Movies

HARD TIMES and the Charles Bronson Exhibit April 1st at Schlafly Bottleworks

By Tom Stockman | March 17, 2015

“I suppose you’ve been down the long, hard road?”
“Who hasn’t?”

You never know what’s brewing at Webster University’s Strange Brew cult film series. It’s always the first Wednesday evening of every month, and they always come up with some cult classic to show while enjoying some good food and great suds. The fun happens at Schlafly Bottleworks Restaurant and Bar in Maplewood (7260 Southwest Ave.- at Manchester – Maplewood, MO 63143).

This month, they’re brewing up some Bronson! HARD TIMES screens at Schlafly Bottleworks Wednesday, April 1^st as part of Webster University’s ‘Strange Brew’ Film Series. The ‘Charles Bronson Exhibit’, a collection of movie paper, figures, models kits, toys, and other odd memorabilia will be on display that night at Schlafly.

No one could touch Charles Bronson in terms of global popularity throughout the 1970’s and HARD TIMES (1975) was his best film from that decade (my favorite for cinema, the only films from the ‘70s I would personally rate above HARD TIMES are TAXI DRIVER, TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE, and THE GODFATHER). Director Walter Hill made a remarkably earthy and entertaining film about illegal fighting in Depression-era New Orleans. HARD TIMES, whose succinct tag line read “New Orleans 1933, in those days words didn’t buy much”, perfectly exploits Bronson’s granite presence and is a concise, almost mythical celebration of men who only communicate with their fists. Bronson played Chaney, a hardened loner who hops off a boxcar in New Orleans where he tries to score some quick cash the only way he knows how – with his fists. He teams up with Speed (James Coburn), who acts as his manager, who sets up the fights, which are are all-out and bare-knuckle, held in warehouses and alleys and open by invitation to men with cash to wager.

Seemingly authentic, rather than over-choreographed, the fight scenes in HARD TIMES are expertly staged and framed by Hill, especially the film’s centerpiece; an underground match in a steel-mesh cage between Bronson and a grinning goon named ‘Skinhead’ played by Robert ‘Mr. Clean’ Tessier. HARD TIMES was the directorial debut for Hill, who had written THE GETAWAY for his friend, director Sam Peckinpah, and would go on to helm some of the smartest action films of the late ‘70s and ‘80s including THE WARRIORS, THE LONG RIDERS, 48 HOURS, and STREETS OF FIRE. Hill said in interviews that enjoyed his experience with Bronson and wanted to work with the star again. But Hill made the mistake of criticizing the performance of Bronson’s wife Jill Ireland, who had a minor role as a hooker who earns Chaney’s affection (at this point, if a producer wanted Bronson, they had to have Jill too – the couple made 15 films together!). Bronson was not thin-skinned, just protective enough of his wife that he refused to work with Hill again because of the sleight, which is too bad because the director’s economic action sensibilities are perfectly in tune with the scruffy street dignity Bronson was capable of and the pair could have made some great films together.

The HARD TIMES cast includes Strother Martin as an opium-hooked doctor, James Coburn as Speed, Chaney’s manager, Ben Johnson, Bruce Glover, and the great Nick Dimitri as Street, Chaney’s final foe. These vets all bring their A-game but it’s Bronson, whose expression never changes, that commands all the attention. Bronson’s Chaney is a man of few words and no past and it’s perhaps his most fitting role. Acclaimed in 1975, HARD TIMES is the perfect Charles Bronson movie for people who claim not to like Charles Bronson movies and even critics who had previously overlooked Bronson’s abilities were impressed.

I saw HARD TIMES in 1975 when it was new, riding my bike at 13 to the Des Peres 4 theater with some friends. In the summer of 1978 I attended wrestling camp at the University of Missouri and one night for entertainment, we were screened a 16mm print of HARD TIMES. I now have my own 16mm print of HARD TIME and also an 18-minute Super-8 condensed version of the film that I’ve shown at my monthly Super-8 Movie Madness show. It’s printed on black-and-white stock and dubbed into German, but it still gets the crowd worked upped. When the gang at the Webster University Film Series suggested I choose a film to show at their monthly ‘Strange Brew’ Cult movie series at Schlafly Bottleworks in Maplewood, I knew immediately that HARD TIMES would be my choice. It’s the film in my ‘Top Ten of All Time’ list that I have not seen on the big screen in the longest time. Don’t miss HARD TIMES when it screens at Schlafly Bottleworks Wednesday, April 1^st at Schlafly Bottleworks Restaurant and Bar in Maplewood (7260 Southwest Ave.- at Manchester – Maplewood, MO 63143). The movie starts at 8pm and admission is $5. A yummy variety of food from Schlafly’s kitchen is available as are plenty of pints of their famous home-brewed beer.