Reviews (21)

This is a great film if you love Rick Springfield' s music.
I really enjoyed "Hard to Hold" even though the critics trashed it, but then they've trashed everything Rick Springfield has ever done. I guess he's just too handsome, charming, and nice to be taken seriously as a musician or as an actor. Rick puts more of himself into his live concerts than any performer I've ever seen on stage and yes, I have seen Bruce Springsteen and Pink Floyd. Yes, I confess the dirty little secret: I'm a devoted fan of Rick's, and frankly "Hard to Hold" was exactly the movie I wanted to see as a fan. Great music and a romantic rock star falls in love with an ordinary girl story line. It's not exactly Wuthering Heights--although I'd bet Rick could do a great Heathcliff--but it features some of my favorite Springfield songs and a great message: You'd better love somebody because at the end of your time on this earth the love is all that really counts. This movie is a must for all Springfield fan and romantics! Do you believe in love and happy endings? Get yourself a big bowl of buttered popcorn and curl up with "Hard to Hold." You won't be disappointed.

AREN'T WE ALL HARD TO HOLD
ALL US GIRLS ARE HARD TO HOLD!! SOMETIEMS OUR MEN DO NOT KNOW HOW TO HOLD ON TO LOVE THAT IS TRUE. I SAW THIS MOVIE YEARS AGO AND I JUST OREDERD IT AGAIN BECAUSE I WANTED TO SEE THAT SEXY RICK AGAIN AND RELIVE THE LOVE AGAIN. AND TRY TO GET MY MAN TO BE LIKE RICK. HA HA SOMEDAY. ANYWAY I AM GLAD I FOUND THIS OLD MOVIE AND PLAN TO WATCH IT OVER AND OVER AND DROWL OVER RICK.
CHAT LATER, KIM1202

The fundamental things apply...and this movie proves it!
With the exception of Christopher Reeve's Somewhere In Time (1980), Rick Springfield's 1984 first full length major feature film, Hard to Hold, is probably the most underrated movie in the 80's romance film genre! Both were viciously rejected by the critics at the time, but discovered by the people one by one, and now both movies enjoy a cult following appeal and are frequently amongst the highest rented videos in most stores!
The commonalities between the two movies are readily evident. Both male characters are successful in creative fields (playwright and rock musician), both are feeling like "there's got to be something more than this" in their lives, they both are seek an enduring love, and both find it with women who are technically "unattainable".
That is where the similarities end. SIT is mired in the 1910's, and H2H is definitely a product of the 80's which still resonates with people today.
Musically, SIT was out of touch with the "Me generation.". While SIT is set to a Edwardian era highly sentimentalized "hearts and flowers" heart-fluttering, sugar sweet instrumental soundtrack, the highly charged, "living on the edge" rock music and lyrics in H2H captures the true spirit of the state of love and romance in the post-sexual revolution America where cynicism was more in effect than sentimentality. The songs are still sung today-Love Somebody still rings true today as it did back then as does Bop till You Drop and Stand Up!
Rick, as Jamie Roberts, almost appears autobiographical-as he did have a HUGE screaming teen fan base at that time which at times appears to have helped and hinder his career. In fact, the buttoned up female protagonist, Diana Larson, played by actress Janet Eilber, dismisses him and his musical style as "bubblegum" and expresses an affinity for crooner Tony Bennett. Come on, who admittedly listened to Tony Bennett back then? (Ok I did...but so what? I'm an anonmaly!)
Well, apparently, the way to that woman's heart (and bed) was through a Tony Bennett song. Let me tell you if someone hired a singer to serenade me, I'd leave my "heart in San Francisco" in a New York minute! How incredibly romantic is that? Yet, they don't drown us in sentimentality. I found it shocking at the time that they would talk about STI's so casually in a movie like that, but they were "keeping it real" in a society that not only expected it, but demanded it!
As for Rick's acting performance in H2H, my question is "Who's acting?" Every move he made seemed to be natural and an extension of himself. Janet's performance is reminiscent of Andie McDowell who would play in the 1994 romantic comedy 4 Weddings and a Funeral. Both actresses, in my view, appear more like cardboard cutouts instead of potentially passionate women-which was too bad. It made the movie drag a bit. I also enjoyed Patti Hanson's "songwriter-on-the-verge-of-nervous-breakdown" jealous ex-girlfriend. You want to hate her, but you really can't. She's just trying to make sense of her own angst, and let's face it, it's never easy to say goodbye, is it?
When I first saw the movie back in the 8's, I was not really ready for it. Far from ready. At the time I was very conservative and when the "fireplace scene" came up-the kinds of emotions and longings it stirred up in me freaked me out so much that I immediate shut off the video and drove it back to the store. I would not view that video again for at least 19 years!
I rented the video to hear Rick singing-and was rewarded with a fabulous commentary on the state of love and romance in the 80's! Now I play that fireplace scene over and over again. Not just for the majorly heartstopping sensuality of it all (the horniness factor, I must admit, is there!) but for the real "exposure" of two strong willed people who are willing to take a chance and be emotionally vulnerable to each other as well. Now that's truly a story to be told. So subtle, but so powerful at the same time.

