Hey guys. Just wanted to show everyone one of my latest pickups. It's, of course, the 1999 dvd release of Paul Thomas Anderson's critically acclaimed debut film "Hard Eight" aka "Sydney". I've seen the film on VHS and TV ages ago and it was a real treat to finally be able to watch the film in widescreen format, the way it was intended. The dvd has been out of print for what seems like forever now and it took me a long time to track a copy down. I finally found a copy (used) at a place I do a lot of shopping at, and picked it up for a great price. Highly recommended movie, by the way, and I'm surprised it hasn't been re-released on dvd or even blu-ray yet, any word as of yet of anything like that? Just curious, even though I'm glad to have picked up the 1st oop pressing.

I watched it recently on the Sundance Channel. It was the movie in its entirety - just broken up by commercials.

I thought it was pretty good. It was nice to see Phillip Seymour Hoffman in it - altho his part was pretty small.

I own the DVD and, yes, I wish it would get a HD release.

Hard Eight (1997) is unquestionably my favorite P.T. Anderson film (and I've seen them all). The minimalist approach & storyline was quite compelling. The anonymous urban landscape of casinos, diners on the side of the highway, & motel rooms is used to great effect here. I also liked how the theme of redemption/making up for past sins was explored in the film.

The last scene with Sydney

I'm guessing a lot of people haven't even seen this film due to it's OOP status on DVD, and also since it was PTA's first feature. Here's hoping for a decent Blu release somewhere down the road...

That's a very hard film to find.

I wouldn't be surprised if "Hard Eight" is the first Anderson movie to go Criterion.

It definitely deserves a Criterion release. Extremely underrated flick. I don't think it got much of a theater release when it came out in 1996/1997 either. I never even heard of the film until the 200X's, when I first saw it on DVD.

I got really lucky and found the DVD at a thrift store today for $2.

PTA mentioned on some Reddit he did last year that he is actually trying to get Hard Eight released on Blu-Ray. Isn't sure whether or not it will be Criterion (I think it will be), but he said he's gathering the elements to release it...Just said it's currently on the back-burner...