BY DARREN ALLISON
In a
2014 interview with Robert Markowitz, Walter Hill stated ‘I think in casual
conversation I would have told anybody I wanted to direct. At the same time I
knew Hollywood was a closed off place...’ Working as a script writer, Hill
began climbing his way up after working on the script for Hickey & Boggs
(1972). He was then asked by Peter Bogdanovich
to co-write The Getaway (1972), a movie he was lined up to direct with Steve
McQueen. Whilst the script was in its early stages, McQueen fired Bogdanovich
from the project and immediately enlisted Sam Peckinpah to replace him. However,
Walter Hill was given the chance to stay on and instructed to begin rewriting
the script fresh from page one. Six weeks later the script was complete and the
film went on to become a major success. A slice of good fortune perhaps for
Hill, but he still maintains that it was the success of The Getaway that
ultimately determined how he came to be a director. Hollywood may had been
closed off, but it provided Hill with a rare opportunity. In 1973, Hill began
writing the script for Paul Newman’s The Mackintosh Man. It was also the same
year he met producer Lawrence Gordon. Following differences during the writing
of The Drowning Pool (1975), Newman’s revival of private eye Lew Harper, Gordon
invited Hill to Columbia in order to write his next film, Hard Times (1975). Gordon
also agreed that should Hill decide to write the script he would also allow him
to direct the movie.
Whilst
Hill would later come to be known as a great action auteur, he made a rather
wonderful debut with this pulp triumph. Not only would it conjure an evocative
period atmosphere, but also boast memorable performances from both Charles
Bronson and James Coburn.
Bronson
plays a drifter suddenly caught up in the fight game during the Great
Depression. Chaney, a down-on-his-luck loner, hops a freight train to New
Orleans where, on the seedier side of town, he tries to make some quick money
the only way he knows how - with his fists. Chaney approaches a hustler named
Speed (James Coburn) and convinces him that he can win big money for them both.
Hard
Times still holds up extremely well andBronson keeps his performance low key whilst
maintaining the strong, silent tough guy persona. Bronson was in his fifties
when he took on this role, which did concern Walter Hill to a certain degree.
Nevertheless, Bronson’s Chaney still presents an imposing figure - lean,
chiselled and certainly still got the moves. However, it’s Coburn’s Speed that
almost steals the show. It’s a wonderful, if somewhat sleazy portrayal. For
Speed it’s just about the money, Cold and ruthless, he’s a character who likes
to spend many as fast as he can get it. In many respects it is Bronson who
helps elevate Coburn’s performance – simply because he allows him so much.
Bronson was never going to outwit or outtalk Coburn in the dialogue department;
instead Bronson uses his fists or general physicality in order to convey his
talking. It’s a nicely balanced pay off that works perfectly well and shines on
screen. Strother Martin is also worthy of mentioning as Poe, the ‘cut man’ who
completes the team between hustler and bruiser. Always a classy character
actor, Martin seems to provide a magnetic quality every time he appears on
screen. Jill Ireland again plays
Bronson’s love interest, at Bronson’s request as I believe. Her character of Lucy
is rather one dimensional and adds very little to the overall narrative. It
could have arguably been eliminated completely without ever really upsetting
the nicely paced flow of the film. Hill would later comment that he removed a
great deal of her scenes in the final edit, much to Bronson’s disapproval.