Truly Dreadful Film

True to its essence, the characters remain on the same line and manage to entertain the viewer, each highlighting their own distinctive qualities or touches.

This movie feels like it was made purely to piss off people who want good shows

It's simply great fun, a winsome film and an occasionally over-the-top luxury fantasy that never flags.

Paul Schrader's Hardcore features a rare performance that tows the fine line between believable lunacy and cartoonish behavior that never crosses over and subjects itself to the latter. The performance is that of George C. Scott, who plays Jake Van Dorn, a Calvinist businessman working in Michigan and serving as a single-parent to his eighteen-year-old daughter Kristen. While presumably on a church retreat to Bellflower, California, Kristen never arrives at the event, leading Jake to hire a private investigator (Peter Boyle) to try and find her whereabouts. Eventually, the investigator finds an 8mm film of his daughter and two other men around her age; it's clear just from the first frame of the film, which Jake sees at a local seedy theater, his daughter is now a porn star.Jake loses it, with enough questions, assumptions, judgments, and miscalculations racing through his mind to cripple the psyche of a dozen men. He comes to the conclusion that his daughter had to have been kidnapped to join such an underworld, and becomes dedicated to bringing her back home. He dives into California's sleazy, pornographic underworld, venturing through brothels, adult bookstores, and peep shows to find her, eventually meeting Nikki (Season Hubley), a porn star and hooker.Hardcore is the classic case of a character being immersed in a world he had no conception of and would've rather gone on pretending as if the world and all of those affected by it never existed. His tunnel-vision, conservative mindset has made it seem that since everything in his own life was perfect and completely free of any trouble, that there's no way anyone else's life could be troubled. He doesn't see problems, therefore none exist.Jake's rude awakening becomes more alarming with what he has to witness. To many audience members, presuming their braveness to already seek out such a peculiar film, the content in Hardcore isn't particularly jolting, but to Jake, it's some of the most revolting stuff he's seen in his entire life. Consider the discomfort and anxiety felt by Jake as he walks into a low-lit brothel, with pulsating, blood-red lights and wallpaper decorating the rooms and meets a young stripper, with a thick piece of glass separating them. The stripper plants both of her heels on the glass whilst sitting down, exposing her whole body for Jake's pleasure, as they communicate through the glass. Jake is beyond uncomfortable and is simply trying to get his daughter back, but in order to do so, he must subject himself to worlds he never thought could've existed.This kind of relativism makes for a deeply fascinating film, and in Schrader's screen writing and directing hands, Hardcore beams with life. Schrader includes a barrage of must-have locations for this kind of film, and captures them in a way that adheres to the principles of realism. Never does Schrader seem to go overboard in his depictions of this underworld, nor does he compromise Jake's character by making him unlikable. This is one of the first times I've seen such a close-minded, holier-than-thou, judgmental character on screen that I didn't detest; it's not entirely his fault he's been closeted to his own set of beliefs for so many years. He thought all was well and good.Scott captures this character so intensely that even his freakouts and mental breakdowns don't feel forced nor over-the-top. Scott eventually learns how to get ahead in this business, at one point going undercover as a director and interviewing male porn stars that could've perhaps had contact with his daughter. These scenes, when Scott dawns a wig, a fake mustache, and shag clothing, are completely transforming for his character, and we see a man's own personal ethics and values degrade throughout the entire film, in a slowburn fashion.Hardcore sizzles on screen, creating characters that exist, a fascinating underworld captured in details rather than in essences, and an impending sense of dread as time marches on and Jake's daughter's fate becomes more and more questionable. Much has been made about the finale, which is said to have been taken over by cautious studio executives rather than accurately reflecting the original vision of Schrader. For me, it works as a way to simmer down the film's explosiveness that it carries throughout, especially towards the end, as things intensify. The bittersweetness of the entire affair, in addition, compliments the film's nature of nothing ever totally being right or in place; not even in the beginning, as Jake is still so deeply lost in his own mannerisms.Starring: George C. Scott, Season Aubrey, and Peter Boyle. Directed by: Paul Schrader.

