Hard Times

In one of the first reviews I did a couple years ago, I said Charles Bronson is cooler than you. He was....that's all.  There's no argument or counter. Charles Bronson was cool as hell.  Later in his career, he got into a rut of Death Wish and Family of Cops movies, but in his heyday in the 1960s and 1970s there were few actors who were as popular as the coal-miner turned action star. He wasn't a great actor in the traditional sense, usually playing quiet anti-heroes who rose to the occasion as needed. But at his best, he was a brewing, intense presence of an actor, especially in 1975's Hard Times.

Whenever you read a list of 'Guy's Movies,' this should be at or near the top. This is a prototypical, definition of a guy's movie.  Tough guy actors, brutal story about street fighting, and without much in the way of romance or wasted subplots that go nowhere. If you're going to stop reading this review, here you go. 'Times' is 93 minutes of Charles Bronson whaling on people in knock-down, vicious street fights. Okay, it's more than that...but not by much. Who better to direct this guy's flick than Walter Hill? He was an underrated master at straightforward, hard-edged movies heavy on action and violence. In his directorial debut, Hill definitely comes out swinging -- pun intended.

A drifter and a loner traveling through 1933 Great Depression-riddled America, a man named Chaney (Bronson) jumps off a train and walks into a small Southern town. Looking to make some traveling money, he gets into a street fight, winning with one brutal, efficient knockout punch. There he meets Speed (James Coburn), a gambler, businessman and all-around con man, forming a partnership with the potential for lots of money to be made quickly. With opium-addicted trainer and cut man, Poe (Strother Martin), along, Chaney goes to work, and no one can stop him in a fight. He's just looking for some money though, and nothing else. No fame, no notoriety. Speed on the other hand has a different plan, including a fight worth thousands of dollars against high-stakes gambler and kingpin Chick Gandil (Michael McGuire). Will Chaney go along with it, even when a supposed ringer is brought in?

There is absolutely nothing flashy about this movie. Let's just get that out of the way. Hill isn't interested in it. His movie obviously isn't a documentary, but it definitely has the feel of one. It's a slice of life story, albeit one about a bare-knuckle street fighter. It has a folksy 1970s feel to it, a slice of American history as the country struggles through the Great Depression. Hill films his story entirely in New Orleans and never has a city looked so dirt-poor and grim and still manages to be appealing as New Orleans does here. The look of the movie feels real, not stagey or hokey or done-up like so many movies. The musical score leaves little impression, only making its presence known at the beginning and end. No frills film-making at its best, and no one knows how to do it better than Hill. His focus is on his characters and the harsh world they live in.

A poster at the IMDB actually listed every word Charles Bronson says in the entire movie. I'll say this...it isn't much. Chaney (no first name provided, or needed for that matter) is a man of few words, appropriately enough letting his fists do most of the talking.  Above all else in this movie, I loved this character. He's not showing off his ability or looking for fame. As he explains 'He knocks people down' and he's damn good at it. With little said in the way of words, Bronson makes Chaney sympathetic. We know absolutely nothing about his background or where he came from, and we don't need to know. Like so many Americans, he's had a rough time of it and is trying to keep on living. When asked if he's had a rough time, he answers 'Who hasn't?' We see a glimpse of his humanity with Jill Ireland's Lucy, but only briefly. It's in the end we see his true colors.

So I don't care if it was a movie, and the fights were staged. I want nothing to do with Bronson in a street fight. My uncle first recommended this movie to me, stating 'It's Charles Bronson beating the crap out of people." That's a pretty spot-on description. These fights are vicious, bone-rattling affairs that hurt just watching them. There is a distinct sound, a THWACK! as Bronson's punches land, especially when he throws three punches in quick succession (right! left! right!). A fight with Gandil's top fighter (Robert Tessier) is the most vicious, and an incredible scene to watch. In a grain mill or something of the sort in a fenced-off square ringed by bloodthirsty fans, they go to town. No finesse, no dancing around, just two men throwing hay-makers at each other. The final fight against the ringer, a Chicago fighter named Street (Nick Dimitri), couldn't live up to that prior fight, but still holds its own in terms of emotion and the bigger meaning, what Chaney risks to fight.

