Kino Lorber’s Blu-ray of Hardcore delivers on its title

Columbia Pictures

Screen legend George C. Scott gives a strong, sensitive portrayal of a deeply religious Midwestern businessman whose daughter, while on a church-sponsored outing, runs away from home. He hires an oddball detective (Peter Boyle), who learns that the daughter has been making cheap sex films. When the father realizes that he can no longer trust the detective, he decides to hunt for his daughter himself. Posing as a porno film producer casting a new movie, he gathers clues with ferocious determination. Finally, with the help of a prostitute (Season Hubley), he locates his daughter. But is it too late? Paul Schrader, writer and director, presents a powerful, unflinching glimpse into the dark, bizarre world of the pornography industry.

REVIEW

Anyone who has seen a handful of movies from writer/director Paul Schrader knows what they’re in for: lonely guy goes through an existential crisis, gets involved in stuff he should probably stay out of, finds the only logical conclusion to his story. Taxi Driver, First Reformed, American Gigolo, The Card Counter, the list goes on. There are exceptions, of course, but it’s a story that he’s written for over 50 years. 1979’s Hardcore is one of those films — recently released on Blu-ray from Kino Lorber, the first American release since 2016.

That’s not to say that if you’ve seen one, you’ve seen them all. Quite the contrary, actually. Each one finds its character at distinct points in their lives, battling their own demons, and finding a way out of the life that they live. That’s what makes Hardcore one of those films. It stars George C. Scott (Patton, Firestarter) in an uncharacteristically naked role as Jake Van Dorn, a conservative man from Grand Rapids, Michigan who sends his daughter on a church trip to California. When she disappears from the rest of the group without a trace, Van Dorn must track her down.

Not knowing where to start, he hires a private investigator played by Peter Boyle (Taxi Driver, Young Frankenstein) to find her. It takes him five months (Isn’t that … terribly slow? He charges $750 a week! He makes $15,000 before he finds anything!), but he finally digs up some dirt that he fears Van Dorn would rather not know. He knows Van Dorn wouldn’t believe it if he just told him, so he sits him down in a sex shop’s backroom theater and presents his findings by showing him an 8mm stag film featuring Van Dorn’s daughter. I get what Schrader is doing here, he wants the image of George C. Scott covering his face that they can put next to the tagline ‘OH MY GOD, THAT’S MY DAUGHTER!’ on the poster, but it’s a sick and disturbing scene. I feel like if you’re the private investigator you have to be like, ‘Listen, man, please just trust me, okay?’

Regardless, the truth is out: George C. Scott’s daughter is involved in L.A.’s pornographic industry. He sends Peter Boyle back out on the case to find her, but when that comes up empty and he discovers that Boyle is using some of his fee for ‘research’, he decides he’s the only one who can do it.

He needs to track down his presumably-kidnapped daughter, but unlike Liam Neeson, he doesn’t have a special set of skills that would help him do that, so he puts on silly little wigs and fake mustaches and poses as an adult film producer looking to cast talent, hoping this will get him closer to his daughter. From there, he embarks on a journey into the heart of the adult film industry that forces him to confront his own deeply held beliefs and prejudices, his relationship with his daughter, and the progressive world around him. From scene to scene, shop to shop, backroom to backroom, casting couch to (the) casting couch (that he sets up), the film’s journey is really an internal one.

Columbia Pictures

In front of and behind the camera, you have two guys doing the outstanding work associated with their careers. George C. Scott’s performance as Jake is another all-time high in his filmography. He’s always great at making his inner turmoil someone else’s problem and he does that to great effect here in his interactions with the people of this world that he’d rather not be interacting with. He captures the complexity of a man torn between his love for God and love for his daughter, and the harsh realities of the adult film industry.

Schrader, who directs and writes the screenplay, makes a film that is a waking nightmare that only Scott’s conservative Midwesterner could dream up: he portrays the industry as dirty, cheap, aggressive, and criminal. He’s made it clear over the years that Hardcore is the result of his Calvinist upbringing in Grand Rapids, Michigan and if you had asked me to predict the kind of film that a Calvinist Michigander would make about sex work and the adult film industry, it would be close to this.

He’s made a film that doesn’t give easy answers and it can be an uncomfortable watch at times during the 108 minutes, but through the eyes of his protagonist, Schrader is challenging your own beliefs and prejudices, making it a conversation starter still to this day, over 40 years later. Kino Lorber, as is often the case, deserves a thank you for bringing this one back into our lives.

VIDEO

The cinematography of then-Scorsese collaborator Michael Chapman looks great. His photography is presented with sharp color balance — darkness is clear and distinct, which is an underrated skill in film nowadays. The 4K master is clean and without issues.

AUDIO

The 2.0 DTS-HD MA gets the job done. English subtitles are also available.

SPECIAL FEATURES

A handful of trailers aside, the film only really has commentaries for features: a 2016 recording of Paul Schrader (a storyteller who doesn’t need a pen or keyboard) and a new recording of film historians Eddy Friedfeld, Lee Pfeiffer, and Paul Scrabo.