Hard Eight

Name: Hard Eight
Genre: Drama, Thriller, Crime
Released: February 28, 1997
Duration: 101 min
Rating: 78
Cast: John C. Reilly, Philip Baker Hall

1997

METASCORE

Generally favorable reviews based on 14 Critic Reviews

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USER SCORE

Generally favorable reviews based on 80 Ratings

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6.6

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6.6	Your Score
6.6	User Score Generally favorable reviews based on 80 Ratings

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Hard Eight

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Movie Details & Credits

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM) | Release Date: February 28, 1997 | R

Starring: John C. Reilly, Philip Baker Hall

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 whenSydney (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 when slick casino pro Jimmy (Jackson) threatens to reveal a secret from Sydney's past that could destroy his relationship with the newlyweds, Sydney decides to hedge his bets and not leave anything to chance. (Sony)… Expand

Director: Paul Thomas Anderson

Genre(s): Drama, Thriller, Crime

Rating: R

Runtime: 101 min

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Metascore

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Critic Reviews

100

Keith Phipps

One of the best films of the year. Read full review

100

John Anderson

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. Read full review

Jonathan Rosenbaum

Impressive for its lean and unblemished storytelling, but even more so for its performances. Read full review

Owen Gleiberman

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. Read full review

Mike Clark

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]

James Berardinelli

There's something almost hypnotic about the way Hard Eight develops -- even in its slowest, most tedious moments, it keeps our attention. Read full review

Ruthe Stein

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. Read full review

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User Reviews

DrBlahBlah

Apr 26, 2021

An underrated gem from PTA, with great characters and a memorable lead. Not as great as future films but a solid first effort.

0 of 1 users found this helpful01

Justinavery7074

Apr 7, 2011

**** 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.

1 of 1 users found this helpful10

amheretojudge

May 6, 2018

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 goodyou 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.… Expand

1 of 1 users found this helpful10

JLuis_001

Oct 16, 2017

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 theIt 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.… Expand

0 of 0 users found this helpful00

Spangle

Feb 7, 2014

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, itReally 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.… Expand

0 of 0 users found this helpful00

NickTheCritick

Nov 3, 2021

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.

0 of 0 users found this helpful00

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14	#14 Best Movie of 1997
74	#74 Most Discussed Movie of 1997
40	#40 Most Shared Movie of 1997