HARD TIMES – Charles Bronson & James Coburn take on New Orleans!

Posted on by Bradley Crain

HARD TIMES is probably the best movie that features Charles Bronson in the lead, and it’s my personal favorite movie of all time as of the date of this review. I reserve the right to change this opinion at any time!

Charles Bronson is Chaney, a drifter who’s riding the rails in the south during the great depression. Soon after getting off the train in some unnamed southern town, Chaney comes across an underground “fight” where we first meet Speed, played by the great James Coburn. It seems Speed is the money man for this big lug of a fighter who gets his butt kicked in front of God, the local underground fighting world, a man with horrible teeth, and Chaney. After witnessing this fiasco, Chaney follows Speed to a local restaurant where he apparently waits in the shadows until Speed goes up to the counter to get a refill of oysters and a couple of lemons. I say this because when Speed turns from the counter with his newly filled tray, Chaney is sitting at Speed’s table. I’m surprised that Speed even talks to him because the first thing Chaney does is help himself to an oyster, WITHOUT EVEN ASKING! Even with this breach of etiquette, Speed discusses the fight from earlier in the evening with Chaney, who offers his fighting services to Speed since the “big lug” is clearly not a good investment into the future and who is probably in a hospital overnight dealing with a concussion. Speed is hesitant to accept this offer since Chaney appears to be fairly old (Bronson was 53 when he made the film), but he changes his mind when Chaney offers his last $6 bucks to Speed to bet on him. Cut to Chaney getting his chance to fight. This is a fun scene because his opponent is the same fighter from earlier who kicked the big lug’s butt. The guy even taunts Chaney for being too old. The fight starts and it consists of two hits, Chaney hits the smartass, the smartass hits the ground. Somewhat amazed, Speed takes Chaney to New Orleans, and the two embark on an odyssey together to win fights and make thick wads of cash. The remainder of the film documents that odyssey, although it does take time out for a few “in-betweens.”

HARD TIMES is one of Bronson’s best films, and one of the main reasons why is that it provides a boatload of audience satisfaction. There are many examples of this. First is the scene mentioned above where Chaney takes out the smirking, dismissive fighter who sees our hero as too old. Too old my ass! In another scene, a bunch of unrefined Cajuns out in the boondocks refuse to pay up after Chaney kicks their fighter’s butt. Rather than pay up, the slimy Cajuns pull out a gun and dare Speed and Chaney to come take the money. Our heroes leave at that time, but Chaney convinces them to hang around out in the country for awhile so they can surprise the Cajuns under the cover of darkness at the local honkytonk, which happens to be owned by the head slimy Cajun. Chaney takes the gun, takes the money, and then shoots up the place with the gun, grinning as he saves the last bullet to shoot a mirror he’s looking directly into. It’s a fun scene that ends with Chaney, Speed and the gang speeding off into the night laughing like hyenas! In another scene, Chaney takes on the big, bald-headed, unbeatable fighter Jim Henry (Robert Tessier) in an awesome cage match. Let’s just say Jim Henry thought he was unbeatable and leave it at that. And finally, a competing New Orleans money man (Jim Henry’s guy) just can’t stand that he no longer has the top fighter in town, so he brings in a fighter from Chicago to take on Chaney. I won’t tell you what happens, but it’s some really fun stuff! 

The cast of HARD TIMES also elevates the film to top tier status. I’ve already discussed Bronson and Coburn, but Strother Martin and Jill Ireland also add to the joy. Martin plays Poe, Chaney’s drug addict cut man, who dresses up like he could grow up to be Colonel Sanders in his older age. It’s a fun performance that adds a lot to the film. Jill Ireland plays Chaney’s love interest. She’s quite beautiful, but she seems to always be giving Chaney a hard time about what he does for a living. His response is usually to simply leave when she starts that BS. I thinks that’s kind of fun too. 

And finally, this was the directorial debut of Walter Hill, the man behind THE WARRIORS, THE DRIVER, THE LONG RIDERS, SOUTHERN COMFORT, 48 HOURS, and RED HEAT. His movie is lean and mean, without a wasted moment that isn’t moving the film along. Hill has crafted a fun movie, filled with great performances. I think it’s one of the most underrated films of the 1970’s!

