PTA: Hard Eight
September 20 - 25, 2025
The Modern Mastery of Paul Thomas Anderson
Paul Thomas Anderson's debut is a deceptively modest character piece about a veteran gambler who takes a much younger man under his wing and teaches him how to play the system and win. Until things take a darker turn...
In Hard Eight, John Finnegan (John C. Reilly) is homeless and sitting outside a diner in Sparks, Nevada when he encounters Sydney Brown (Philip Baker Hall), an older man and professional gambler. Sydney offers to help John win money and takes him under his wing. But the question emerges, why is he doing so?
- Director: Paul Thomas Anderson
- Principal Cast: John C. Reilly, Philip Baker Hall, Gwyneth Paltrow, Samuel L. Jackson, Philip Seymour Hoffman
- Country: USA
- Year: 1996
- Running Time: 102 min.
- Producer: Robert Jones, John Lyons
- Screenplay: Paul Thomas Anderson
- Cinematographers: Robert Elswit
- Editors: Barbara Tulliver
- Filmography: Debut Feature Film
- Language: English
- Rating: R
- US Distributor: Paramount