One of the things I appreciate about this move is that it chronicalizes a time in our recent social history when it was often easier to give your body to someone than it was to give your heart. Presently, in this era of AIDS and so-called "family values", it seems like everyone wants to re-write their own history. Today, courtships are played out by the "Rules" and to hear people talk everyone was as chaste as the driven snow! I say not if you came of age in the late 70's and early 80's!
Back in the day, one- night stands were the rule, not the "exception." And no one used the "L" word for fear of appearing weak. Throughout the movie, Diane tries so hard to be a "modern woman" and act like it's a physical thing only. Only once does she tell Jamie she "cares" about him but it was Jamie who took the REAL chance on declaring his love for her during that famous "fireplace" scene!
It transcends time and space-that need to love and be loved. What woman wouldn't give her left arm to have someone look her in the eyes soulfully like that and whisper, "I love you" And mean it? Just the thought moves me to tears as I write this. In my not so humble opinion such a emotionally gripping love scene would not play on the screen again until the 1997 blockbuster Titanic.
Whether it is the 1910's, or the 2000's, love is "hard to hold" but well worth the attempt. As the classic song about another relationship involving a man named Rick says, "the fundamental things apply...as time goes by" and viewing this movie two decades later PROVES this fact!
I can watch this movie now, and while it is not in the Gone with the wind or Casablanca class, it does have a message of its own-primarily this: even if love sometimes seems Hard to Hold onto, don't give up! Hang on, enjoy the ride, take the risk...and if it is truly right-NEVER let it go. A rather positive and timely message especially applicable in this post 9/11 culture of fear and uncertainty where nearly everyone wants a "sure thing" when life holds no guarantees.

a memory picture
(my english is not good).
when i saw this picture i began to play the electric guitar, love somebody's song was a special theme to me.
now i play this type of music: BRYAN ADAMS, RICK SPRINGFIELD, JOURNEY, NIGHT RANGER, REO SPEEDWAGON, ETC.... 80's music.
¿what do you think?. i want to know if i can to buy this picture FROM CHIHUAHUA, MX., send me a e-mail to tell what i have to do.

thanks......

great for Rick Springfield fans & anyone who loves the 80s
I love this movie. I gave it four stars instead of five because the script is admittedly weak in places and the directing makes it look like a TV movie rather than a feature film. But none of that obscures the positive points of the movie.

It should be obvious that this film will hold the most appeal for fans of Rick Springfield. He is a much better actor than one might assume and plays some of the awkwardly-written swings of his character well. Janet Eilber does a good job as the conservative "ordinary" woman his character falls in love with. The weakest performance in the film is Patti Hansen's, as the rocker's songwriting partner and former girlfriend. She works hard but can't overcome the stilted dialogue she's given in most of her scenes.

The best part of the movie may be the music. The majority of the songs in the film are written and performed by Springfield and will be familiar to fans.

Not a great film, but one I enjoy a great deal. If you're a fan you will feel the same way. ... Read more