Customer Reviews

Hardcore

5 star:		(13)
4 star:		(10)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Schrader's HARDCORE has been one of my favorite films ever since I first saw it nearly 25 years ago. Scott is as good as I've ever seen him, and Season Hubley makes me wish she'd had this kind of material for more of her career. But speaking of material, it's Paul Schrader's script and directing that make this thing run. Though the ending is a bit contrived, there are scenes that seem so *real*; there are others that seem so *surreal*. There are others that seem to be both, and those are the ones that always get me. Schrader's Calvinist background collides violently with the latter 20th century, and the results are frequently amazing and quite thought-provoking. For its seedy subject matter, this is a radically religious, moral, and ethical film, and a worthy successor to Schrader's TAXI DRIVER script. Get this title on DVD if it's ever available in that format! A must for every serious film collection!

Businessman Jake Van Doren's(George C. Scott in a riveting, brilliant performance) life and his deeply held religious beliefs are shaken to their core. Van Doren's teenage daughter doesn't return from a church outing. Worried, Van Doran hires a private detective Andy Mast(Peter Boyle)to help track her down. What Mast returns with shakes Van Doren Calvinist faith. His daughter has been appearing in cheap porno movies. Van Doren realizes the only way to bring his daughter back from this seamy, sordid world is if he goes to get her himself. He poses as a porno producer to get leads that will take him to his daughter in hopes that he can get her back before something truly horrible happens to her.

This riveting drama from Paul Schrader ("Taxi Driver")clearly draws from some of Schrader's own convictions and religious beliefs. His upbringing as a Calvinist influences and informs the character of Van Doren. Scott, Boyle "Outland", "Everybody Loves Raymond"), Dick Sargant ("Bewitched"), Season Hubley and Marc Alaimo ("Star Trek: Deep Space Nine")The DVD transfer looks crisp and sharp. Unfortunately, the age of the film and the film stock means that it does look grainy but that actually works in favor of the story capturing the harsh look of porno movies and giving a gritty reality to the film.

There's no extras on the film which is a pity. I would love to have heard Schrader's comments on the making of the film 25 years later. While George C. Scott isn't around any longer, Season Hubley and Peter Boyle could also have provided a commentary track (and it would have been less expensive to produce than a featurette on the making of the film). It seems to me I recall a vintage promo piece that was aired on TV during its theatrical run. Including that along with some updated interviews with Boyle, Hubley and producer Buzz Feitshans would have provided extra value here but, knowing the limited budget the producer of the DVD had to work with, it was probably cost prohibitive. It's a pity as this terrific but brutal film certainly deserves far better than just a standard transfer without any extras.

Hadn't seen this movie in quite a few years. I thought I would check it out when it came out on DVD. This is a story about a Michigan man who is a single parent and lives in a good Christian extended family that he is very close to. His 15 year old daughter inexplicably runs away from home which leads the father to hire a private eye to find her. After several agonizing months the private eye comes to Grand Rapids and takes the father to a dirty movie theater he has rented out and shows him a pornographic film that his daughter is in. The father then goes on a quest to the big city to find his daughter.

George C. Scott is the star of the movie as the anguished father. Peter Boyle also shines as the private investigator. This movie is rated R for obvious reasons. It is a kind of fish out of water movie as this devout Christian father plummets into the depths of the seedy underbelly of the adult entertainment business in the 70's. It is a search that takes him to the most nasty of places, peep shows, massage parlors, S&M places and to the set of porno movies. He also meets and deals with all the people that are a part of this world. Scotts portrayal of the father is fascinating. Seeing him cringe and then become completely undone as he sees his daughters fate on screen is a fathers worst nightmare and he brings that thru to you. He also is like a powder keg as he deals with these scummy people knowing that his daughters life is at risk.
Boyle is the P.I. who is totally grey through out most of the movie. He is self serving and out for his own interest but he is also an ally to Scott who knows the underbelly of the big city and who and where to look. But he also has his own motives and is hardly a white knight who feels little sympathy for the fathers plite.

Pretty good movie. It is dated but that doesn't hurt this film because it shows the period and social stigmas and mores of this time. Check it out but its not for everyone. If you are a George C. Scott fan it is a must.

In this movie, we see the dichotomy and similarities of people who live "hardcore."

First we see the "hardcore" world of straightlaced Jake VanDorn (George C. Scott.) He lives in a world so structured that everything in his life is alphabetized in his hardcore religious faith. It is such a world that drove away his wife and drove away his daughter to seek warmth in another world equally as hardcore- the sleazy world of the sex industry.

