Hardcore
If anyone thinks that the world of hardcore pornography is bad in this day and age as it proudly records billions of dollars worth of profit on an annual basis, then they should see what the âadult industryâ was like in the 1970s, a decadent wasteland where everyone involved were sketchy types at best and at worse downright criminal, satanic evil if you looked hard enough inside. It was a world where those with certain âconnectionsâ could actually obtain 8mm reels featuring blatantly underage performers or worse, outright so called underground âsnuffâ in which one or more performers (usually the females) would be straight up murdered onscreen with private screenings of such material having at least a $100 price tag for a ticket. Pretty horrifying terrain that (to an extent) was cleaned up a bit before exploding once again through the rise of The Internet, putting an end to public businesses like peep show booths and porno theatres since all one would need to do now is just download the material onto their laptop computers. But in the 70s, the whole idea was just that you had to know where to go, whether it be in the red light district of any major city or the small town porno shops (which would charge a cover simply to browse) or random adult theatres which would be closely monitored by the vice cops for any kind of prostitution activity. Much of this was fertile ground for the mind of Paul Schrader who had already made an impression on many with his dark, disturbing script that he had written for Martin Scorseseâs Taxi Driver and now with him moving up to both writing and directing in 1979 he had decided to cover this kind of ground albeit while wrapping it around a most fascinating and semi autobiographical story. Schrader had grown up a Calvinist in Grand Rapids, Michigan, strictly raised by his family in what was a borderline cult form of Christianity (ordinarily favored by Dutch Americans) where children are cut off from almost all contact with the outside world (including movies, TV and books) until the age of 18 when they are finally allowed to interact with others regardless of the social awkwardness that they may display around them. Schrader came up with the rather brilliant idea of having a father from this kind of background learn that his underage daughter has gone missing during a field trip to California, only to then find out much to his horror that she has been roped into the world of underground pornography. For the key lead role of the father, Schrader would cast none other than the great George C. Scott, still riding the wave of high profile roles in the decade following his refused Oscar win for Patton in 1971. As effective as Scott is in the role of a grieving, Bible thumping father, his relationship with Schrader was extremely strained during filming with Scott at one point even forcing Schrader to promise him in front of the cast and crew that he would never direct a movie ever again after this if he wanted Scott to finish the movie (a promise which Schrader would of course break). Scott would also later say that even though he was quite fond of the script itself, he never would have taken it on if he knew that they were going to film in so many actual seedy locations. Indeed, Schrader instructed his locations people to line up as many real life adult oriented establishments as possible including motels, brothels, and bookstores to use as locations to film in (which was easier said than done in most cases) and contributed in many ways to the sleazily realistic atmosphere. On the other hand, the real life very conservative town of Grand Rapids (where Scott and his daughter were portrayed as being from) were quite upset over being told one thing about the location shoots in their town and then finding out that what the movie actually was about was quite different. At least Scott for his part (in the early scenes) portrays his devout businessman as being a more likable guy around his family than the stonefaced, humorless, unyielding prick stereotype that we might expect (although his brother appears to fill that bill just fine). He does have one point of shame though as his wife had apparently ran off and divorced him, leaving him a single dad of his only child and so when she disappears, he flies out to California with his brother in law (Dick Sargent) and quickly realizes that the local police are clueless (they have a big clipboard with several missing kids on it that they can never make rhyme or reason of) so he winds up hiring a private detective (Peter Boyle) who actually specializes in finding missing kids. The irony about Boyle specializing in this field is because he himself is heavily connected with and involved in the porno industry and in some ways appears to serve as an enforcer for hire / pseudo lawman amongst these scuzzy types and so for $750 a week (plus expenses) Boyle promises to find Scottâs daughter for him only to personally fly out to Grand Rapids with an 8mm porno film in hand that features the daughter engaging in sexual acts. Scott has a near nervous breakdown watching it but it gets worse as Boyle claims that he doesnât know who made it or where to find them but as long as Scott keeps paying his fee that heâll eventually find his little girl and bring her home. Scott quickly figures out that Boyle knows more than heâs saying and is holding out on him not to mention engaging in exhortion so he fires him and heads out to California himself personally in order to dive headfirst into a world that makes him sick to his stomach. His early attempts at finding information by just walking into random bookstores and sex clubs and showing people his daughterâs picture are met with indifference and (honest) answers that they simply do not know who he is talking about. After finding himself bounced out of these places one time too many, Scott smartens up and switches strategies, pretending to be a wealthy financier looking to make his own porno film, donning a disguise and even going so far as to hold auditions in a dingy hotel room. At this point the movie is definitely going in the right direction in depicting Scott becoming exactly what it is that he despises in order to accomplish his goals (and possibly becoming just as lost as his daughter is) while getting off good character bits such as when being asked by a hooker if he is a cop, he not only tells her no but also makes it a point of saying that he has even less respect for law enforcement than she does. Eventually he grabs a hot lead that takes him to a nice looking little sex worker in her own right (Season Hubley) whom he literally hires for a handsome sum (by her standards) to lead him down the path to where presumably his daughter is there waiting to be saved by him. Where the movie kicks it into high gear acting wise is in the way that Scott and Hubleyâs lost soul hooker suddenly bond to the point that she actually starts angling herself to be the one that âreplacesâ the lost daughter so that Scott (who refuses to screw her despite paying her a lot of money for her help) might just instead take her with him back to Grand Rapids so that she can now be raised in a more traditional environment. This extra sad bit of pathos (Scott promises not to turn his back on her for her help even as she too is holding out on him in order to accomplish this goal) of Hubley desperately wanting a father figure in her life so badly that she wants Scott to âadoptâ her really hits home in so many ways even as it is complicated by Boyle reentering the story (having been rehired by Sargentâs brother in law to now save both Scott AND his daughter) and the revelation that Scottâs daughter might very well be hanging around with people who not only specialize in the snuff porno subgenre but are also possibly âgroomingâ her to fatally star in such a film if her father doesnât catch up to them on time. While the downbeat premise (which inspired the later Nicolas Cage film 8mm) and lurid subject matter might turn some off, this remains a solid, concise piece of work which unapologetically offers no easy answers at the end in regards to the daughterâs (played by Ilah Davis who did no other film work and spent most of her life in a cult called The Rainbow Family before dying in 2007) mental well being nor in the fact that Hubley is basically expected to âreport back to workâ once all of this is over with, leading one to realize that having a determined, resourceful father who will at all costs come to pluck you out of the life of Porno Hell is a lot more than most of the poor, unlucky girls who get sucked into that horrific lifestyle will ever come to knowâŚ
9/10