Hard Eight

Paul Thomas Anderson is among the best filmmakers of his generation. Before he gave us Magnolia, before Boogie Nights, and before There Will be Blood, he showed us what he was made of with his first feature - the understated and fiercely original Hard Eight.

The 1996 movie is set in the Reno, Nevada of its present day, in cut-rate casinos that don't bother with the high-binding gimmickry of the Vegas strip, because they cater to the many millions of low to mid-tier gamblers who want to avoid the tourists looking for a stage show, and get right down to business. The rooms look the same as they did in the 1970s, and probably the same as they do today, because they're built for traffic. They're kept clean and well-staffed, familiar and unobtrusive. Nothing that works ever changes.

The move follows pro gambler Sydney (Philip Baker Hall) and and his somewhat unwitting mentor John (John C. Reilly) as John learns what it takes to become a working pro, and settles in to an identity.

Working Reno gamblers aren't TV poker pros, they're grinders who have the discipline to not chase the thrill of a big win at long odds, and can make a decent living if they stay sharp and humble. The movie mostly backgrounds the gambling particulars as Sydney navigates Reno and John floats along in his wake, lacking the experience that it takes to stay out of trouble.

Gwyneth Paltrow delivers an endearing and credible performance as John's love interest Clementine, whose own impulsiveness brings turmoil to their budding romance, and Samuel L. Jackson plays a very familiar street-wise operator in Jimmy, who mixes in the chaos necessary to get the story moving.

The actors all do great justice to a well-written and understated script that is ultimately about personal morality. Sydney does his level best to embody class and dignity in an environment that is often crass. He also consciously sets an example for John. It isn't initially apparent why he does either of those things, and the character steadily becomes more complex as the story shows his reasons.

The organ and drums driven score and the casino action make this picture feel like a lounge act that sneaks up on a bar crowd who didn't expect to find a band this good in a joint like this. It feels like they should be playing a bigger room somewhere, and might be soon. Anderson, Reilly and Paltrow all went on to great careers as did Philip Seymour Hoffman, whose small role as a craps shooter burned brightly for a single scene, and left the audience wanting more.

Hard Eight, like the Reno casinos that Sydney and John prowl to eke out their livings, is the kind of movie that they just don't make anymore. But they remain, and they endure, because they're built to last.