The Hard Goodnight: Texas at the Movies

The Hard Goodnight begins as a scene in the fictional film The Hell Bent Kid. In a stereotypical western town from the days of cattle drives and saloon shootouts, the attention to detail over the top but extremely comforting to a viewer familiar with the works of John Wayne and Clint Eastwood. And the cliches are clearly a comfort for our main character, stuntman Willim S. Holly, who is obsessed with the classic westerns.

The introduction to the Hell Bent Kid gives the audience an idea of where this film is going. Lots of great western archetypes, fantastic music choices, and atmospheric landscapes litter the screen throughout the brief runtime. The Hard Goodnight is a love letter to all things film and how the art of moviemaking continues to endure.

In the present day, William S. Holly is struggling to keep the doors open to his movie theater and longs for the days when he was working in Hollywood. Holly has very few comforts in his life: his movies, his friend Bo, and booze. Bo is extremely determined to help his friend out even if that means befriending local neo-Nazis to save Holly’s theater from foreclosure. Making a deal with the white devil is not something Holly is comfortable with, but he is very desperate. His hangovers are getting worse, his arthritis renders his right hand almost entirely useless, and he is being forced to vacate his beloved theater by the end of the week.

The new to town neo-Nazis are led by a blonde man who calls himself Charlie. Charlie knows that Holly loves his theater and wouldn’t miss the opportunity to be the cowboy he used to play in the movies a lifetime ago. With a mountain of debt surrounding him, Holly simply can’t help himself when Charlie asks him if the hell bent kid wants to have one last hurrah. Reluctantly he begins to prepare the great robbery the nazis have planned. That great robbery? Taking cash from choir boys as they move it from their church to another location.

Just as in some of the classic westerns, the robbery that was supposed to be a simple cash grab has turned into a life-altering ordeal. The screen switches from a warm and oversaturated look to the grayscale black and white seen in old monster movies as the neo-nazis invade the train. While Holly imagines himself a cowboy on the right side of life, he is willing to align himself with literal monsters of the real world in order to save his classic movie theater.

Holly seems like a simple man that wants to quietly run his theater and show the world the films that he has always loved. However, the films he love also remind him of his checkered past and seem to be a constant source of regret and ache that he bears every day. We know something happened with his old co-star, but it’s never quite clear and Holly never wants to discuss it. Brief flashbacks in black and white give the same tense feeling we see during the robbery scene, yet it’s also more familiar and the light has a softer glow compared to the harsh black and white of the doomed robbery.

While light and color are a massive part of setting the tone for The Hard Goodnight, the notable music choices help with painting the whole picture. A classic Rolling Stones track fills the room of the dive bar when Holly and Bo first meet the neo-nazis, and Van Morrison’s leathery voice sings over the action of the violent shootout that feels more than justified. Music is clearly a driver of plot and tone and director Seth Magana has a great ear for song selection for his scenes.

A love of music is not the only apparent passion seen in Magana’s feature length debut. Magana’s love of film is portrayed clearly both through the character of Holly as well as the physical location of Holly’s theater. The neon lights warm the streets on a gloomy night beckoning visitors to check out the latest screening. The reel of film on the projector feels like a warm hug and the red velvet of the seats feel like all you need in that moment.

During the film we see Holly sweeping up the sidewalk in front of his theater. This seems to feel like a familiar comfort to him as he makes his theater as clean as it can be as if he’s sweeping away the dirt and grit of his own past and he tries to move on with his life. The neo-nazis reel his dark past back in and we find Holly at a crossroads that he can’t run from. By returning to the Nazis' saloon there's a clear parallel between the character he once played on screen and his own life. He arrives hell bent to deliver justice he can finally be at peace with his life and how he lived it.

Given that this is Magana’s first feature length debut there’s no doubt the Texas filmmaker will bring some new and exciting ideas to the big screen. The love of movies, music, and Texas make this film a great watching experience, and I know that this young director has a bright future ahead.