Hands on a Hard Body

Released 1998
Directed by S.R. Bindler

It is 2 o'clock in the morning and yet the parking lot of the Jack Long Nissan dealership in the deep East Texas piney woods of Longview is awash with lights and crowds. The attention is focused on a brand-new, fully loaded Nissan truck, and more specifically, on the 25 individuals circled around it, each keeping a gloved hand placed firmly on the truck's body. They are of all shapes and sizes; male and female; white, black, and Latino; and they have been standing there for over 24 hours without sleep, knowing they will have to go at least another 60 or so for a shot at glory. Some are laughing and yucking it up, others are mute examples of sheer concentration, and still others are bordering on the edge of emotional and physical collapse. It is the annual "Hands on a Hard Body" contest and the rules are simple - last person standing wins the truck.

I would love to go into detail about all the wonderful elements within the film itself: the roller coaster of suspense I felt as I rooted for one character only to have to switch my allegiance to another after an unexpected forfeiture; the spine-tingling metaphors that would take me by surprise and tie loose ends of meaning together; the themes of religion, camaraderie, and death that rise luxuriously to the surface like cream; the rare and complete satisfaction, as a Texan, that I was seeing a real Texas on the screen. But to do so would ruin the experience for anyone who hasn't seen it. And that is perhaps the greatest compliment I can pay Hands on a Hard Body - that spoilers could indeed harm the purity of its drama. After all, says one competitor in the film, "It's a human drama."

Summary by Jerry Johnson