It’s an especially fun movie from a director and cast who are clearly having a good time allowing themselves to let loose.

I wanted to like it more than I actually did... But much of the humor totally escaped me and I walked out only mildly impressed.

This is one of the few movies I've ever seen where the whole audience broke into spontaneous, loud applause a third of the way in.

A film of deceptively outspoken contemporary relevance, this is cinema at its most alert, alarming and alive.

During the VHS revolution back in the 80's I remember the box cover for this movie on the video store shelves but back then it just wasn't interesting enough to take much notice. And so this is one of those movies I'd never seen until now, perhaps due to the adult themes portrayed, it never appeared on British television, at least as far as I know.So I dialled it up online and being someone who prefers older movies and the aesthetic of celluloid finally got around to viewing this rather downbeat TV style movie. Although the director Paul Schrader also wrote the screenplay for Taxi Driver, this movie has none of the surreal fantasy aspects of that movie. Hardcore just feels like the sort of humdrum social drama you would find on TV except with an A list Oscar winning actor in it.Don't get me wrong, this movie does have its moments, some moments comedic and some sleazy sequences which aim to raise the excitement just a bit. And there are times when this kind of movie hits the right notes, perhaps when you're in a somewhat more thoughtful and relaxed mood.George C Scott does look a bit out of place in this movie, not entirely comfortable I thought and perhaps took the role thinking that Schrader's previous involvement with Taxi Driver might help reset his career in a more upward trajectory. Sadly it didn't!

In Taxi Driver, we never get to know what Iris thinks about Travis "saving" her. We get to hear from her parents who thanks Travis in a letter. But maybe Iris was happy with the pimps and the junkies. She was probably not fit for Middle-America. Anyway, we are never really told what Iris thinks about the whole shootout. We assume (with good enough reason) that Travis saved her and she is in safe hands. Hardcore is a film about the sort of background and patriarchy that might have created a runaway teenage prostitute like Iris.Jake Vandrom (played by George.C.Scott) could well be Iris' father. Jake is a straight laced furniture salesman who follows Calvinism. The adherents to Calvinism believe that god has already decided whether you're going to be saved or not. Nothing you do in this life can save you unless god deems it because the decision has already been made.Jake's daughter disappears while attending a Christian summer camp. After he seeks the help of a private investigator (Peter Boyle), it is revealed that his daughter acted in a porn film and might be hanging out with all sorts of seedy folk. The rest of the movie is about Jake's search for his daughter. So an extremely conservative man from conservative America penetrates the Californian porn underworld to find his daughter.Paul Schrader does portray Jake as the only decent man among a variety of pimps and prostitutes. But there is a scene where JAKE has a conversation about Calvinism with a prostitute who agrees to help him find his daughter. It gives clues to Jake's strict attitude towards life and why his daughter might have run away from home.And in the end, when Jake finally finds his daughter, we get to hear her side of the story. She left him because she was fed up of life with him. And while she says she is loved among the pimps and prostitutes, she does agree to go back with Jake.The ending was quite stupid. I read in the trivia section that Schrader had to change the original ending. I guess the film suffers from the lack of a firm directorial hand and vision. It is sort of a thriller and a mystery. Schrader does try to exhibit some directorial flourishes in the final action scenes. But i don't think he is a very good director. The film is flat. It does not have the stamp of the director. It could have been directed by Ron Howard for all I know.There are a few gripping scenes here and there. There is a scene where Jake is in bed at his hotel after getting thrown out of a brothel. A group is singing a Christian song on TV and then the camera pans on to the window showing the concrete jungle that is California (the music changes from the soppy tune on the TV to a disturbing background score) and the camera finally rests on Jake thinking about what he ought to do next. In the next scene, he sheds his conservative demeanor, having decided to make some adjustments to fit into this brutal and alien world.George.C.Scott has an imposing screen presence. I liked the way he uses his eyes. Peter Boyle's role was so ill conceived. I hated the way he changes his mind and becomes goody two shoes in the end. Season Hubley was adorable as the prostitute who helps JAKE.

In short; I did like the movie but still had plenty of problems with it.The premise of the movie is really good and interesting and also lets this movie sound like it is a great and powerful movie, about some previously unseen and very ugly, dirty things. But the movie just isn't quite it. It never gets confronting or shocking enough and in the long run, the movie fails to make a true emotional or dramatic impact.That is the real problem with this movie; it's lacking any good emotions and dramatic developments. The search for George C. Scott's daughter just never feels intense enough and he doesn't always make a very desperate or depressed impression at all.The movie also gives you the feeling it really isn't delving deep enough into things. This could had been an interesting exploration into the darker and ugly side of the porn business but the movie just never quite goes there. You could blame it all on the writing but perhaps you should also blame it a bit on the approach that the movie is taking.The approach just never makes the movie a real interesting one really. It's lacking a good buildup to certain things and situations, which also causes the movie to fail to make a true great impact with anything.Some moments are still being made great by George C. Scott's performance. But unfortunately he himself also can't really ever make his character a compelling enough one. He isn't even all that likable and his character is also making some odd and very unlikely choices throughout the entire movie.There still is plenty to like about this movie. I for instance loved it how it was taking a real typical '70's approach with its film-making, even though not everything about it worked out all that well. And like I also said before, the movie does still definitely has its moments and it besides still remains a original movie to watch, thanks to its main concept and premise.Definitely good enough but it all had far more potential in it really.7/10 http://bobafett1138.blogspot.com/

'Hardcore' (aka 'The Hardcore Life') proves that not every movie about sex has to be tawdry. It's been a weird divergence recently that sex in stuff like 'Sex and the City' is empowering, while sex everywhere else is demeaning. It doesn't have to be like that. Whatever angle you'll approach it from, 'Hardcore' will prove a thoughtful and deadly serious take on pornography.George C. Scott plays Vandorn, a successful Midwestern businessman and strict Dutch Reformationist. On a church outing, his daughter does missing. He hires a private detective, Mast (Peter Boyle, excellent as always), to find her. Soon, Mast calls him to a local porno theatre and Vandorn has to watch his daughter in a porno movie. After another couple of months, Vandorn can't take it anymore. He goes out to find his daughter himself... forcing himself to confront everything that disgusts him.George C. Scott paints a really interesting character. He starts off repulsed by investigating the porno world, and gets thrown out of a brothel for his trouble. But he ends up going undercover and reining in his religion because, as he says to Niki, the only thing that truly matters in his life is his daughter.Ah, his daughter, Kirsten. I want to get that one bad thing out of the way, because everything else in 'Hardcore' is spot-on. Sadly, the gal playing Kirsten can't act at all. From pronouncing "g***amned" with no venom, to horribly overacting other stuff. But it really is the only tiny bum note in a superb movie.Paul Schrader is on the top of his game as director. It's a very tight movie with no overlong or wasted scenes. There are also some nice visual touches. The shots of Vandorn distorted in mirrors to show his confusion; and one where Vandorn parks on a downward slope before he goes into a bondage place, to indicate him sinking into hell.Gary Graham from 'Alien Nation' turns up as a sleaze who gets into a fight with George C. Scott. They throw each other through the paper-thin walls of the bondage place. For all the sleaziness of the environment, it's an artificially tough world... and one where Scott feels he can triumph.Well shot and thought provoking, 'Hardcore' really is a superb film.