In short; I did like the movie but still had plenty of problems with it.The premise of the movie is really good and interesting and also lets this movie sound like it is a great and powerful movie, about some previously unseen and very ugly, dirty things. But the movie just isn't quite it. It never gets confronting or shocking enough and in the long run, the movie fails to make a true emotional or dramatic impact.That is the real problem with this movie; it's lacking any good emotions and dramatic developments. The search for George C. Scott's daughter just never feels intense enough and he doesn't always make a very desperate or depressed impression at all.The movie also gives you the feeling it really isn't delving deep enough into things. This could had been an interesting exploration into the darker and ugly side of the porn business but the movie just never quite goes there. You could blame it all on the writing but perhaps you should also blame it a bit on the approach that the movie is taking.The approach just never makes the movie a real interesting one really. It's lacking a good buildup to certain things and situations, which also causes the movie to fail to make a true great impact with anything.Some moments are still being made great by George C. Scott's performance. But unfortunately he himself also can't really ever make his character a compelling enough one. He isn't even all that likable and his character is also making some odd and very unlikely choices throughout the entire movie.There still is plenty to like about this movie. I for instance loved it how it was taking a real typical '70's approach with its film-making, even though not everything about it worked out all that well. And like I also said before, the movie does still definitely has its moments and it besides still remains a original movie to watch, thanks to its main concept and premise.Definitely good enough but it all had far more potential in it really.7/10 http://bobafett1138.blogspot.com/

Jake Van Dorn is a businessman from the American heartland who shares strong Calvinist convictions with most of his countrymen.His teenage daughter is missing from the trip to L.A. and Van Dorn hires a private investigator to find her.The result of the investigation is:his daughter is spotted in a cheap X-rated movie.Van Dorn decides to bring her back personally and during the quest he becomes familiar with the pornographic underworld.Paul Schrader's "Hardcore" is a powerful thriller about sex market and snuff underground.The script is suspenseful and the location sets are sleazy and authentic.There is plenty of nudity and a bit of gruesome violence.The central performance of George C.Scott is truly awesome.A must-see.8 out of 10.

Paul Schrader is a writer/director known for utilizing his own Calvinist background in his screenplays and films. In Hardcore, George C. Scott is a Calvinist furniture salesman who finds himself searching for his runaway daughter (Ilah Davis) in the seedy porn parlors of Los Angeles and San Francisco. Scott plays Jake Van Dorn well as he gradually becomes unhinged throughout the film, confronting forces both at odds with his personal beliefs as well as with obstructing his search. Simultaneously, Schrader's screenplay sets up the paradox of Van Dorn exploiting the hooker (Season Hubley) he befriends for information during his search for his supposedly exploited daughter. On the other hand, Niki, the hooker who eventually helps Van Dorn, is really only doing so because she's naive enough to think Van Dorn will "take care of her" after all is said and done. As is the case with most of Schrader's films, his protagonist experiences a psychological journey while being catapulted into the nether regions of corruption and depravity. The film takes what appears to be an unintended humorous timeout when Van Dorn poses as a producer casting for a film, taking appointments with potential "actors" in a seedy motel room. Van Dorn meets Andy Mast, a seedy private detective played by Peter Boyle, who seems bent on preventing Van Dorn from discovering the inevitable about his daughter while simultaneously taking Van Dorn's money for doing little else. Schrader develops tension slowly, but Van Dorn's cathartic exercise at the end and the reappearance of Mast assisting Van Dorn simply doesn't ring true, even though Van Dorn's brother-in-law, played by Dick Sargent, hires Mast to find and protect Van Dorn. Until the marred ending, Schrader takes viewers on a journey many would not otherwise take: adult video stores, porn parlors, prostitutes, smut films. In retrospect, these scenes are probably tame now, but some still have the ability to shock and startle. The film fails to depict the intended dichotomy of Van Dorn's daughter's upbringing and the underground porn world she inhabits because it does not focus on Grand Rapids, her hometown, beyond the film's first couple scenes. Therefore, viewers must wade through a good deal of the film before coming to a realization why Kristen, Ilah Davis, runs away from her church group in California. As Schrader's extension of Taxi Driver's Travis Bickle, Van Dorn fails; in that, the viewer never believes Van Dorn will become totally unhinged like Bickle. Van Dorn remains in too much control of himself throughout the film. As he becomes more obsessed with finding his daughter, scenes of levity counteract his obsession, detracting from the film's ultimate potential effect. Van Dorn's banter with Mast, his conversations with Niki, and his initial interviews with potential "actors" in the motel room (while wearing a toupee and mustache) are examples. The film never treats the girls in the porn industry as deserving of much empathy. Thus, the resolution between Van Dorn and Niki comes as no surprise. Had Schrader worked more on building up that illusion in his and Niki's mind, which would still be consistent with his beliefs yet hypocritical, and then ended the film the same way, it would have made for a more devastating film. *** of 4 stars.