HARD EIGHT A film review by David N. Butterworth Copyright 2000 David N. Butterworth
*** (out of ****)
Re-released unceremoniously to cash in on the success--or perhaps more descriptively the ensemble chic--of P.T. Anderson's "Magnolia," "Hard Eight" is writer/director Paul Thomas Anderson's first feature of four years ago about a professional gambler (Philip Baker Hall, the game show host in "Magnolia") with a penchant for taking lost souls under his wing. In the film's opening scene, Sydney (Hall) approaches what appears to be a bum sitting outside a Nevada rest stop and offers to buy him a cup of coffee. After John (John C. Reilly, the cop in "Magnolia") tells his tale of losing his shirt trying to win enough money to pay for his mother's funeral, Sydney offers to take John back to Reno and show him the tricks of the trade. As he showed with his second film "Boogie Nights" (as well as the one with the frogs), Anderson has a staggering knack for snagging top talent and bringing out their best. In addition to Hall and Reilly, who are very good in the film, there are also appearances by Gwyneth Paltrow as a cocktail waitress/hooker named Clementine and Samuel L. Jackson as a nasty piece of work named Jimmy whom the naïve John befriends against Sydney's better judgment. "Hard Eight" (which, if you're curious, refers to a roll of the dice in craps) is an auspicious debut in the truest sense of the word, an intricate and evocative work filled with Anderson's rich characterizations, huge close-ups, and trademark snappy patter. Can you believe the young upstart actually has the nerve to write Sidney a line of dialogue that begins "My darling Clementine..."? Well he does.
-- David N. Butterworth dnb@dca.net
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