Tweet
Released by: Twilight Time Releasing
Released on: August 16th, 2016.
Director: Paul Schrader
Cast: George C. Scott, Peter Boyle, Season Hubley, Dick Sargent, Leonard Gaines, David Nichols
Year: 1979
Purchase From Screen Archives
The Movie:
Written and directed by Paul Schrader in 1979, Hardcore introduces us to Jake VanDorn (George C. Scott in a role originally intended for Warren Beatty), a simple businessman from Grand Rapids, Michigan. He takes his family as seriously as he does his Calvinist belief system. He is a man of faith, and that faith is very important to him. We see this in the very early parts of the film where he and his family are celebrating the holidays. It's all incredibly wholesome.
Things change quickly when Jake's daughter, Kristen (Ilah Davis), disappears while on a church trip to California. No one knows where she went, or why. Understandably concerned, Jake hires a private detective named Mast (Peter Boyle) to dig up what he can and hops on a plane to Los Angeles. It's here that Mast shows him what he's found - a pornographic loop starring Kristen. In one of the film's iconic scenes, Jake sobs, his head in his hands. His heart is broken, he's clearly in pain. He mutters to Mast to 'turn it off' and as the film continues to play, his muttering becomes louder, more intense to the point where he starts screaming at him.
Mast tells him: "Nobody made it. Nobody sold it. Nobody sees it. It doesn't exist."
As VanDorn becomes increasingly frustrated with Mast, who is not above playing around with some of the fringe benefits his connections offer, Jake fires him and decides to go out on his own to find Kristin. He's got a picture of her, a picture of the guy who appeared in the film with her and not much else but he's determined. Soon enough he inadvertently teams up with a young hooker named Niki (Season Hubley). As they work together to find Kristen they develop an unorthodox friendship, but as Jake wanders deeper and deeper into the sex industry, he realizes that this isn't going to be easy. Nobody wants to talk to an outsider…
Set in a world before you could easily find any sort of explicit material you wanted to with the click of a mouse, Hardcore takes us on a fantastic tour of some genuinely sleazy locations. Once VanDorn's investigation is on and he plunges headfirst into the porno movie underbelly, the film spends plenty of time prowling adult bookstores, peepshows, sleazy movie sets and more. As such, it's a bit of a time capsule in that, while some of this stuff still exists today, it's on a much smaller scale since the onset of home video and then, obviously, the internet. However, it makes for a damn near perfect playground for Schrader to set his sordid story against and the movie exploits this wonderfully.
This is a gritty tale in many ways, but at the same time you've got to admire the determination shown by Scott's character. While a lot of parents would simply call the cops and let them deal with it, he takes what happens to his daughter very personally and as he does, we see a good man go to some pretty extreme lengths to do what he feels is right. Scott is fantastic here. Yes, he does chew the scenery a little bit and it's impossible to deny the novelty of seeing the man who played Patton cruising through a porno shop clad not in a suit but in a polyester shirt complete with a big butterfly collar, but the guy seriously commits to the part. His character stands in strong contrast to Peter Boyle's shifty P.I. in the film. Boyle's also fantastic here, really just perfectly embodying the character and bringing the right amount of quirky mannerisms to the part to make his turn here quite memorable. Throw in a great supporting effort from Season Hubley (who also played a good hearted hooker opposite Wings Hauser in the mighty Vice Squad!) and smaller roles for Dick Sargent, Leslie Ackerman and of course, Hal Williams as Big Dick Blaq and the cast is reason enough to check this out.
There's more to it, however. Shrader's movie explores some very different walks of life by letting Scott and Hubley share some interesting scenes together. He's clearly a man of high moral standing (it's not a coincidence that Boyle's character refers to him as 'pilgrim') and she a prostitute, their conversations about sex, about morality and about theological topics are fascinating because they demonstrate both how they differ and what they have in common. The movie shares some thematic elements with Taxi Driver (also written by Shrader) in that regard, with Travis Bickle and Jake VanDorn both intent on cleaning things up in their own way, and with Niki and Iris both young prostitutes attached - for better or worse - to these older, dominant male figures. Jake and Niki both fill certain needs for each other, he sees her as a surrogate for his daughter in a way, and she sees him as a father figure of sorts.
The film's ending, which was not what Shrader originally wanted for the picture, sucks some of the wind out of the movie's sails by wrapping things up rather too neatly. That said, Shrader (drawing influence from John Ford's The Searchers in more ways than one) paces the film really well. The cinematography (by Michael Chapman, another carry over from Taxi Driver) is excellent, the score is extremely effective and the acting is rock solid across the board. On a side note, look out for the lovely and talented adult film star Serena playing one of the female actresses in the adult movie shoot just before the half hour mark in the film.
