Hardcore (1979)

 I knew going in that 'Hardcore' was going to be a tough watch, but I'd long been interested in seeing the film anyway. Written and directed by Paul Schrader the film tackles his long preferred theme of characters out of sink with the values of the larger society of which they are a part. 

George C. Scott plays Jake Van Dorn, the owner of a successful wood furniture business, he's a single father with a teenage daughter, and a pious and active member of the local Dutch Reformed Church in Grand Rapids, Michigan. His daughter Kristen (Ilah Davis, good in her sole screen appearance) goes on a Church sponsored trip to California shortly after Christmas, where she disappears from Knotts Berry Farm. Jake and his brother-in-law Wes (Dick Sargent) travel to California to look for her and hire private investigator Andy Mast (Peter Boyle) to help. After a time the two go back to Michigan and wait on the detective. 

After months of searching Mast shows up in Michigan to show Jake a movie he found and confirm the identity of the girl. It is hard core pornography, and the degree of Kristen's willing participation is uncertain. Sometime later Jake goes back to California himself, dissatisfied by the slow progress of Mast's efforts he decides to conduct a search himself. His direct appeals for information from adult book store employees, prostitutes and pimps encounters much resistance and the police prove no help, so he choses to try a different strategy. 

Jake changes his look and pretends to be a man casting for an adult film, he puts out an open casting call in the hopes of finding one of the men who was in the movie with his daughter, thinking they may be able to help him find her. He does encounter one of the men, but he is no help and Jake beats him up. He eventually encounters Nikki, the classic 'hooker with a hear of gold' (played by Season Hubley, who was Kurt Russell's wife at the time). Nikki, for a fee, agrees to help Jake navigate the seemy underworld of the the 1970's California porn scene as they search for his daughter, who may or may not want to be found. 

Scott, always strong, gives one of his greatest performances, in lesser hands Jake Van Doran could have been an unlikable prude, but here he is a desperate parent whose piety is sincere, and love for his daughter clear. He and Nikki, characters whose worldviews are extremely different, have respectful and intelligent conversations about important issues and the dialogue, indeed all the writing, is excellent. It is important to remember that at the time this movie was made and set changes in obscenity laws and such were relatively recent, and exactly where the legal lines were on some of these thing seemed uncertain to many. It's kind of like recent changes in drug laws, pot may be legal in Colorado, but nationally it's still illegal, so people in that business are in a weird place when it comes to certain liabilities. 

This is strong film, in more then one sense of the term and obviously not for all audiences. Parts may seem exploitive but the core of what this movie is going for is substantive, contemplative, and notably non judgmental towards its main characters, both those who support and oppose pornography. ***1/2