More than Bronson and the street fighting though, 'Times' has a lot going for it. Bronson and Coburn had worked together several times before, and here again they show a solid chemistry. Two of the all-time coolest actors working together is never a bad thing. Coburn's Speed is a hustler, almost always ending exactly where he started, with nothing. It's Chaney who has to save him. Martin is typically slick and oily as Poe.  Also watch for Felice Orlandi and Bruce Glover as two loan sharks on Speed's tail. An underrated movie overall, and a great example of how a simple and straightforward storytelling technique can work so well.

Hard Times <---trailer (1975): ***/****

48 Hours

By 1982, Eddie Murphy had become the biggest, most popular member of the Saturday Night Live cast, bringing the show out of its first slump after the original cast had all left.  He was riding high and in the 1980s would make classic 1980s flicks like Beverly Hills Cop, The Golden Child, Coming to America, and Trading Places.  I always think of BHC cop as his star-making movie turn, but his first movie role came in 1982's 48 Hrs.

With this 80s comedy, we revisit one of my favorite genres of movies, the buddy cop movie.  It can be difficult looking back on these without thinking 'Been there, seen that' because in the years since, the buddy cop movie has been used to death. The 1980s seemingly had one released every week or so.  At the time though, they were original and hadn't been overused repeatedly.  The setting? San Francisco, always a good start for a cop movie. The director? Tough guy master Walter Hill. The cop pairing? Comedian and funnyman Murphy with gravelly-voiced Nick Nolte. The story and driving force is criminally simplistic, relying on its stars and their chemistry (of which they have plenty) to carry the movie.

Tagging along on a routine credit card fraud questioning, San Francisco detective Jack Cates (Nolte) is the lone survivor of a shootout when the investigation proves to be much more.  The suspects are Ganz (James Remar), an escaped convict, and Billy Bear (Sonny Landham), his former partner who busted him out. Cates comes under fire for his actions and wants to get revenge in bringing these two cop-killers to justice. He figures Ganz and Billy are looking for something in the city, and comes up with a way to figure it out. One of their old partners, a former accomplice, Reggie Hammond (Murphy), is in prison locally with six months to go on a 3-year sentence. Cates convinces Reggie to help him but with one catch; he has to have him back at lock-up within 48 hours.

Like any buddy movie, the key is the chemistry of said buddies. Newman and Redford, Gibson and Glover, any number of flicks.  Murphy and Nolte are great together, the complete polar opposites working together.  Murphy's Reggie Hammond is the fast-talking crook who agrees to help Cates, but basically he just wants to get laid and make sure his hidden away stash is in fact, hidden away.  Nolte's Jack Cates is the stereotypical grizzled, worn down cop with problems at home while constantly fighting with his girlfriend (Annette O'Toole). The nature of the relationship is that they will fight, clash, feel each other out, and end up bonding, forming some sort of genuine working/personal friendly relationship.  Follow the formula and let the actors do the rest, and you've got a winner.

The humor from the movie comes from the interactions between Murphy and Nolte.  The story itself is dark and violent, following their investigation throughout San Fran in hopes of catching the two killers.  Hill co-wrote the script with three other credited writers has some great one-liners (read IMDB's Memorable Quotes HERE) and some memorable set-pieces.  The opening hotel shootout is choreographed nicely, and Murphy's posing as a detective in a very white, very redneck bar (in San Francisco?) is priceless.  What I enjoyed most though was the banter between the stars, Murphy pushing and pulling and prodding his detective handler while Nolte growls and mutters through his lines.

Starting directing in 1975 with Hard Times, Walter Hill has carved out a great little niche for himself, especially in the 70s and 80s.  He has a reputation for hard-hitting, tough movies that don't pull any punches. Think a more manageable, not so crazy Sam Peckinpah.  Because of Hill's taut directing (and a fair share of blood squibs), the movie never really slows down. It clocks in at 96 minutes and never stays in one place too long. Setting a cop story in the home of Bullitt and Dirty Harry is never a bad idea mostly because San Francisco is just a cool place to base a story. Throw away the humor and the chemistry, and what you've got here is a police procedural.  Nothing flashy, no bigger schemes at play, just a cop and a convict in his charge trying to get their hands on two cop killers.