Video/Audio/Extras:
Hardcore arrives on Blu-ray from Twilight Time in an excellent AVC encoded 1080p high definition presentation. Framed in the film's original theatrical aspect ratio of 1.85.1 widescreen, once the movie heads into the seedy inner city locations we really see the improvement in picture quality compared to the old DVD release. Now you can really take in all the dirt and grim on the walls and the floors, appreciate all the tweed on Peter Boyle's jacket and appreciate all the greasy fingerprints in the peepshow booth! Colors are reproduced nicely, the weird lights emanating from the back room of an adult bookstore casting ghostly green and garish red hues in a few key scenes, while black levels are pretty solid. Skin tones look good and there are no obvious issues with any compression artifacts or edge enhancement. Additionally the image is very clean, so there's a good amount of film grain but no serious print damage
The English language DTS-HD Mono track, which comes with optional subtitles in English only, is also of very good quality. There are no noticeable issues with any hiss or distortion. The score sounds really strong here with good depth and range to it. The levels are properly balanced throughout while the dialogue stays clean and clear. No problems to report, this is a fine track.
Extras start off with an all new audio commentary featuring Paul Schrader who starts off by talking about the difficulties that were encountered right off the bat during the shoot when they weather wouldn't cooperate. He points out the block where he grew up and his father cleaning the car off in the opening scene, talks about growing up in Grand Rapids, Michigan, and notes how they had to shoot under the title 'Pilgrim' to note upset the locals by using the 'Hardcore' title. He then talks about his strict religious upbringing, how he wrote this film during a period in his career when he wanted to 'speak directly' to his background. He then talks about some of the Michigan locations used, casting George C. Scott in the lead role and his love of vodka (though noting that he was very professional when he was sober) and what it was like working with the actor, who was very nearsighted, on the film and some of the complications that arrived as a result! The scene specific track then covers some of the other locations used in the movie, the original ending that Shrader wanted to use in the film (he 'regrets' going with the option that was used in the final cut of the movie). Shrader also covers some the use of gels seen in the movie to get the right look for certain scenes, how much of the movie's appeal lies in seeing George C. Scott prowling about these seedy environments, some of his own experiences going to film school at UCLA and quite a bit more. Shrader periodically clams up for short stretches here and there but for the most part this is a really interesting look at the making of the film with a lot of great background information about how this picture came to be and who did what to make it happen.
Twilight Time has also included a second audio commentary, this time with input from film historians Eddy Friedfeld, Lee Pfeiffer and Paul Scrabo. These guys do a nice job of offering up a lot of critical insight into the movie, noting that the film really uses two very different color schemes (a subdued one for the 'normal' world and one that is 'overblown and fake' once it delves into the world of pornography), how the film starts off as such a wholesome piece only to go into very dark territory, the effectiveness of certain performances in the movie and some of the similarities the film shares with Taxi Driver, including the casting of Peter Boyle. They also talk about how unusual it was to see an A-list star like Scott in a movie like this, how the adult film industry of the time is so different from the way people access similar content in the modern age, how the film accurately portrays the boredom of the cast and crew on the porno movie set, the relationship that develops between Scott and Hubley in the film, the locations that Shrader chose for key scenes and quite a bit more. These guys are obviously having a good time watching the film together and they make some interesting points as it plays out, but also offer some critical analysis and informed opinions on what makes it as interesting a film as it is.
The disc also includes Jack Nitzsche's score as an isolated audio track in DTS-HD format (this is not to be overlooked, it's a fantastic selection of music), a theatrical trailer for the feature, static menus and chapter selection. Included inside the clear Blu-ray keepcase alongside the Blu-ray disc is a full color insert booklet containing liner notes from Julie Kirgo along with a selection of stills, images and poster art from the film. The essay makes some keen observations about the significance of the title not just in terms of how it applies to pornography, but to certain characters' religious convictions as well.
The Final Word:
Twilight Time's Blu-ray release of Paul Schrader's Hardcore trumps the previous DVD edition in every way, offering up a much improved audio and video presentation and including two very different but equally informative commentary tracks that properly document the film's history along with a few other extras. The film itself still hits like a punch to the gut at times, it's a gritty dramatic thriller with some great performances, amazing location photography and some great character development. Highly recommended!
Click on the images below for full sized Blu-ray screen caps!
