Hardcore (1979 Film)

''Hardcore'' is a 1979 American neo-noir crime drama film written and directed by Paul Schrader, and starring George C. Scott, Peter Boyle, Season Hubley, and Dick Sargent. The plot follows a conservative Midwestern businessman whose teenage daughter goes missing in California. With the help of a prostitute, his search leads him into the illicit subculture of pornography, including snuff films.

Schrader, who had previously written the screenplay for Martin Scorsese's ''Taxi Driver'' (1976), began developing ''Hardcore'' with executive producer John Milius the same year for Warner Bros. After Warner bought out Schrader's contract and took control of the project, Warren Beatty became attached as the star and producer. However, creative clashes between Beatty and Schrader led to Beatty's departure from the production. Following this, Scott was cast in the lead role. The film was shot on location in several California cities, including Los Angeles, San Diego, and San Francisco, as well as in Schrader's hometown of Grand Rapids, Michigan.

''Hardcore'' was released in February 1979 by Columbia Pictures. It was nominated for the Golden Bear at the 29th Berlin International Film Festival. Upon its initial release, the film received somewhat mixed reviews, but retrospective assessments have been more positive.

Plot

In December 1977, Jake Van Dorn (George C. Scott), a devout Calvinist businessman and single father from Grand Rapids, Michigan, faces a parent's worst nightmare when his teenage daughter, Kristen, vanishes during a church-sponsored trip to Bellflower, California. Months pass with no leads until May 1978, when Andy Mast (Peter Boyle), a brash private investigator from Los Angeles, presents Van Dorn with shocking evidence: an 8 mm stag film purchased in an L.A. sex shop, depicting Kristen engaged in a sexual act with two men. Horrified, Van Dorn becomes convinced his daughter has been kidnapped and forced into sex work.

Flying to Los Angeles, Van Dorn confronts Mast, only to find him distracted by a porn star he was meant to investigate. Disgusted, Van Dorn fires him and takes matters into his own hands. He plunges into the city's seedy underbelly, visiting peep shows, brothels, and adult stores, but his rigid morals clash with the exploitative world he encounters. Frustrated by the LAPD's indifference, he poses as a pornography producer, placing an ad in the ''Los Angeles Free Press'' to lure potential informants.

Respondents flood his motel room, including "Jism Jim," a disheveled actor from the stag film. After a violent interrogation, Jim directs Van Dorn to Niki (Season Hubley), a streetwise prostitute who claims to know Kristen's whereabouts. Though wary, Van Dorn pays Niki to guide him through California's porn circuit. Unbeknownst to him, his brother-in-law Wes rehires Mast, who tails the pair as their search intensifies.

Their uneasy partnership leads them from Los Angeles to San Diego and eventually San Francisco, with Van Dorn and Niki slowly bridging their ideological divide. Niki, accustomed to being objectified, finds unexpected respect in Van Dorn's company, while he confides in her about his failed marriage and emotional detachment as a father. Their discussions reveal stark contrasts in their views on religion and sexuality, yet mutual dependence grows.

In San Francisco, Niki connects Van Dorn to Tod, a dealer linked to Ratan, a sadistic sadomasochistic pornographer rumored to produce snuff films. In a dimly lit sex shop, Van Dorn endures a screening of Ratan's latest film—a gruesome murder of a Mexican sex worker in Tijuana — traumatized, yet relieved to see the victim isn't Kristen.

Pressure mounts as Van Dorn demands Tod's address from Niki, who fears abandonment once Kristen is found. A heated confrontation culminates in Van Dorn striking her, forcing her compliance. Tracking Tod to a bondage dungeon, Van Dorn brutalizes him into revealing Ratan's hideout: a nightclub hosting live sex shows. There, Van Dorn and Mast discover Kristen performing onstage under Ratan's control.

