Movie review – “Hardcore” (1979) **

No one falls off the wagon like a Calvinist, which is what happened to Paul Schrader in the 70s. His upbringing stands as a prime warning not to be too restrictive when raising your kids, or else they’ll go a bit bonkers and go full on into drugs, sex and film theory. Still, it gave Schrader a rich reservoir of angst to tap, which he does in this drama/thriller.

It accesses one of the great paranoid fantasies of suburbia – to wit, that if your daughter ever goes missing she’ll wind up in a porn film. That’s what happens to George C Scott in this film, resulting in a famous scene where he screams at a projectionist “turn it off!” It’s a good idea, but the film never lives up to its potential.

It takes ages to get started – I get the idea that they’re establishing Scott’s world but it goes on too long. And Scott’s methods tracking down his daughter are way too costly and silly. Surely he could just door knock and say “I’m looking for my daughter”, instead of paying prostitutes for their time and going undercover as a porn producer (complete with fake moustache)? I mean he is the girl’s father, and she’s just a girl in a porn film not someone who witnessed a murder or something like that. I know Schrader was invoking The Searchers but in The Searchers the Indians stole the daughter and killed the family – they were obviously a threat from the beginning. Here the threat comes very late and seems tacked on. (Schrader would later demonstrate a similar failure to understand what made old classics tick when he remade Cat People). The film picks up when Season Hubley becomes involved; her humorous, likeable performance contrasts well with Scott and she should have been introduced earlier, really. Still you get to see a variety of kinky sex shops.

(NB You get the feeling Schrader’s relationship with the studios making this film was a little like the one between PI Peter Boyle and George C Scott on screen – Scott hires Boyle to do find his daughter, Boyle comes up with clues but costs a lot of money and takes forever; Scott tracks Boyle down and busts him on a couch with a hooker, pleading “I’m doing research”. Did Schrader claim all the money he spent on hookers and drugs on his tax?)