Product Description

A conservative midwest businessman ventures into the sordid underworld of pornography in california to look for his runaway teenage daughter whom is making porno films in the porno pits of los angeles. Studio: Sony Pictures Home Ent Release Date: 05/23/2006 Starring: George C Scott Peter Boyle Run time: 108 minutes Rating: R

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #48600 in DVD
• Brand: Sony
• Released on: 2004-09-14
• Rating: R (Restricted)
• Aspect ratio: 1.85:1
• Formats: Color, DVD, Subtitled, Widescreen, NTSC
• Original language: English
• Subtitled in: English, Spanish, Japanese
• Number of discs: 1
• Dimensions: .25 pounds
• Running time: 109 minutes

Amazon.com
Although it never achieved the classic status of Martin Scorsese's Taxi Driver or the greater critical acclaim of his own Blue Collar, Hardcore remains a vital film from the early career of writer-director Paul Schrader. It's a solid companion piece to Taxi Driver (and uses much of the same crew, including cinematographer Michael Chapman), with a similar descent-into-hell storyline. Schrader's strict Calvinist upbringing in Grand Rapids, Michigan, provides the semi-autobiographical launching point for a journey into the dark heart of pornography and prostitution, beginning when a stern, morally upright Calvinist father (George C. Scott) learns that his teenage daughter has vanished during a church-sponsored visit to California. She's a runaway on a rapidly downward spiral, and Scott recruits a sleazy private detective (Peter Boyle) and a sympathetic porno-actress (Season Hubley) to try and find her. Although Schrader's much-criticized ending doesn't ring entirely true, there's much to admire here, from Scott's memorably anguished performance to the vivid authenticity of the film's seedy, threatening locations and the conflicting moral issues raised in an atmosphere of hopeless depravity. As its title suggests, Hardcore is a potent, uncompromising film, definitely not for prudes or underage viewers. --Jeff Shannon