Hard Eight

Film history is the story of films constantly building on one another. If one contemporary director knows this, it’s Paul Thomas Anderson, PTA for professional purposes. In PTA & HIS MASTERS we take a look at the unofficial filmic predecessors of Paul Thomas Anderson. We place the director – arguably one of the most important directors of his generation – next to the influences he unabashedly cites in his work. In PTA & HIS MASTERS we link HARD EIGHT to Jean-Pierre Melville’s BOB LE FLAMBEUR.

The story goes that PTA only needed two days attending the NYU film course to realise that he could think of better ways to spend his money. He dropped out and used the tuition fee to make the short film COFFEE & CIGARETTES (1993). His first feature film HARD EIGHT is based on this short film. PTA’s experience with creating his first feature length film turned out to be a great schooling in what it really means to make a movie. His film, which PTA had initially titled SYDNEY, was re-cut by the studio Rysher Entertainment and was retitled HARD EIGHT. After many talks, PTA was allowed to release his own cut of the film, but only using the new title. “Making the best possible movie is only half the job when being a director,” PTA said about that experience. “The other half is dealing with all the egos involved.”

HARD EIGHT follows veteran gambler Sydney (Philip Baker Hall) in Reno, who knows all the tricks of the trade. He meets the destitute John (John C. Reilly) in a diner in the desert and takes him under his wings. Under the tutelage of surrogate father Sydney, John becomes a successful professional gambler. But Sydney’s involvement in John’s life doesn’t stop there. He helps him to forge a relationship with waitress Clementine (Gwyneth Paltrow) as well. However, their happiness is short-lived when bad friends and unforeseen circumstances interfere with their future.

PTA’s first feature didn’t come out of nowhere. He was inspired by French master Jean-Pierre Melville’s BOB LE FLAMBEUR, about career gambler Bob who teaches his surrogate son the ropes. This classic heist movie doesn’t only shape HARD EIGHT on a narrative level, but in terms of style as well. You can almost see scenes from BOB LE FLAMBEUR continue in HARD EIGHT. For example Bob’s protégé is addressed in a bar about how much he acts like Bob. In HARD EIGHT Sydney is the one who’s told how much John mimics him. “We share the same tastes, I guess”, he responds. Much like in HARD EIGHT, Bob also takes in a young woman and the woman and Bob’s surrogate son fall in love. In terms of style, PTA conjures up a vibraphone player in the casino lounge HARD EIGHT who seems to have run out of BOB LE FLAMBEUR. Even the design of HARD EIGHT’s film poster is based on the style of BOB LE FLAMBEUR. And the French gangster film starts with the diegetic sound of church bells whereas HARD EIGHT ends with Jon Brion’s Clementine’s Loop, featuring bell sounds. In short: Bob ‘le flambeur’ walked so Sydney could run.