13 responses to “HARD TIMES – Charles Bronson & James Coburn take on New Orleans!”

  1. Terrific review and you are so right: Walter Hill is not given the credit he deserves for a great body of work. As for Coburn, he is a favorite of mine, especially because of the film “The Last Of Sheila”, where he plays a manipulative movie Producer…as for Bronson, what a body of work! I read Director Michael Winner’s memoir and he has great stories about Bronson, who of course he made “Death Wish” and many more with him! Great review as always!

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  3. Don´t know how to comment on your site, so I send my few cents this way. Please feel free to add/post them there.

    “I totally with your review and all comments above.

    HARD TIMES is the rare piece of “a PERFECT movie”. No ounce of fat, no needless talk, all scenes work just perfectly, the cinematography is awesome, the settings as well, direction is – as you correctly point out – lean, the story is mean, the heroes are pro´s, the music is first rate bluegrass (a shame it´s not available on any format!!), the cast simply perfect (I wish BRONSON would have done DRIVER though Ryan O´Neal wasn´t bad either) … etc etc.

    Hills first and BEST movie (yes, he did a lot great ones, also his last western made me happy) and similar in scope and magnitude as Carpenters first, ASSAULT ON PRECINT 13 (those two movies + DUEL are the most important debuts of the 70ies). I am a BRONSON-addict, this guy was a mens man, THE mens man, if there ever was one. And this movie – actually a samourai coming to town, fists instead of a sword, and the same straightforward ethics – is the perfect story to make him shine. IMHO he shone in many many movies, but this is THE one, the most stellar one. I put THE MECHANIC as number 2 and MR. MAJESTYK as 3, then DWI and after that the picks are hard, there are just too many great ones left.

    A great one to watch multiple times and so underrated (even unknown).”

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  4. PS:

    Hills first and BEST movie (yes, he did a lot great ones, also his last western made me happy) and similar in scope and magnitude as Carpenters first, ASSAULT ON PRECINT 13 (those two movies + DUEL are the most important debuts of the 70ies).

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      • Yes, Bradley (if I may), HARD TIMES is “a PERFECT movie” (= it gets 10 out of 10 possible points, it´s pure & simply perfect, there is NOTHING which could be done any better).

        I have a definition of a perfect movie:

        A perfect movie is a movie that has everything it needs to have. A perfect movie doesn’t offer more than it needs to offer (= no redundancies, no useless babble, etc) and a perfect movie doesn’t lack anything that needs to be in it (no implausibilities, no story holes). A perfect movie offers no more, but also no less than it has to offer.

        What has to be in a perfect movie is to be judged by the story that a perfect movie wants to tell.

        A perfect movie does not require any “message”, it does not have to “educate”, “enlighten”, “instruct” or “serve” or “fulfill” any other “higher purpose”. It doesn’t have to “defend values”, depict a point of the compass (left, right, up, down, whatever) or do anything else.

        A perfect movie is self-sufficient, it is at peace with itself, it knows what it can do, it is not over- or underweight, and it achieves its goal with a certainty and precision that takes your breath away

        HARD TIMES is such a PERFECT movie: it starts with superb scenes of BRONSON coming into town, as a hobo on a train, beautifully shot and accompanied by classic bluegrass from that era. etc etc etc. I could go on analyzing it – even scene by scene – but lack of time prevents me from doing so

        Other perfect movies are: THE GOOD, THE BAD AND THE UGLY, HARAKIRI, THE ASCENT (USSR 1977), REVENGE (2017), LE CERCLE ROUGE (1970), THE WAGES OF FEAR (1953), VERTIGO, ALONE (2020), DIRTY HARRY, THE MECHANIC (Winner/Bronson), THE LINEUP (1958), ASSAULT ON PRECINT 13 (Carpenter), … of course there are 100´s (but not 1000´s) of perfect movies out there from all genres from A like adventure to Z like Zombie (well, in that category I have not yet found one) and when I watch one of them, I am always delighted. :-))

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