I still recall the TV ads for "Hard Times," which promised what I imagined would be a decent, fisticuff-studded B-movie, but nothing memorable. I can't even recall if I saw this picture back in '75, so why can't I stop watching it now? Maybe it's the realistic, movie-exciting fights (real fights are so much slower placed and less interesting), maybe it's Bronson, who actually has the physique of a terror-of-the-bare-knuckle ring, even if he's long in the tooth. Maybe it's the dead-on character portrayals from James Coburn, as Bronson's slick, snide, exasperating "manager," from Strother Martin as the ring doc who disappeared from medical school "under a cloud," from Jill Ireland as Bronson's down-but-not-out girlfriend, from Robert Tessier as bare-knuckle champion Big Jim Henry, from huge, imposing movie stuntman Nick Dimitri, as Bronson's final and most formidable ring opponent and from the other actors who play an assortment of characters caught up in the seamy New Orleans underworld. Bronson delivers not just punches but a winning performance and all these elements come together to make not just a fine fight film but an insightful portrait of some Depression-era New Orleans denizens, brought together by a mysterious hobo and boxer, who literally can't be beat.
Whatever my sympathies for the cast, script and story line, special kudos have to go to the fight scenes, which progress from brief but powerful to the final, full-fledged battles against Big Jim Henry and the intimidating kick-boxer played by Dimitri. Having watched every fight film I could find over the years and being a lifelong boxing fan to boot, Hard Times has, in my opinion, the best and most realistic fight scenes ever filmed. The brawl with Jim Henry shows how hand speed, left-right-left combinations and pure punching power can destroy a much larger opponent, while the final, epic battle with Dimitri's character is the sine qua non of movie fights, so real it'll make your stomach tighten, but staged in good taste, with just enough blood to make it pass for the real thing. This one's a sleeper - and a winner
Whatever my sympathies for the cast, script and story line, special kudos have to go to the fight scenes, which progress from brief but powerful to the final, full-fledged battles against Big Jim Henry and the intimidating kick-boxer played by Dimitri. Having watched every fight film I could find over the years and being a lifelong boxing fan to boot, Hard Times has, in my opinion, the best and most realistic fight scenes ever filmed. The brawl with Jim Henry shows how hand speed, left-right-left combinations and pure punching power can destroy a much larger opponent, while the final, epic battle with Dimitri's character is the sine qua non of movie fights, so real it'll make your stomach tighten, but staged in good taste, with just enough blood to make it pass for the real thing. This one's a sleeper - and a winner