{"id":16576,"date":"2017-08-29T13:03:15","date_gmt":"2017-08-29T17:03:15","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/?p=16576"},"modified":"2017-08-31T17:49:51","modified_gmt":"2017-08-31T21:49:51","slug":"br-hardcore-1979","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/?p=16576","title":{"rendered":"BR: Hardcore (1979)"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"Film<\/strong>: Very Good<\/p>\n

Transfer<\/strong>: \u00a0Excellent<\/p>\n

Extras<\/strong>: Excellent<\/p>\n

Label:\u00a0<\/strong> Twilight Time<\/p>\n

Region:<\/strong>\u00a0All<\/p>\n

Released:<\/strong>\u00a0 August 16, 2016<\/p>\n

Genre:<\/strong>\u00a0 Drama<\/p>\n

Synopsis:<\/strong>\u00a0A religious father travels to California in search of his daughter who may have become involved with a porn outfit.<\/p>\n

Special Features:<\/strong>\u00a0<\/span>Audio Commentary #1: writer-director Paul Schrader \/ Audio Commentary #2: film historians Eddy Friedland, Lee Pfeiffer, and Paul Scrabo \/ Isolated Mono Music Track \/ Theatrical Trailer \/ 8-page colour booklet with liner notes by film historian Julie Kirgo \/ Limited to 3000 copies \/ Available exclusively from Screen Archives Entertainment<\/a> and www.twilighttimemovies.com.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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Review:<\/strong><\/p>\n

After making his screenwriting debut with The Yakuza<\/a> <\/strong>(1974), Paul Schrader crafted a trio of cult classics \u2013 Martin Scorsese\u2019s Taxi Driver <\/strong>(1976), Brian De Palma\u2019s Obsession<\/strong> (1976), and John Flynn\u2019s Rolling Thunder<\/strong>) – and soon branched out into directing with the drama Blue Collar<\/strong> (1978).<\/p>\n

Over the subsequent decades, Schrader\u2019s continued to pen scripts and sometimes directed works by other screenwriters, but as he states in his excellent commentary on Twilight Time\u2019s Blu-ray edition, some of his projects contain autobiographical elements, and as implausible as it may seem, Hardcore<\/strong>, his riff on John Ford\u2019s The Searchers<\/strong> (1956) set in the world of porn, is filled with them.<\/p>\n

The screenplay was also inspired by a story in which a girl traveled to California from her staunch Dutch Calvinist community in Grand Rapids, Michigan, and got lost in the sleazy world of hardcore porn. This undoubtedly fascinated Schrader, not only because it involved someone from his home town and similar religious upbringing, but the collisions of moral and cultural extremes.<\/p>\n

Schrader describes his story as pious man (a character patterned after his own father) forced to take the journey into Dante\u2019s Inferno to rescue his daughter, losing himself in the process, and becoming terminally scarred with the horrors he\u2019s touched, smelled, and fended off. To find clues to his daughter\u2019s appearance, the father must become a pretender, embrace the sleaze of a San Diego\u2019s porn hub tailored to visiting sailors, and posture like a loaded amateur producer to gain contacts and eventually penetrate an intimate inner circle of scumbags involved in the worst type of porn.<\/p>\n

Jake VanDorn (George C. Scott) is a decent yet flawed man glued to his faith, blind to the teenage turmoil within daughter Kristen (Ilah Davis), but he\u2019s also a successful businessman in his community, and an emerging elder of the VanDorn clan. His brother-in-law Wes DeJong (underrated Dick Sargent) manages a celery farm, and the community as a whole shuns TV, non-religious music, and no movies \u2013 elements also mined from Schrader\u2019s youth in which he didn\u2019t see a movie until his twenties.<\/p>\n

When a call from California alerts Jake that his daughter\u2019s disappeared, he travels with Wes to the west coast and hires a sleazy private detective after the police essentially shrug their shoulders and point to a cork board bearing myriad photos of lost daughters. P.I. Andy Mast (instant scene-stealer Peter Boyle) is blunt and profane, but the two men from Grand Rapids realize he may be their best resource to finding and rescuing Kristen (or conversely, the best con artist around).<\/p>\n

Mast\u2019s legwork quickly yields a roll of film which he screens for Jake in a local porn cinema, injecting the first vial of poison into the Calvinist\u2019s system, as father watches daughter perform fleshy atrocities. Jake\u2019s breakdown formed a key moment in the film\u2019s trailer and was later repurposed in hysterical memes, so it\u2019s initially tough to watch the scene straight, but Scott\u2019s very potent breakdown is believable as a man self-forced to witness evil so that he knows the full extent of depravity that\u2019s torn into his insulated world.<\/p>\n

