A Son Without A Father
In Hard Eight, John C. Reilly has lost his mother by the beginning of the film. We also learn that his father was killed. The man who has become the father figure in his life is played by Philip Baker Hall. We learn that Hall's character killed Reilly's father in Atlantic City years ago. So the fact that Hall has somewhat adopted Reilly's character is fueled somewhat through guilt. This fact is never revealed to Reilly's character, only to the audience.
In There Will Be Blood, HW has lost his father by the beginning of the film. His father was in an oil well with Daniel Plainview when an accident happened and by some strange occurrence HW's father was killed and Plainview went unharmed. So Plainview takes the child in as his own and we must determine why he did this throughout the movie. The most obvious reason would be like in Hard Eight, guilt. But there is more going on, maybe he is using the child to woo the prospective customers into letting him drill on their land. Either way these films are almost identical within this relationship. The only difference is PT uses this secret in TWBB to have an emotionally powerful scene towards the end when Plainview confesses to HW. Whereas in Hard Eight the secret is used more as subtext within the drama.
Father Teaches the Scam
In both movies the father teaches the son ways to take advantage of the system that they happen to be part of. In Hard Eight Hall's character teaches Reilly's character how to use rate cards to take advantage of the casino. By doing so Reilly gets a free hotel room and bed. In There Will Be Blood Plainview is teaching HW how to negotiate oil deals and eventually HW is negotiating his own deals. Obviously they are both completely different but both have a sense of dishonesty and once again the example in TWBB is more powerful.
The Accident That Changes Everything
In Hard Eight there is an overwhelming dramatic scene in which Reilly's character has kidnapped and beaten a man. Within this scene, which is about 15 minutes long, each character has an emotional breakdown. The father figure calls Reilly's character a dumb whore and seems to have reverted back to the gangster he once was. The resolution of the scene leads to Sam Jackson's character taking advantage of information he has on Hall's character. It also leads to Reilly's character and his wife leaving town. Sam Jackson will use this information to blackmail Hall's character.
In There Will Be Blood an equally affecting scene happens when an oil rig explodes while HW is on top of it. Plainview rushes to help his child only to eventually leave him in HW's time of desperation to look on the oil that will make him rich. He reverts to the slimy business man we always knew he was, completely tossing aside his son. The resolution of the scene leads to him sending HW away which leads to the preacher character having this information to blackmail Plainview into joining his church. You can see the similarities and I hope you don't think I'm stretching because it seems rather obvious. The accident is a tool that a lot of screenwriters use as plot points to push the story. PT just happens to use this same idea, only expanding on it somewhat with more nuance and depth in TWBB. The other difference, which is one of many reasons I love TWBB is that in that film the accident is a freak of nature, a random occurrence that seems to happen all the time around oil wells and especially around Plainview. Whereas in Hard Eight we don't see the accident and it happens out of stupidity.
Girls
In both films the son falls in love with a blond, emotionally distant female. Obviously that seems strange from TWBB because that female is a young girl but she is obviously going through some shit at home. In both instances the female's seem to really admire and love the father figure as well as the son. Eventually both females take the son from the father. Only in Hard Eight Hall's character seems fine with this and in TWBB Plainview is not fine with this, in fact he is is furious over the loss of his son.
I Got You, You Got Me, I Got You
In Hard Eight Philip Baker Hall's character doesn't like Sam Jackson's character from the moment they meet. He doesn't like how much influence he has over Reilly's character. He makes Jackson feel small and insignificant. So Jackson then blackmails Hall using information and a gun. He holds him hostage for some time while Hall tries to get money. But once Jackson gets what he wants Hall gets the last laugh when he kills Jackson.
In There Will Be Blood Plainview doesn't like the preacher from the moment they meet. He doesn't like how much influence he has over the community. He makes the preacher feel like a fraud and insignificant. So the preacher then blackmails Plainview using information he has on a murder and then in church he uses the fact that Plainview abandoned his son to get him to break down in front of everyone at the the church. But once the preacher gets what he wants Plainview gets the last laugh when he kills the preacher. The fact that PT uses a 20 year span between incident adds to the drama at the end.
There Will Be blood
The ending to each movie is extremely similar in context. Hard Eight ends with Hall's character killing Jackson's character. The last shot is Hall sitting on a chair contemplating what he has done. There Will Be Blood ends in much more glory with the famous milkshake line and the third revelation rant and eventually chasing the preacher around a bowling alley. He eventually beats him over the head with a bowling pin. One is cold blooded, calculated, the other is emotional and self destructive. They both end with each character killing their nemesis and then contemplating what has happened. The differences are obvious. There Will Be Blood is grandiose in it's ending, Hard Eight is quiet and contemplative. But that is the growth in PT Anderson. He has the same basic constructs of an ending only he morphs from a small exciting moment into a large monumental scene of insanity which has been talked about ever since TWBB was released.
It is a great exercise to see these similarities because within them you can see the differences that matter, and the execution and added direction that makes each different and yet the same. I hope people have gotten something out of these comparisons. If anyone has any more similarities please post them.