These two worlds collide in the movie "Hardcore." The worlds are completely alien to each other. There is no compromise in either of the worlds. Although the whore Scott befriends and uses (Season Hubley) attempts to draw similarities in these worlds, (Jake feels so little about sex that he dose not even do it and she feels so little about sex that she dose not care who she does it with,) both attiudes are extremely jaded.

You get the feeling of nostalgic timebase in this movie. This was before the videotape and internet sex revolution. This was the times of the smaller church congregations, before the 10,000 seat megachurches. This was before the times when men could see on the satellite television what used to be shown in peepshows and 8 mm films.

lots of symbolism was shown in this film. My favorite example was after the snuff film producer "Rattan" was shot. He stumbles down the sidewalk bleeding to death then smashes his head in a window display of a porn theater. The next window display has a pornographic image, and the writing above it "love act". Could it portray the death of Rattan as a love act in his twisted world?

... As I had a pre-existing interest in the darker aspect of human sexuality, I was intrigued by the content of this film. George C. Scott's character gradually descends into a realm of the human experience which he finds disturbing & shocking. It's a realm where sexual deviancy exists. It's a realm which is diametrically opposed to his conservative religious beliefs. One scene which remains imprinted upon my mind involves Scott's character entering a sadomasochistic establishment to track down one of the pornographers who knows the whereabouts of his lost daughter. During this sequence of scenes, Scott's character is enraged as he rampages through various chambers within the establishment; each chamber contains different bondage paraphernalia and is bathed in a different colored light. This is an eerie but surreal sequence of scenes. It's quite effective; it conveys the twisted & warped atmosphere of the dark region of the human experience Scott's character has finally infiltrated in a desperate attempt to locate his missing daughter.
One of the most frightening aspects of the film is the allusion to snuff pornography. ...

Scott boils and fumes like few actors can do so convincingly, that you damn well know he could tear your throat out and throw you though a wall without even blinking. Schrader sets the tone as dark as you can get, and despite a few bumps along the cinema storytelling road pulls off a great movie. It broods and isnt perfect, but is well above the standard. I rank it up there, a notch or two below, all those other dark 70's films like Taxi Driver and Dog Day Afternoon.

This is an extremely sordid movie, but one you never forget. I saw it in the theater 30 years ago and it was shocking then, so much so that I've only seen it once since and have no desire to see it again. It just left such a bad taste in my mouth.

This is a frightening picture of the pornography business 30 years ago featuring about everything you can think of in that seedy world. Unfortunately, the story centers around finding a girl from a "religous" family and the father, played by George C. Scott, is painted as something of a fanatic. He's portrayed as a cold and violent figure. (Hey, Hollywood isn't going to portray a Christian father as kind and loving.) Yet, Scott is not all that bad because he still is extremely dedicated father who went to all lengths to get his daughter back.

This movie really shows the sleazy side of the entire porno business and, thankfully, it doesn't glamorize any of it. Peter Boyle is good as the detective and Season Hubley is interesting as the prostitute who gives you her ideas on life in the business.

This is a fascinating film in parts but also very tough to view in a number of areas. This may sound naive, but when I saw this in 1979, I was stunned that this type of sick-underbelly of a society existed....at least to this degree. I can't imagine what's out there today.

In summary, a very powerful but brutal movie to watch, especially if you have kids of your own.

While the movie is somewhat of a shocker, it mirrors a world that most of us either don't think about and don't wish to, it is still out there and something we should definately know about to help us protect ourselves from it. I found it eye opening and well worth knowing about

The Bottom Line:

Better than Taken, 8MM, or (dare I even say it?) The Searchers in showing how the obsessive quest to find a lost girl in a seedy milieu corrupts the man trying to find her, Hardcore is perhaps sometimes guilty of exploiting the pornographic material it wallows in, but it's a powerful film that deals in shades of moral ambiguity and is all the better for it; writer-director Paul Schrader--who penned Taxi Driver--brings the audience another dehumanizing urban environment with this film and delivers quite a memorable movie.

3.5/4

Paul Schader's "Hardcore" (1979) stars George C. Scott as Jake VanDorn, a rigid Calvinist who goes to Southern California to search for his 15 year-old daughter who disappeared during a church youth convention in Disneyland. A hired p.i. (Peter Boyle) finds his daughter on a cheap porn flick so Jake eventually masquerades as a porn producer to find her. Ultimately a young, lost prostitute, Niki (Season Hubley), assists him and they develop an almost father/daughter relationship.