Jake\u2019s morality is so tight that he soon fires Mast and takes on the search for Kristin solo, perhaps driven by the logic that if he can run a furniture company manned by a substantive staff, finding his own daughter has to be possible, but several attempts to show Kristin\u2019s picture to pimps and prostitutes just gets him beat up. Too proud to take Wes\u2019s aide \u2013 and maybe too humiliated to reveal to him the environs he’s crawled into and the porn makers he\u2019s approached \u2013 Jake sends him off, and chooses to improvise.<\/p>\n

He becomes an auto parts manufacturer flush with cash wanting an easy return from porn, and eventually his meetings bring him up close to a performer, spunky Niki, who splits her time and services between film shoots and peep shows. A cash offer launches an unlikely pairing between a desperate father and a young woman who seems to have sympathy for Jake, and in Schrader\u2019s subtext, wants a parental figure to ease her away from a crappy life.<\/p>\n

What could\u2019ve been maudlin and melodramatic unravels in a peculiar series of discussions between a man governed by a peculiar theology, and a woman who questions and critiques, but without anger or ridicule from either party. The Schrader of today may regard the exchanges as didactic and the work of a sophomoric writer, but they\u2019re rather beautiful character moments that contextualize without music montages, sordid backstories or sudden misadventures; it\u2019s respectful disagreement between two distinct generations and cultures, and also shows Jake’s awareness that the TULIP credo<\/a> he describes sounds a little nutty, but bears the dogma he can\u2019t abandon.<\/p>\n

Both Yakuza<\/strong> and Taxi Driver <\/strong>deal initially with the rescue of a young girl enveloped by dangerous elements within different cultures \u2013 the Japanese mafia, and a sleazy pimp, respectively \u2013 and contain rescue sequences where the girls survive. Hardcore<\/strong>\u00a0retains Schrader\u2019s fascination for culture clashes, but adds a\u00a0once deeply moral man losing control of his cherished rules. In the finale, Jake literally tears through the walls of a factory of amoral behaviour to rescue his daughter, and pours pent-up rage onto the pimp and murderer who ensnared Kristin.<\/p>\n

SPOILER ALERT<\/p>\n

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The studio-imposed rescue almost works \u2013 Jake\u2019s rapprochement with Kristin in a storage locker is quick & easy, and there\u2019s a sense both characters aren\u2019t as scarred as Schrader had originally wanted. Equally unsatisfactory is Mast\u2019s cartoonish firing his revolver across a busy street to kill the pimp \u2013 a moment of movie nonsense that almost defies Schrader\u2019s attempt at slight docu-drama by filming in actual porn establishments.<\/p>\n

Schrader\u2019s original ending was deemed too bleak by the studio: instead of finding and rescuing Kristin, he discovers she died in a car crash; and after returning home to Grand Rapids, the first wave of tormenting nightmares begin, making it clear he\u2019s irreparably damaged his moral centre albeit emerging physically intact from Dante\u2019s pornographic, snuff-infested inferno.<\/p>\n

The original ending would\u2019ve been an interesting alternative, but vestiges of the material remain in Jake’s bedtime nightmare (a sliver of footage appears early in the film, after Kristin’s left for California), and Schrader\u2019s deliberate echo to Robert Towne\u2019s script for Chinatown<\/strong> (1974), in which Mast delivers a line similar to \u2018Forget it Jake, it\u2019s Chinatown.\u2019<\/p>\n

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END OF SPOILERS<\/p>\n

Scott was nominated for a Razzie Award and his performance and character are easy to satirize, and one can be amused at Jake\u2019s wading into the world of porn production (cosmetic as it is), but it\u2019s the film\u2019s opening scenes in Grand Rapids that ground the film: visually and sonically the movie shifts from warm and benevolent to garish neon colours and street grime.<\/p>\n

The change is most evident in the soundtrack: a pristine choral piece changes from ethereal to a bizarre, demented version that accompanies Jake\u2019s literal arrival in San Diego. Jack Nitzsche used water glasses to distort the choral\u2019s harmonics, added synths and other surreal effects to infer Jake\u2019s hellish journey; instead of distorted visuals from the heat of Dante\u2019s inferno, it\u2019s all in the warping audio.<\/p>\n

Schrader originally wanted Diana Scarwid to play Niki but Columbia wanted someone prettier, and in spite of his misgivings, Hubley is quite good in a role that could’ve been played tarty and been less resonant, especially with the heavy nudity in early scenes. Warren Beatty expressed interest in the project, but reportedly dithered too long, ultimately feeling he was too young to play a role best suited for an actor like Scott.<\/p>\n

