Hard Time (film)

Plot

After chasing two thieves who stole a briefcase, Miami cop and Vietnam vet Logan McQueen is knocked down. One thief takes his gun and shoots the other, Pepe. Jailed during the investigation, Logan gets bail from the mob, who want the missing money from the briefcase. Believing a fellow officer set him up, Logan uses the mob's deal to uncover the truth.

Production

After his role in Boogie Nights, Burt Reynolds took a TNT offer to star in three TV movies, directing one himself. Though the stories take place in Florida, they were filmed in Los Angeles to save money. Reynolds said he liked the movie because it shows a character with firm beliefs about capital punishment changing his mind, a trait he saw in his own father, Burt Sr. He renamed the character from Conrad Logan to Logan McQueen as a tribute to Steve McQueen, whom he called complicated and underrated. Reynolds enjoyed the directing experience.

Hard Time: Hostage Hotel

Hard Time: Hostage Hotel, also released under the title Hide and Seek, is a 1999 American film that serves as the third and final installment of the Hard Time series. It also marked the last directorial effort of Hal Needham, who passed away in 2013. The story begins with Detective Charlie Duffy, despite an unresolved rift between them, persuading Detective Logan McQueen to assist in capturing fugitive Sy Harkin. Their rescue attempt fails, leading to a shootout and leaving the characters Flynn and Duffy in need of another paying job.

Meanwhile, Congressman Robert Sinclair is delivering a speech in the ballroom of an aging hotel undergoing renovations. His wife Susan and daughter Justine are taken hostage by Vietnam veterans Corporal Arlin Flynn and Kenny. Kenny detonates explosives in the ballroom, killing the audience, though Sinclair manages to escape. Flynn insists on negotiating exclusively through Duffy, who had previously helped him get out of jail.

The FBI attempts a rescue but is eliminated by a series of booby traps hidden throughout the hotel. Duffy follows Flynn’s instructions to a meeting point but is knocked unconscious when Flynn discovers he is wearing a wire. Logan arrives just in time to witness Susan’s aide, Ricki Stewart, being thrown from a hotel window to her death. Higgs secures weapons, and he and Logan enter the hotel through a basement window, but their walkie-talkie communications with Captain Waters are overheard by both the FBI and the criminals.

Logan bursts into the room as Flynn is about to throw Justine out the window. Duffy shoots Kenny, and Logan pursues Flynn through the hotel’s underground tunnels, navigating booby traps labeled in Vietnamese. Logan offers to help Flynn with his war trauma, but Flynn refuses and detonates explosives, killing himself. Logan dives to safety, saving himself and Justine.

The cast includes Burt Reynolds as Logan McQueen, Charles Durning as Charlie Duffy, Keith Carradine as Arlin Flynn, Kevin Durand as Kenny, Michael Buie as Higgs, David Rasche as Robert Sinclair, Ted McGinley as FBI Agent Hopkins, Elizabeth Dennehy as Susan Sinclair, Richard Riehle as Captain Waters, Danielle Harris as Justine Sinclair, and Debra Christofferson as Ricki Stewart.