Since "Hardcore" deals heavily with the sex industry of the late 70s it's obvious that the film isn't for everyone, but if you can handle it this is a nigh work of genius. Part drama, part thriller, with a bit o' black humor thrown in for good measure, "Hardcore" is simply fascinating.

As another reviewer so perfectly notes, "Hardcore" explores the dichotomy and similarities of people who live 'hardcore.' Jake's Dutch Calvinist religious faith is so hardcore and rigidly structured that he can explain it in-depth with an acronym (TULIP), whereas the sex industry of S. California is hardcore in a ultra-hedonistic manner. The lifestyles couldn't be more different and yet there are similarities. Niki points out to Jake that they aren't so different -- he feels so little about sex that he doesn't even do it, while she cares so little about sex that she doesn't care who she does it with.

This is a smart film that doesn't spell everything out, but if you watch it closely details emerge. For instance, why did Jake's daughter fly the coop? Why did his wife divorce him? It becomes clear that the VanDorn household was overly rigid and sterile; there was little life, joy, and love, which are intrinsic Christian qualities. The most toxic poison was Jake's hardcore pride, which he weepingly repents of in one potent scene.

But this isn't an anti-Christian film, although it shows the obvious flaws of Jake and his denomination's religosity, Jake clearly plays the deliverer and the sex industry is portrayed as the ugly, deceitful mire it is. This is one of the few mainstream modern films where the protagonist's Christian faith is overtly depicted. The film doesn't shy away from exploring Jake's faith -- and testing it. There's even a prolonged scene where Jake explains the Calvinist credo to Niki. How many Hollywood films allow a character to spend five minutes elaborating on theological niceties? This alone distinguishes the picture.

Despite Jake's serious pride issues and the sterility of his household, his Calvinism comes off better than the hedonism of late 70's L.A. Jake is on a crusade into the land of infidels and is admirable in that he puts himself in harm's way to find his daughter, and he never succumbs in a land of a thousand temptations. If the Midwesterners are depicted as stern and brittle, at least they are better off than the hedonists of S. California, and the sex industry is a slippery slope that leads to dissatisfaction, addiction and death.

Some complain that it's not believable that Jake's daughter would take such a radical turn toward the sex industry, but let's keep in mind that it's easy for a naive, inexperienced girl to get swept up into something she can't control. And for every bad thing that happens to her throughout the five months, one thing remains steady is that it's her father's fault. At least from her point of view. "Drama..." the hallmark of every teenaged girl. Also, don't think that she chose the new life knowing everything up front. It's a slow spiral into hell. The first few steps are exciting and the rest are horrible but tolerable. As you decend, the cumulative effect is balanced by the hardness one gains. You aren't 'hardcore' the moment you step off the bus, so to speak.

The first hour starts to get rather tedious with Jake's intro to the sex industry and ensuing search for his daughter but, take heart, the story picks up in the second half with the introduction of Niki. Her relationship with Jake, I believe, is the heart of the picture. We meet this totally lost and humble prostitute and we (and Jake) inexplicably come to like her. She was a runaway of sorts who started turning tricks in Vegas at the young age of 15. Can she be blamed for the hideous hole life has thrust her? (In a way, yes, but that's another subject; let's have some compassion here!). She acts hip but at the same time is desperately seeking a savior. Jake merely hires her to help in his search and unexpectedly finds himself getting close to her, enjoying her company, and vice versa. Jake isn't in any way, shape or form an evangelist but he finds that he can open up and freely discuss his Christian beliefs with Niki, and she's just as free and comfortable to discuss her beliefs (she's a Venusian, whatever that is -- lol!). "Hardcore" is so incredible and original because these characters are real and they really talk. What's more, although Niki is a pathetic, lost prostitute she has amazing insight into things. For instance, although Jake informs her that his wife died, she "guesses" that she actually divorced him and also discerns why she left. Yet, she's not arrogant about her insights; she's obvioiusly highly gifted and yet wasting her life away in the sex industry.

Some complain about the ending but I think it works fine; it's happy in one way but downbeat in another. Regardless, it rings of authenticity (disregarding the contrived Ratan theatrics, that is). I won't discuss it here because I don't want to spoil the end for those who haven't seen the film, but I will say that, in a better world, Jake would have done something that he fails to do.

I was in Las Vegas recently and came across a prostitute like Niki (albeit not as anorexic). She was very young and therefore still beautiful; she looked at me with eyes of feigned desire, likely to pick up some business. In the film these girls are written off as "a dime a dozen." I guess no one cares about such people.

I do.