Hard Times (1975)

  This is the directorial debut of Walter Hill, who also co-wrote the film.

Cheney (Charles Bronson) rolls into 1930s New Orleans looking for a fight.  Coincidentally, Speed (James Coburn) is looking for a fighter, both to make money and enact a little personal revenge on a contemporary who embarrassed him.  It is a match made in heaven, as they say.  But Cheney's only planning to make a little money, then bounce, while Speed owes some unscrupulous men a lot of cash.

You don't see this kind of straightforward plot anymore.  There's no twists, no revelations, just "man fights man in underground bareknuckle boxing ring".  It makes the film feel a little more simple, a little old-timey, and very fast.  It's a shade under two hours but it goes by like a blink.

Ah, Coburn and Bronson.  The Jay and Silent Bob of their day.  I love them.  And keep an eye out for Bruce Glover, whose son, Crispin, looks so much like him, it'll make you contemplate cloning.  Hard Times is currently streaming on Tubi.