Professional gambler Sydney teaches John the tricks of the trade. John does well until he falls for cocktail waitress Clementine.
John has lost all his money. He sits outside a diner in the desert when Sydney happens along, buys him coffee, then takes him to Reno and shows him how to get a free room without losing much money. Under Sydney's fatherly tutelage, John becomes a successful small-time professional gambler, and all is well, until he falls for Clementine, a cocktail waitress and sex worker.
The debut of PTA (There Will Be Blood, The Master), presented on 35mm!
"This first feature by writer-director Paul Thomas Anderson is impressive for its lean and unblemished storytelling, but even more so for its performances." - Jonathan Rosenbaum, Chicago Reader
"Movies like Hard Eight remind me of what original, compelling characters the movies can sometimes give us." - Roger Ebert
"Gamblers live for the moment - for the next bet, the one that will take them over the top - and this gilt-edged noir contraption is an enjoyable wallow in life-is-a-craps-table existentialism." - Entertainment Weekly