TV actor Gary Graham (Alien Nation<\/strong>) is excellent as a cautious, sleazy, indifferent purveyor of kiddie porn and snuff reels, and there\u2019s small but memorable appearances by Bibi Besch as Jake\u2019s promotional campaign designer, Hal Williams as peeved porn star Big Dick Blaque, prolific comedic character actor Tracey Walter as a creepy porn store clerk, plus bit parts for Reb Brown (Flash Gordon<\/strong>) as a bouncer and Ed Begley Jr. as a porn actor.<\/p>\n

Schrader also explains his decision to casting Ilah Davis as Kristin, a softcore actress who was comfortable doing nude scenes, and bears a slight resemblance to Scott. Davis \u2018vanished\u2019 from film, perhaps choosing to take what must have been a decent paycheck and start a new life wholly away from the camera lens. Her dramatic scenes are brief, and Schrader\u2019s coaching in the rescue \/ rapprochement between Jake and Kristin mostly works in spite of being part of the studio-mandated reshoots with cliched dialogue.<\/p>\n

Hardcore<\/strong> wasn\u2019t a big success for a director who already regarded himself as an independent filmmaker working within the studio system, so for his next pictures he chose \u201cmoney movies\u201d: the blockbuster American Gigolo <\/strong>(1982), and the cult horror film Cat People<\/a><\/strong> (1982) before delving into his passion project, Mishima<\/strong> (1985), co-written with brother \/ Yakuza<\/strong> co-writer\u00a0Leonard Schrader.<\/p>\n

Schrader\u2019s work is filled with controversial topics \u2013 violence, provocative sexuality, and a bit of nihilism \u2013 but unlike colleague \/ executive producer John Milius (The Wind and the Lion<\/strong>),<\/strong> he continues to work as a screenwriter for hire and director-auteur; even The Canyons<\/strong> (2013) has a unique visual aesthetic, and is once again packed in provocative casting and graphic imagery which no studio would comfortably release.<\/p>\n

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The Extras: Twilight Time vs. Indicator<\/strong><\/p>\n

Hardcore<\/strong> is available on Blu-ray in two very different special editions, and I\u2019ll sort through the merits of each with some brevity.<\/p>\n

TT\u2019s 2016 disc sports the Schrader commentary that\u2019s fairly specific on the film\u2019s production, and filled with the self-reflection of an older, wiser, more critical filmmaker who rarely looks back on prior work and thinks only of what\u2019s next. There\u2019s much candor on casting, especially on Scott, who had major drinking issues that sometimes put production on pause, but delivered the dramatic goods with conviction. The two didn\u2019t get along during filming, but there was enough compelling material in the character of Jake and the changes which affect his moral innards that Scott could be precise and compelling in spite of the on-set frictions.<\/p>\n

The secondary commentary track by film historians Eddy Friedland, Lee Pfeiffer, and Paul Scrabo contextualize the film and its maker, and the kind of productions being made by the studios when there were still producers rather than agents and lawyers at the helm. There\u2019s surprisingly less repetition, perhaps because the second track is an ongoing discussion rather than personal recollections.<\/p>\n

Nitzsche\u2019s score is isolated in a mono music & effects track, since the score is very minimal and atypical, with the aforementioned choral mutations also working as sound design. Although Nitzsche died in 2000, the composer, orchestrator, producer, and music whiz is profiled in a 22 mins. excerpt (branded \u201cHardcore Nitzsche\u201d) that appears on the Indicator disc from an upcoming feature-length documentary currently called Stringman<\/strong> by Kristian St. Clair (This is Gary McFarland<\/strong>).<\/p>\n

Eccentric, composer, sound designer, music producer and to some a virtuoso, Nitzsche worked his way up from session musician to orchestrator and arranger, eventually specializing in gathering bands and songs for rock-scored films before doing some composition using highly unusual sound sources, including a bowed saw for One Flew Over the Cuckoo\u2019s Nest<\/strong> (1975), and bees and wine glasses for The Exorcist<\/a><\/strong> (1973).<\/p>\n

Ry Cooder was one of the session musicians on Hardcore<\/strong>, and the extract offers a compressed series of interviews with musicians, directors, and editors who worked with Nitzsche, including John Byrum (Inserts<\/a><\/strong>), who worked with the composer on Heart Beat <\/strong>(1980) and later the large scale The Razor\u2019s Edge<\/strong> (1984). Also appearing in the extracts is Buffy Sainte-Marie who was Nitzsche\u2019s muse and later co-wrote the Oscar-winning song for An Officer and a Gentleman<\/strong> (1982).<\/p>\n