Groundbreaking it is not, but Murphy and Nolte look to be having a lot of fun together, and a Walter Hill-directed movie is rarely a bad thing.  Solid and entertaining with the right mix of action, humor and a never-ending stream of talk about sex.  How can you go wrong?  It also produced a sequel some years later, review to come at some point.

48 Hrs. <---trailer (1982): ***/****

The Driver

As far back as the silent Keystone Cops series, movies have had car chases. In the late 60s, Bullitt and The French Connection opened the door for a slew of car-chase related movies that continues to this day. Name a halfway decent action movie from the last 30-40 years, and there's a good chance there is a car chase. Who knows what attracts audiences to them? Ridiculously cool cars gunning it across country and through crowded cities just sounds fun.

But with car chases, and I'm not talking racing movies, there are few movies directed to the most important thing in the chase -- the guy behind the wheel. Released in 1978, The Driver just does that, focusing almost completely on the man driving the badass car(s). Director Walter Hill handles a movie that could have been a color film noir movie with the typically cool anti-hero, the femme fatale, and the dedicated, driven cop trying to catch the rebellious main character. It's the type of movie that almost borders on the pretentious with characters addressed as their occupation -- the Driver, the Detective, the Connection -- but pulls back just enough not to be obnoxious.

When a crook/robber/underworld thug is trying to pull off a job, there's one person that can significantly help his chances get away. Everyone knows him simply as the Driver (Ryan O'Neal), the best getaway driver and wheelman around. The police are fully aware of who and what he is, especially the Detective (Bruce Dern), but they're never able to pin any of the crimes on him, and he always gets away to pull off another getaway. But the Detective has been pushed too far so he goes about setting up a trap that even the Driver can't escape from.

The plot is straightforward with little diversions to take away from the heated and on-going battle between the getaway driver and the police officer trying to bring him in. There's a rivalry between the men that O'Neal and Dern pull off perfectly. O'Neal's Driver is quickly aware that he's being set up and still take the job if for nothing else than to prove he can do it, and more importantly he's smarter than a cop. O'Neal isn't a great actor, but playing the strong, silent type works nicely for him. Dern is a scene-stealer (as he usually was) as the slightly crazy detective who will risk anything to catch his rival.

Director Hill clearly knows what he's doing with an often minimalist story that focuses so closely on style over substance, especially with the chase scenes that bookend the movie. The opening as the Driver attempts to escape from the police (watch it HERE) is a great intro as to what type of movie you're about to watch. It also features one of the best endings to a car chase I can remember. The finale -- check it out here with SPOILERS of course -- is even better, combining some great stunt driving with a sometimes unbearable tension as O'Neal drives a souped-up pickup truck chasing down a Firebird.

Watching the chase scenes is easier to appreciate because O'Neal did just enough driving to make it seem believable. Sure, a stunt driver probably did most of it, but the viewer actually sees O'Neal behind the wheel. It sounds simple, but it helps a lot. And one of the reasons I'll always love older movies, no fake-looking CGI could ever replace good old fashioned stunts. In these chase scenes, Hill doesn't mess around with a loud blaring soundtrack that tells you how to feel. Just like Bullitt, The Driver's chase scenes are almost silent other than the sounds of the engines chugging along trying to outdo each other. Definitely some of the best car chases around because they don't mess with the formula. Simple, straightforward and exciting.

With the rest of the cast, a few names jump out but it's O'Neal and Dern's movie to win or lose. Isabelle Adjani is the Player, a young woman in desperate need of money who provides an alibi for the Driver after the opening getaway. If there was a love interest, Adjani would be it, but the story doesn't have time to waste with a love story. Ronee Blakley is the Connection, the woman who sets the Driver up with jobs and seems to have some sort of past with him but that could be me overanalyzing. Felice Orlandi and Matt Clark are two of Dern's fellow detectives working the case and Joseph Walsh and Rudy Ramos are Glasses and Teeth, two crooks who need the Driver's services.

A quasi-existential chase movie that's a lot of fun to watch, especially for any fans of car chases in the vein of Bullitt, The French Connection, and Two-Lane Blacktop. Stars Ryan O'Neal and Bruce Dern look to be having a good time making it, and director Walter Hill turns in a taut, exciting story dominated by car chases at either end of the movie. Car junkies shouldn't miss this one.

The Driver <----trailer (1978): ***/****