HARD TIMES

Walter Hill’s debut is also known as The Streetfighter, which aptly describes the story of Depression-era drifter Charles Bronson, star pugilist for promoter James Coburn. Yet Hard Times better captures the film’s mood, with Hill looking beyond exploitation-pic barriers to survey the culture and economics of the bare-knuckle business. Hill’s lean direction wastes nothing, with plenty to admire in the fight choreography, period detail and the stars’ chemistry, even if the film is stolen by veteran Strother Martin as a dandified medic. Simon Kinnear