X
- 1997
- R
- Goldwyn Films
- 1 h 42 m
- 1997
- R
- Goldwyn Films
- 1 h 42 m
Summary Sydney (Hall) is a poker-faced professional gambler with a soft heart for a hard luck story. He plays guardian angel to unlucky John (Reilly) and a hooker, Clementine (Paltrow), whom he grows to love like family. When John's and Clementine's honeymoon night leads to a disastrous hostage situation, Sydney takes care of it, as usual. But w...
Directed By: Paul Thomas Anderson
Written By: Paul Thomas Anderson
- 1997
- R
- Goldwyn Films
- 1 h 42 m
- 1997
- R
- Goldwyn Films
- 1 h 42 m
Hard Eight
78
6.7
Where to Watch
Summary Sydney (Hall) is a poker-faced professional gambler with a soft heart for a hard luck story. He plays guardian angel to unlucky John (Reilly) and a hooker, Clementine (Paltrow), whom he grows to love like family. When John's and Clementine's honeymoon night leads to a disastrous hostage situation, Sydney takes care of it, as usual. But w...
Directed By: Paul Thomas Anderson
Written By: Paul Thomas Anderson
Where to Watch
Top Cast
Metascore
Generally Favorable
Based on 14 Critic Reviews
78
86% Positive
12 Reviews
12 Reviews
7% Mixed
1 Review
1 Review
7% Negative
1 Review
1 Review
Metascore
Generally Favorable
Based on 14 Critic Reviews
78
86% Positive
12 Reviews
12 Reviews
7% Mixed
1 Review
1 Review
7% Negative
1 Review
1 Review
Anderson, who makes as impressive a directing debut as has been seen in some time, creates a perfectly modulated mystery that doesn't even feel like one. It's a character play, and Hall, Reilly and Paltrow are so convincingly damaged they take on the properties of fine china.
Four excellent lead performances, vividly evoked ambience and a masterfully sustained mood of quiet desperation mark Sydney as an impressive piece of work.
User Score
Generally Favorable
Based on 93 User Ratings
6.7
71% Positive
66 Ratings
66 Ratings
17% Mixed
16 Ratings
16 Ratings
12% Negative
11 Ratings
11 Ratings
User Score
Generally Favorable
Based on 93 User Ratings
6.7
71% Positive
66 Ratings
66 Ratings
17% Mixed
16 Ratings
16 Ratings
12% Negative
11 Ratings
11 Ratings
An underrated gem from PTA, with great characters and a memorable lead. Not as great as future films but a solid first effort.
Report
**** is this movie great. There are only a few number of filmakers that have a flawless track record. And PT Anderson is definitely one of those. Because this film has some great characters. ANd it has everything that Ocean's Eleven should've had.
Report
Movies like Hard Eight remind me of what original, compelling characters the movies can sometimes give us.
Writer-director Paul Thomas Anderson crafts a plot of manipulation and chance, in which some zigs and zags are more convincing than others. Still, his feel for scuzz, for people living at the raw extremes of appetite, is palpable.
We accept the sincerity and altruistic motives of the aging loner he (Philip Baker Hall) portrays in this consciously spare Nevada-set sleeper. [13 March 1997, p. 8D]
The plot is bare-bones stuff, weak in story line and bereft of motivation.
Noirish thrillers live or die by their plot twists and dialogue -- talk literally being cheap compared to action shots. Unfortunately, the script by first-time filmmaker Paul Thomas Anderson fails on both counts.
you get the money up front..
Hard Eight
The feature is scattered among few dramatic and chaotic sequences that upbeats its scale to a whole new level with enough material to feed the audience for around 100 minutes of its runtime. Its a rare character driven feature that has quiet a good pace that holds the audience on the edge of their seat which usually isn't the case. Paul Thomas Anderson aces on creating such amusing characters that tackles their way up and through his knockout execution skills, he has got this round covered. Philip Baker Hall has done some of his career's best work amng other cast that has thoroughly supported him like John C. Riley, Gwyneth Paltrow and Samuel L. Jackson. Hard Eight hits hard and fast and knocks it right out of the park where despite of having brilliant performance on its side, the feature endorses Paul Thomas Anderson and its skills that is visible all over the screen.
Report
This is a classic 90' movie that includes a lot of dine-in restaurants meeting scenes, some swearing and gambling, and a lot of smoking. lol
I did like all the actors in the movie, the way they act and talk to each other felt natural but the story was missing a much better ending than that, while the story revealed some twist at the end and i was looking for more thing from the movie but it suddenly ends! I still don't know what the movie was all about exactly but from what i understood is he was missing the love and affection of his children (he kinda gave a hint while talking to Clementine) and also was looking for some forgiveness for what he had done in the past so he wanted to compensate that by looking after the lost man he met at the begging. however, this movie deserves way better ending.
Overall i enjoyed sitting late at night watching it and i definitely would recommend it.
Report
It was a long time ago when I watched this film and without a doubt still a different film in PT Anderson's career because it does not feel like the rest of his filmography and yet it was a solid movie in which he got great performances from its cast in spite of the small deficiencies of the script.
It was a great debut and certainly a must stop for any fan of his work.
Report
Really well done. Amazing to think that this was Paul Thomas Anderson's first effort, because he handles everything like a grisled vet in this. The film was slow, but built up nicely and the characters were all marvelously crafted. Main complaint were that while it was really well done, it never really made that "jump". I think this one could have been even better, but it seemed content being what it was and was relatively safe all around. In addition, I just never really bought into John C. Reilly's performance. All of the other performances were great, but his stood out to me as something that just did not quite fit with the rest of the film.
Report
This movie is a thrilling and entertaining road movie but it denotes a still acerb Paul Thomas Anderson that is not fully aware of his immense skills as director yet. In many parts of the movie I feel like it is not even directed by PTA and it's like someonebelse decided the editing.
Report
Awards
Film Independent Spirit Awards
• 5 Nominations
Boston Society of Film Critics Awards
• 1 Win & 1 Nomination
Los Angeles Film Critics Association Awards
• 1 Win & 1 Nomination
