The Streetfighter | Through the Shattered Lens

Walter Hill celebrates his 83rd birthday on January 10th, 2025. He has made so many great films in his career, but the one that stands out the most to me is his directorial debut from 1975, HARD TIMES, with Charles Bronson, James Coburn, Jill Ireland, and Strother Martin. The film was known as THE STREETFIGHTER in some parts of the world, like England, but due to Sonny Chiba’s “Street Fighter” movie from around the same time, the producers decided to go with HARD TIMES in America.

Here are a few more interesting facts about Hill’s directorial debut:

Chaney (Bronson) was originally supposed to be a much younger man, with Jan-Michael Vincent being considered for the role.
Charles Bronson was 52 years old when he made HARD TIMES. According to Hill, Bronson “was in remarkable physical condition for a guy his age…. He had excellent coordination, and a splendid build. His one problem was that he was a smoker, so he didn’t have a lot of stamina. I mean, he probably could have kicked anybody’s ass on that movie, but he couldn’t fight much longer than 30 or 40 seconds.”
According to Hill, Charles Bronson was easier to work with than James Coburn. Hill would say “Bronson was a very angry guy who didn’t get along with a lot of people. The only reason I can tell you he and I got along well was he respected that I wrote the script. He liked the script. I didn’t try to get close to him. Kept it very business-like. I think he liked that. James Coburn, who everybody liked and got along well with, he and I did not get along well. I think he was not in a good mood about being in a movie with Charlie, it was second banana. He had been up there more, and his career was coming back a bit. I don’t think he was wild about being second banana. But Charlie was a big star… and when things had seemed to not be working well, or there was some impasse, Charlie would come down hard on my side. That was a tipping point”.
Walter Hill thought the project could become more “up market” if he made it more like a Western and set it in the past. Hill incorporated elements of an earlier Western he had written, “Lloyd Williams and his Brother”. He wrote it in a style inspired by Alex Jacobs–“extremely spare, almost Haiku style. Both stage directions and dialogue.”
The settings for the Capcom arcade game Street Fighter are taken right from HARD TIMES. This film is titled “The Street Fighter” in Japan, and the game designer was instructed to take inspiration from this film. He did just that and copied many of them directly.

I’m so thankful for Walter Hill and HARD TIMES. In fact, it’s my all-time favorite film, as well as the first review I ever published for The Shattered Lens.

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

So, if you like movies like HARD TIMES, THE DRIVER, THE WARRIORS, THE LONG RIDERS, SOUTHERN COMFORT, 48 HRS., EXTREME PREJUDICE, and RED HEAT, join us in celebrating the great director Walter Hill on his 83rd birthday. He has brought me countless hours of joy over the years!

Here’s a trailer from the Masters of Cinema for HARD TIMES…

When last I posted, I was snowed in and I was still dealing with the trauma of seeing the Super Bowl half-time show. Well, a week has passed. The snow has melted, the half-time show has faded from memory, and I’m ready to start posting again. And what better way to prove it than with a new edition of Lisa Marie’s Favorite Grindhouse and Exploitation Trailers?

1) The Streetfighter

Earlier today, when I was talking about which trailers I was thinking of including in this edition, Jeff asked me if I had included any Sonny Chiba trailers. The way he asked the question seemed to indicate that it was the most important thing he had ever asked so, understandably, I was a little nervous when I answered, “N-no, I don’t think so.”

Well, apparently, that wasn’t the right answer because Jeff’s eyes just about popped out of his head and he’s lucky that he’s s0 cute because I might otherwise have taken his reaction personally. Instead of taking offense, I’m going to start this edition off with Sonny Chiba in The Streetfighter.

2) House of Whipcord

This one is from one of the great, unacknowledged directors of British cinema, Peter Walker. I think it’s always strange for Americans to hear grindhouse dialogue being delivered in an English accent.

3) Witchery

This is a trailer for an Italian film that is also known as “House 4,” “Witchcraft,” “Ghost House,” and “Demons 5.” In Italy, it was promoted as a sequel to Sam Raimi’s Evil Dead 2. For all I know, they may have tried to sell this as an installment in the Zombi series as well. I saw this film a few years ago when I was first starting to explore the world of Italian horror and oh my God, it gave me nightmares. Seriously, don’t let the presence of David Hasselhoff fool you. This is a disturbing movie that was produced (and some day actually directed) by the infamous Joe D’Amato.

Apparently, the trailer is disturbing as well as I tried to show it to my sister Erin earlier and she asked me stop it around the time the gentleman with the weird mouth showed up.

4) Fighting Mad

“Even a peaceful man…can get fighting mad!” Peter Fonda looked good playing archer. This is an early film from Jonathan Demme who directed one of my favorite films ever, Rachel Getting Married.

5) Rollercoaster

I’m scared to death of rollercoasters so I probably won’t be seeing this film anytime soon. Still this film has a surprisingly good cast — George Segal, Richard Widmark, Henry Fonda — for a movie about a rollercoaster.

6) Big Bad Mama

Not to be confused with Crazy Mama or Bloody Mama, Big Bad Mama features Angie Dickinson, Tom Skerritt, William Shatner, and a lot of tommy guns. It’s not a great film but it is a lot more fun than Public Enemies.