features two terrific performances by the leads. Yes, both leads played this type of characters before and yes there were many films set during the Depression but everything here just rings so fresh and original with the cast really taking their familiar roles and making them seem fresh and new.There are so many things that make this film so memorable but one is the perfect setting and atmosphere created by Hill. You really do feel these characters and the setting that they are trapped in. The Louisiana settings are just perfect to look at and they really become a character themselves as they're so important to building up the other characters. The music score is extremely good, the cinematography perfectly captures everything and there's no question that Hill handles the screenplay without any problems.Then, there's Bronson and Coburn. Both actors were used to playing these type of roles but they go beyond anything they had previously done. Bronson can play quiet perfectly and I think this is something that gets overlooked. It's not easy being quiet and managing to still handle scenes but he does it without a problem. That quiet nature perfectly fits the character and everything you need to know the actor tells you with his eyes. Coburn is fiery, feisty and constantly talking and he does it with ease. The chemistry between the two is terrific. Ireland turns in what is probably her best performance and we get nice support from the likes of Strother Martin, Bruce Glover and Margaret Blye. Why has HARD TIMES been overlooked all these years? Perhaps it's due to Bronson's 80s movies where he became known as an exploitation star. I don't know but the film is certainly one of the best of its type of manages to be a true gem.

classicsoncall This makes three times now I've seen Charles Bronson portray a boxer. Each of those times occurred roughly a decade apart in his career, the first one going back to a 1952 episode of 'The Roy Rogers Show' if you can believe it, in a story titled 'Knockout'. Then in 1961, he appeared in an episode of 'One Step Beyond' as an American boxer in London during the Second World War, that story was 'The Last Round'. It was in that show that Bronson appeared the most muscular, almost as if he was using steroids at the time, though I have no way of knowing that. In "Hard Times", Bronson appears to have slimmed back down somewhat, though still looking formidable for his age of fifty four at the time.Bronson and James Coburn make a good pair, two iconic actors who made their most impressive marks in the Seventies. I like the kind of character Bronson gets to play here, a loner type who calls his own shots with integrity and supreme self confidence. It's that 'take it or leave it' attitude that makes him both antagonistic and endearing at the same time. The first time I heard (back in the day) that he was married to actress Jill Ireland I didn't know what to make of it, but with the hindsight of years gone by I believe I get the chemistry now.With quite a bit of positive reviews here, I can't say that I found the film to be all that compelling or riveting as some suggest. It's a pretty standard story of getting by during the hard times of the Depression era with the single talent one might possess, be it Speed's (Coburn) con-man finesse or Chaney's (Bronson) fists. I'm not sure why Strother Martin's Poe character was even needed here. Unless I missed it, I don't think he ever served his purpose as a cut man in Chaney's corner.One thing I'd do if I had a say so would be to reverse the opponents that promoter Gandil (Michael McGuire) had for Chaney to go up against. Street (Nick Dimitri) didn't particularly impress in size or ruggedness to wind up in Gandil's stable for the final match against Chaney. I would have saved the brawler Jim Henry (Robert Tessier) for that contest, especially after putting holes in a wall with his head as football brute Shokner in "The Longest Yard" made the year before. He was just that much more intimidating than any other fighter in the story.

Jim Marchese Hard Times is a story about what Cajuns did for entertainment in 1933. Street fights were held with big money being wagered by spectators and principal participants on the outcome of these confrontations.Charles Bronson plays the part of Chaney, the main principal in the story. He begins with only $6.00 to his name and after crossing paths with James Coburn (Speed), sets out on adventurous times.Hard Times portrays the American con while dealing with the rigors of the era's loan sharks. Coburn is Chaney's manager; and being the ultimate con man, is finally backed into a corner from which there appears no escape.Bronson portrays great knowledge of the boxing sport; the stance, defense, and hitting from the shoulder to name a few fundamentals. His girlfriend (Jill Ireland) is a delightful addition to the story.Robert Tessier puts on an excellent performance as one of the "hitters" in the story while Lou Antonio makes a couple of cameo appearances in the beginning.Ironically Chic Gandil, Coburn's chief rival, was the name of one of the Chicago White Sox baseball players involved in the infamous 1919 world series scandal in which several White Sox players were permanently thrown out of baseball for throwing the series to the Cincinnati National League ball club.Hard Times will definitely entertain you and the Cajun bar juke box scene is priceless.It should also be noted that 20 some odd years before, a teenage Jack Dempsey in Manassa, Colorado would essentially do the same thing to earn money. Nothing personal, strictly money !!!

MBunge Bronson. Coburn. Guys getting the snot beat out them. Strother Martin at his Strothery best. What more do you need to know?A stoic, 50something drifter named Chaney (Charles Bronson) hooks up with a fast talking inveterate gambler named Speed (James Coburn). Speed sets up the streetfights, Chaney knocks 'em down and they split the winnings. Things seem to be about as good as they ever got for anybody in 1930s America, but Speed can't stop from getting in over his head with loan sharks and Chaney finds himself caught up with a woman (Jill Ireland) who's got about as much warmth as a cold stove on the Canadian prairie. Eventually, the biggest gambler in New Orleans forces Chaney into one last fight with Speed's life on the line as well as every dime Chaney has, and it's not always clear which he cares about the most.To be perfectly blunt, there's not a lot going on in this Walter Hill production. The story's about as simple as "See Chaney. See Chaney fight that guy. Now see Chaney fight this other guy" and Hill's not exactly known for his strikingly imaginative direction. But sometimes simple can be good, like a grilled cheese sandwich. This tale of human weakness and ambition squeezed in the vise of the Depression is like a grilled cheese with just a little ketchup on the side.Obviously, Bronson is awesome. If aspiring young actors want to know if they have what it takes to be movie stars, they should watch this film and imagine themselves playing Chaney. Bronson spends most of the movie in taciturn silence, saying barely more than 3 words at a time to anyone except Jill Ireland, yet commands the audience's attention every second he's on screen.Not far behind is Coburn, who is able to put aside his own considerable machismo and play the rake to Bronson's rock. You could have cast Coburn in the role of Chaney and no one would have blinked, yet he's able to slide seamlessly into a character who's as intemperate and grasping as Chaney is cool and indifferent.Backing up such a dynamic duo are a slew of talented supporting players. Strother Martin brings his subversive Southern charm to the role of Poe, a junkie medical school drop out hired to tend to Chaney's wounds. Michael McGuire as the rich man who wants to own Chaney or break him has just the right sense of a man who's above it all but doesn't want to be. Robert Tessier and Nick Dimitri as Chaney's two top opponents are both great as guys who've always been the toughest one in the room but have been shaped by that in two different ways. Tessier's guy simply revels in his physical power while Dimitri's is drained of joy and has only the need to prove his dominance. Even Maggie Blye as Speed's woman adds her own dash of local color to events.For his part, Hill's best work is during the fight scenes. He does repeat certain sequences over and over, but he manages to establish a sense of ragged rhythm and flow. These scenes don't feel like choreographed dance numbers. They are flesh and reflexes and will power smashing into each other.Hard Times isn't a masterpiece. It does hold up quite well as, essentially, a completely serious version of Clint Eastwood's Any Which Way But Loose and remains more than worth watching.