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Hardcore

Plot

"Oh my God, that's my daughter." So read the advertising copy of Hardcore. George C. Scott plays Jake Van Dorn, a man of means and conservative values who discovers that his precious daughter is appearing in X-rated films. Desperately making his way through the sub-rosa world of pornography, Van Dorn talks to pimps, prostitutes, and other such sterling individuals in hopes of locating his daughter and dragging her home. At one point, he falsely advertises himself as a porn producer in hopes that his little girl will show up for an interview. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Review

For his second film as writer/director, Paul Schrader merged elements of his Midwestern Dutch Calvinist background, his cinephilia, and California post-'60s sexual decadence in the bleak drama Hardcore. Modeled -- like Taxi Driver (1976) -- after John Ford's seminal Western The Searchers (1956), Hardcore's story of a pious father's search for his runaway daughter takes an intense George C. Scott from his upstanding Michigan home through the sordid wilderness of the California porn world. Scott's revulsion is matched by the film's morbid fascination with the sex industry. Peter Boyle's unsavory private investigator and Season Hubley's strung-out hooker serve as compelling protectors and guides. True to the Ford antecedent, Scott's daughter resists her rescue, but the clumsily incongruous ending carries none of The Searchers' or Taxi Driver's expressive ambiguity. Even with its flaws, however, Hardcore's stolidly mournful, occasionally complex examination of a cultural dark side is almost everything Joel Schumacher's ultra-sleazy porn odyssey 8MM (1999) wants to be but isn't. ~ Lucia Bozzola, Rovi

Cast

George C. Scott - Jake Van Dorn
Peter Boyle - Andy Mast
Season Hubley - Niki
Leonard Gaines - Ramada
Dick Sargent - Wes DeJong

Dave Nichols - Kurt; Marc Alaimo - Ratan; Leslie Ackerman - Felice; Charlotte McGinnis - Beatrice; Ilah Davis - Kristen Van Dom; Will Walker - Jism Jim; Jean Allison - Mrs. Steensma; Ed Begley, Jr. - Soldier; Bibi Besch - Mary; Larry Black - Detective Burrows; Reb Brown - Manager; Gary Graham - Tod; Paul Marin - Joe Van Dorn; Gigi Vorgan; Tracey Walter - Male Teller; Hal Williams - Big Dick Blaque; Roy London - Jim Rucker; Stewart Steinberg

Credit

Edwin O'Donovan - Art Director, Vic Ramos - Casting, Richard Hashimoto - First Assistant Director, Paul Schrader - Director, Tom Rolf - Editor, John Milius - Executive Producer, Jack Nitzsche - Composer (Music Score), Paul Sylbert - Production Designer, Michael Chapman - Cinematographer, Buzz Feitshans - Producer, John Milius - Producer, Bruce Weintraub - Set Designer, Paul Schrader - Screenwriter

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