Hard Eight

Sydney

United States

1996

102 Min

Color

2.35:1

English

Currently 3.7/5 Stars.
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EXEC Hans Brockmann, François Duplat, Keith Samples

PROD Robert Jones, John S. Lyons

CAST Philip Baker Hall, John C. Reilly, Gwyneth Paltrow, Samuel L. Jackson, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Melora Walters

SOUND Richard King, Jeffrey R. Payne

Sundance (American Spectrum), Cannes (Un Certain Regard), San Sebastián (American Way of Death)

Synopsis

Sydney (Philip Baker Hall – Midnight Run) is a poker-faced professional gambler with a soft heart for a hard luck story. He plays guardian angel to unlucky John (John C. Reilly – Days of Thunder) and a hooker, Clementine (Gwyneth Paltrow – Seven), 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 (Samuel L. Jackson – Pulp Fiction) 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 Pictures

Director

Paul Thomas Anderson

With his 1997 film Boogie Nights, then-27-year-old director Paul Thomas Anderson took his place on the list of Hollywood wunderkinds. Boogie Nights was hailed by one critic as the first great film about the ‘70s to come out since the ’70s. Anderson was born in Studio City, California, on January 1, 1970. After a brief stint as an English major at Emerson College and an even shorter stint at the New York University Film School, Anderson began his career as a production assistant on various TV movies, videos, and game shows in Los Angeles and New York. In 1992, he made his short Cigarettes & Coffee, and after it was screened at the 1993 Sundance Festival, he made his first full-length feature, Sydney — retitled Hard Eight, which despite its ’A’ festival recognition went unnoticed by the audiences. Later on Anderson did Boogie Nights, which received three Oscar and two Golden Globe nominations,and was widely hailed as one of the best films of the year, if not the decade. His next film… read more

With his 1997 film Boogie Nights, then-27-year-old director Paul Thomas Anderson took his place on the list of Hollywood wunderkinds. Boogie Nights was hailed by one critic as the first great film about the ‘70s to come out since the ’70s. Anderson was born in Studio City, California, on January 1, 1970. After a brief stint as an English major at Emerson College and an even shorter stint at the New York University Film School, Anderson began his career as a production assistant on various TV movies, videos, and game shows in Los Angeles and New York. In 1992, he made his short Cigarettes & Coffee, and after it was screened at the 1993 Sundance Festival, he made his first full-length feature, Sydney — retitled Hard Eight, which despite its ’A’ festival recognition went unnoticed by the audiences. Later on Anderson did Boogie Nights, which received three Oscar and two Golden Globe nominations,and was widely hailed as one of the best films of the year, if not the decade. His next film, Magnolia (1999) was an ensemble film of epic length, and featured performances by Philip Seymour Hoffman, John C. Reilly, Philip Baker Hall, William H. Macy, Tom Cruise and Julianne Moore; centered around themes of love, death, abandonment, and familial estrangement. hough it turned up on a slew of 10-best lists and secured Oscar nods for Cruise, Aimee Mann’s original song “Save Me”, and Anderson’s screenplay, Magnolia’s three-hour-and-twenty-minute running time scared off audiences, and the film failed to break even Boogie Nights’ $25 million tally.

Later on, his next film Punch Drunk Love, an off-kilter fusion of ‘50s Technicolor musical, extortion thriller, and the real-life tale of one man’s pudding compulsion, was premiered at the 2002 Cannes Film Festival, nabbing its creator a tie for the Best Director prize, while the film petered out at the box office after a promising limited-release run. Allegedly suffering from some burnout after the lack of public response to Punch Drunk Love, Anderson took a job assisting one of his idols, Robert Altman, while he directed his final film, A Prairie Home Companion. This process reinvigoratd him to some degree and Anderson returned to screens in 2007 with There Will Be Blood, a loose adaptation of Upton Sinclair’s novel Oil. The story of an oilman (Daniel Day-Lewis) whose misanthropy and desire for success costs him his humanity opened to thunderous critical praise and was one of the two films to dominate the year end critics and industry awards. Anderson was cited for numerous writing and directing awards including Oscar nominations for each of those categories.

(From http://www.allmovie.com/cg/avg.dll?p=avg&sql=2:231996)

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