Chaos erupts as Van Dorn confronts Ratan, who slashes him with a knife before Mast fatally shoots him. In the aftermath, Van Dorn finds Kristen cowering in the club's basement. To his devastation, she reveals she fled voluntarily, rejecting his stifling upbringing for a world where she felt "seen." Tearfully, Van Dorn admits his emotional failings, rooted in his austere faith, and pleads for reconciliation. Reluctantly, Kristen agrees to return home.

As they depart, Van Dorn spots Niki in the crowd. He attempts a hollow gesture of gratitude, but both understand their bond is severed. Niki disappears into the shadows, resigned to her bleak reality, while Van Dorn and Kristen retreat to Grand Rapids—their futures uncertain, their wounds far deeper than flesh.

Cast

Production

Development

Paul Schrader partly based the screenplay for ''Hardcore'' on his own experience growing up in the Calvinist church in Grand Rapids, Michigan, where he studied theology at Calvin College. Having recently written the screenplay for Martin Scorsese's ''Taxi Driver'' (1976), Schrader began preparing ''Hardcore'' alongside executive producer John Milius at Warner Bros. After a shift in the studio's management, Schrader was paid a sum of $500,000 to terminate his contract, after which Warren Beatty was attached as both the star and producer.

Milius later commented on the project, stating it was "a wonderful script that turned out to be a lousy movie. I blame Paul's direction for that." In the original version of the screenplay, the film ended with Jake never locating his daughter, and later learning of her death in a car accident.

Casting

Beatty clashed with Schrader in the pre-production stages of the film, resulting in Beatty leaving the project in August 1976. Beatty had wanted Schrader to reshape the script so that his character was searching for his missing girlfriend rather than his daughter, as Beatty felt he was too young at the time to portray the father of a teenager. According to director Schrader, "He wouldn't take me as a director... No good. I held out. I turned down a very large sum of money. I went after eorge C.Scott and I got him. One of the greatest actors in the world."

Schrader originally cast Diana Scarwid in the role of Niki, but the studio rejected her for the role, deeming her not attractive enough, after which Season Hubley was cast. Real-life adult film actress Marilyn Chambers also auditioned for the role, but was turned down by a casting director who thought she did not fit the image of a porn star. Years later, Chambers said "The ''Hardcore'' people wanted a woman with orange hair who chews gum, swings a big purse, and wears stiletto heels. That's such a cliche."

Ilah Davis, a first-time actress, was cast as Kristen Van Dorn as Schrader felt "she was not conventionally beautiful, and was the sort of person who could be lured by flattery," mirroring her character's story. ''Hardcore'' was her first role in a motion picture. At the time, she was working an exotic dancer in New York City while a member of the Yippies, and later joined the Rainbow Family in under the married name 'Ilah Rogers'.

Filming

Principal photography of ''Hardcore'' took place on February 6, 1978 largely in Los Angeles, San Francisco, and San Diego, with additional photography occurring in Schrader's hometown of Grand Rapids, Michigan, where part of the film is set. Schrader featured his own childhood church and a factory where he was employed as filming locations, and also cast his parents in uncredited bit parts. By Schrader's account, the shoot in Grand Rapids was unpleasant, as locals expressed disapproval for the film and its depiction of the community as highly provincial and socially antiquated.

By Schrader's account, Scott was in low spirits while shooting the film, which Schrader attributed to his recent commercial failures directing '' Rage'' (1972) and '' The Savage Is Loose'' (1974). "George, at this time, was not a terribly happy man," said Schrader. In his contract, Scott stipulated that the production include five break days for the actor due to his drinking problem at the time. Scott and Schrader often clashed on set, with Scott once proclaiming that, while a great writer, Schrader was a terrible director and that the film "was a piece of shit."

