Homelessness and Other Issues in Hard Target

Chance Boudreaux, Jean-Claude Van Damme's character in John Woo's seminal work Hard Target, is homeless. He also has a perm. And, even though his diet consists of bad gumbo and mediocre coffee, he is fit as a fiddle. He falls under the category of "implausibly homeless action hero", and he's not alone. "Rowdy" Roddy Piper plays a homeless man in They Live, and yet his character has the build of a professional wrestler who works out all the time and eats lots of boneless skinless boiled chicken breast and broccoli. Anyone who has walked down a city street has run across at least one homeless man or woman, and truly they are not the buff seducers of beautiful women that "tough guy" movies make them out to be. Although, maybe I'd have a different perspective if I lived in a port city, where the homeless sometimes find temporary work as longshoremen, as Chance does.

The homeless issue aside, Hard Target has long been one of my favorite movies. In fact, years ago, I named my cat Chance, after the film's hero. And so, it's a pleasure to address a few of the film's issues in this forum.

One thing that strikes me about the film is the protagonist's seemingly childish, repeated use of the classic "you are gay" insult. First, Chance tells a gang member wielding a club to "take [his] pig stick, and [his] boyfriend, and find a bus to catch." Chance had no reason to think that the club-wielding gang member was sexually involved with his partner-in-crime, and yet Chance refers to the latter as the former's boyfriend. Later in the film, Chance is intimidating a fat man with a beating. The fat man is in cahoots with a cartoonish supervillain named Van Cleef, who hunts homeless people for sport. Chance wants the fat man to deliver some message to Van Cleef, so Chance says, "Tell your boyfriend, Van Cleef," etc. Again, Chance has no reason to believe that the fat man and Van Cleef are in a homosexual relationship. A question you might ask: is it significant that Chance did not simply call the men "fags", but instead pointed to real people and invented gay romances? Chance's insults are more concrete and personal than the less refined "you are gay." He builds on that old schoolyard zinger: i.e., "you are in a homosexual relationship with this man!" Chance tries to assert his Alpha Male (see any psych textbook for further reading) status, keeping practically the only woman in the film (and certainly the prettiest) by his side at all times, and calling his enemies gay.

Moving on, Hard Target has a terrific Dossier Scene. In a Dossier Scene, the hero's enemies (and, incidentally, the film's audience) find out just how much of a badass the hero is, typically by reading some information about him from a manila folder. Sometimes the hero turns out to have won a Silver Star, or other military-issued medals, as in Casey Ryback's Dossier Scene in Under Siege. I recommend watching all action flicks with an eye peeled for these Dossier Scenes, as most seem to have them. Notable exceptions include any action movie with an "Everyman" hero, who hasn't built up a dossier, such as Die Hard.