Five months before Kurt Russell had to ‘Escape from New York’, down south, Kim Basinger was trying to escape from Texas in the blue-collar drama, Hard Country, which was released on Blu-ray even further south in Australia back on February 25th.
It’s about a small-town girl, a story not unfamiliar, with ambitions to get the hell out of Texas to pursue a more fulfilling life, but her factory worker boyfriend, set in his ways, wants nothing more than to stay put.
Hard Country feels like a 70s hangover with its slice-of-life quality and working-class sensibility. Jodie (Kim Basinger), our protagonist, is enlightened to the reality that her prospects as a woman in a highly male-dominated environment are limited. Generations of contentment have taken a firm hold of the locals, who cannot even conceive of a life elsewhere. Kyle, especially Jodie’s boyfriend, played by Jan-Michael Vincent. Struggling to get a promotion at work, Kyle is unhappy but does not let on. He is reluctant to work for his older brother, Royce, despite regular offers, who is a successful but slimy mobile home salesman, played effortlessly by Michael Parks.
Exuding honky-tonk energy, which gives the story a sort of rhythm, the film overall is not critical of the way of life that’s presented, but rather champions those who have the strength to decide it’s one that isn’t working for them and have the courage to follow through on their dream. That may sound corny, but Hard Country does it in a way that’s subtle and very relatable.
Jodie is a strongly written character by Michael Kane, country singer-songwriter, Michael Martin Murphey and director, David Greene, who manages to coax an equally strong performance from Kim Basinger, in what was her feature film debut after a string of television appearances. It was also Greene’s last feature directorial effort before returning to his television roots. Jan-Michael Vincent was a prolific star during the 70s and while many might say that he had peaked at this point, I think he turns in a signature performance.
SPECIAL FEATURES
- NEW Video essay on the work of director David Greene by filmmaker Chris O’Neill
Despite not much focus on Hard Country itself, Chris O’Neill’s video essay is a highly interesting exploration of English-born director David Greene’s filmography. Spanning both television and film, O’Neill is generally mindful of spoilers, so don’t feel hesitant to watch. You’ll likely come away with a small watchlist of underrated classics to seek out.
VIDEO AND AUDIO
Hard Country was released previously on Blu-ray in the United States and Canada back in 2017. Almost a decade later, Imprint have used the same 1080p presentation in 1.78:1, which holds up well. It’s not perfect, but the raw quality of the HD scan suits the film’s working-class grit and the dry Texas setting. The LPCM 2.0 track gives the country soundtrack a sharp crack while providing solid dialogue volume. English HOH subtitles are included.
Now that Hard Country is readily available again in HD, I hope that collectors and fans of the genre help this classic find a new audience, because it certainly deserves to be seen. Naturally, with Imprint Films, copies are limited to 1500 and at present it can still be purchased online.
HARD COUNTRY
(1981, director: David Greene)
★★★★
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direct blu-ray screen captures
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