Release

Critical response

Despite arguing that the climax lapses into action film cliches, Roger Ebert nonetheless gave the movie a four-out-of-four-star review for its "moments of pure revelation", particularly in the scenes between Scott and Hubley. Gene Siskel gave the film three-and-a-half stars out of four and called it "both a rich film of ideas and of strikingly real characters". He thought George C. Scott gave "one of his finest performances" in the film. '' Variety'' called it "a very good film" and predicted that no matter what each individual audience member's attitudes toward pornography and religion were, "nobody's going to be bored". Vincent Canby of ''The New York Times'' wrote in a mixed review that Schrader "demonstrates an extraordinary sensitivity to the realities of the American heritage that are seldom even thought about on screen, much less dramatized. His characters are complex. Unfortunately the melodrama seldom matches their complexity. It is blunt, clumsy—melodrama that seems not to reflect life but the ways lives are led in the movies."

Pauline Kael of ''The New Yorker'' was negative, explaining that ''Taxi Driver'' worked because "the protagonist, Travis Bickle, had a fear and hatred of sex so feverishly sensual that we experienced his tensions, his explosiveness. But in ''Hardcore'', Jake feels no lust, so there's no enticement—and no contest. The Dutch Reformation Church has won the battle for his soul before the film's first frame." She added, "there something a little batty about the way Jake strides through hell swinging his fists, like a Calvinist John Wayne." Charles Champlin of the ''Los Angeles Times'' called the film "strong but finally disappointing stuff", explaining, "Quite apart from the plot concoctions that leave reality so far behind, the exasperation of ''Hardcore'' is that the confrontation has never quite come off. The daughter, whose feelings are presumably crucial to an understanding of the story, is never more than a cipher and a symbol." Gary Arnold of ''The Washington Post'' called it "absorbing but unsatisfying", finding that the reconciliation at the end "violates too much of what we've been led to believe".

The film was condemned by the United States Catholic Conference for its profanity, nudity, and depiction of Christianity.

On ''Rotten Tomatoes'', the film has an approval rating of 78% based on 32 reviews, with an average rating of 6.8/10. The site's consensus states: "Director Paul Schrader's preoccupations with alienation and faith are given a compelling avatar in George C. Scott's superb performance, although some audiences may find ''Hardcore'' too soft to live up to its provocative promise."

Accolades

Home media

''Hardcore'' was available on VHS during the 1980s from Columbia Pictures Home Entertainment and later RCA/Columbia Pictures Home Video. In the 1990s, it was reissued on Columbia TriStar Home Video. In 2004, the film received a DVD release from Sony Pictures Home Entertainment.

In August 2016, the film received a U.S. release on Blu-ray from Twilight Time in a limited edition of 3,000 copies. The disc has a commentary track from Schrader and critics Eddy Friedfeld, Lee Pfeiffer, and Paul Scrabo.
Jack Nitzsche's soundtrack for ''Hardcore'' has never been officially released, but Twilight Time's Blu-ray re-issue features an isolated score audio track.
The British distributor Indicator Films released a limited edition region-free Blu-ray and DVD combination set in 2017, which was followed by a standard Blu-ray-only release in 2018. In June 2023, Kino Lorber announced a forthcoming special edition Blu-ray scheduled for release on August 22, 2023.

The film has also been available for streaming and digital download through Amazon.com, Apple's iTunes Store, Vudu, and other online media.

References

External links

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{{Paul Schrader

1979 films
1979 crime drama films
1970s American films
1970s English-language films
American crime drama films
American neo-noir films
Columbia Pictures films
English-language crime drama films
Films about father–daughter relationships
Films about juvenile sexuality
Films about missing people
Films about pornography
Films about prostitution in the United States
Films about religion
Films about runaways
Films about single parent families
Films about snuff films
Films directed by Paul Schrader
Films produced by Buzz Feitshans
Films scored by Jack Nitzsche
Films set in California
Films set in Los Angeles
Films set in Michigan
Films set in San Diego
Films set in San Francisco
Films shot in Los Angeles
Films shot in Michigan
Films shot in San Diego
Films shot in San Francisco
Films with screenplays by Paul Schrader