Hard
Luck, directed by Jack Rubio, tells a sad tale bookended
by a scene in which three youngsters playing along the beautiful
coastline of Gold Beach, Oregon. When the film actually begins,
all three are about twenty years older. Trevor "Lucky"
O'Donnell (played by Kirk Harris, who is also the screenwriter)
was convicted of murder by reason of insanity and is serving
the last three months of a seven-year sentence at an Oregon
state mental hospital when his former wife Sheryl (played
by Renee Humphrey) for the first time comes to visit him.
She tells Lucky that his best friend and her brother Eric
Billings (played by Matthew Faber) is at a hospital, dying
of leukemia. The next day Lucky escapes in a delivery car
to find Eric and to take him to a heavenly spot, an island
off the coast, for his last few days alive. The quest leads
him to break into a house to steal some clothes, tying up
the one whose clothes he is stealing, and he also steals his
car. He goes to see Eric, who is bald from chemotherapy, takes
him from the hospital, holds up a small store for money, collects
Sheryl, has sex with her, obtains further help, kills two
gangsters, and the three head for Lakeside, the island retreat
where they once spent summers together. Eric finally dies
on the island, bravely and peacefully. In pursuit of Lucky
is Matt (played by Darrell Bryan), Sheryl's current husband,
and Gold Beach Chief of Police Lou Billings (played by Ron
Gilbert), the father of Eric and Sheryl. Regretful that he
screwed up Sheryl's life, Lucky comes across as a tragic character
whose love for others is his highest priority. Hard
Luck moves slowly, with occasional music from Antonin
Dvorak's Stabat Mater. MH
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