\"\"Indicator’s May 22, 2017 dual BR-DVD release uses the same 4K Sony transfer and ports over TT\u2019s isolated music & effects track, but in place of the commentary adds a great conversation with Schrader, circa 1993, for the BFI.<\/p>\n

Moderated by The Guardian\u2019s Derek Malcolm at the National Film Theatre, it\u2019s a lively, funny, and frank 90 min. discussion in which the filmmaker talks about his perpetual status as an indie, working outside of the changed studio system, and some projects that fell through or were put on hold, like Affliction<\/strong>, which was eventually made with Nick Nolte, and is among Schrader\u2019s best films.<\/p>\n

Also unique to the Indicator release is a 9 mins. interview with Michael Chapman from the website webofstories.com where the veteran cinematographer recalls the handful of lingering memories of filming, and the revolting miasma of steeped sex that quickly turned a lurid, teasing gig for the crew into a malodorous ordeal from which they \u2018did everything to avoid being on set\u2019 unless it was necessary.<\/p>\n

The last extras are a 23 image stills gallery, and a fat 32-page colour booklet sporting an essay by film historian Brad Stevens, and an August 1979 interview with Schrader from Focus on Film that\u2019s interpolated with shots showing a merry director surrounded by sometimes half naked actors and pornstar Serena, who appears in the opening porn film-within-a-drama film sequence with Hubley. TT\u2019s set sports an essay by resident film historian Julie Kirgo.<\/p>\n

Choosing between these releases (both are limited to 3000 copies) is a tough call, as they\u2019re fairly distinct, much in the way Arrow and Synapse often share some extras but produced additional material for their respective Region B and A markets.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Postscript<\/strong><\/p>\n

The lure of studio-sanctioned tales in the furry world of smut and erotica did attract several of Hardcore<\/strong>\u2019s personnel back to the genre. Composer Nitzsche scored William Friedkin\u2019s Cruising<\/strong> (1980) and Adrian Lyne\u2019s box office hit 91\/2 Weeks<\/a><\/strong> (1986).<\/p>\n

Season Hubley co-starred in Gary Sherman\u2019s grotty cult sexploitation film Vice Squad<\/strong> (1982), and although Diana Scarwid wasn\u2019t cast as Niki, she had a small role in Louis Malle\u2019s controversial Pretty Baby<\/strong> (1978) and co-starred in Anthony Perkins\u2019 oversexed Psycho III <\/strong>(1986).<\/p>\n

If Hardcore<\/strong> feels a bit familiar to contemporary audiences, it might be due to the Joel Schumacher suspense-drama 8mm<\/strong> (1999), in which Nicholas Cage plays a P.I. hired to unearth the origins of a supposedly real snuff film.<\/p>\n

Andrew Kevin Walker\u2019s script was reportedly overhauled by the director, but there\u2019s a similar through-line in which the lead character plunges himself into the hellish world of forbidden porn, but with preposterous results. Two years prior, Johnny Depp directed a film version of Gregory McDonald\u2019s novel The Brave<\/strong> in which a Native American offers his life to a snuff film producer (Marlon Brando) in exchange for funds that will save his community from greedy developers.<\/p>\n

As for John Ford\u2019s The Searchers<\/strong>, the story (based on a novel by Alan Le May) has inspired several variations over the decades, including the TV movie The Quest<\/strong> (1976), Grayeagle<\/strong> (1977), and supposedly The Missing<\/strong> (2003) and the French production Les Cowboys <\/strong>(2015).<\/p>\n

Ford\u2019s Two Rode Together<\/a> <\/strong>(1961) is also an extrapolation of culture clashes, and a film in which he questions the concept of a rescue when the supposed kidnapped have adapted and embraced a vilified indigenous culture.<\/p>\n

Perhaps inspired by both Ford films, James Michener\u2019s 1963 novel Caravans<\/strong> was filmed in 1978, in which an American diplomat treks across Iran to find & rescue a missing daughter living with a fierce Bedouin chief (Anthony Quinn).<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a9 2017 Mark R. Hasan<\/p>\n

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External References:<\/strong>
\nEditor’s Blog<\/a> — IMDB<\/a>\u00a0 — Composer Filmography<\/a>
\n\u00a0<\/span>
\nVendor Search Links:<\/strong>
\nAmazon.ca<\/a>\"\" \"\" —\u00a0<\/span> Amazon.com<\/a>\"\" \"\" —\u00a0<\/span> Amazon.co.uk<\/a><\/p>\n

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