Hardcore (1979) 6/10

Hardcore is a film set in the seedy underground world of the late 70's pornography industry. When a virtuous god fearing man from the Midwest, played by George C. Scott, loses his daughter on a field trip to Los Angeles, he sets out on journey of the porn industry's underbelly to find his daughter. He discovers a world he never knew existed and wishes he could forget.

The film moves at a very quick pace, especially given the time period in which it was made. The plot works nicely as George C. Scott goes from mild mannered bible thumper to a hard boiled man bent on vengeance. In order to find his under aged daughter he must track her down using contacts made under the guise of being a pornography director. The man is forced to wear the suit of the sinner and doesn't like the fit.

Ultimately what you have is a journey film, where the journey takes to you the very pit of hell. The problem is the pay off in the end is weak at best. His daughter's reasons for running away are weak at best and George C. Scott is able to navigate the underground porn world just a little too easily, and dispatches the real toughs too easily as well. The film has a great build up but the end is weak making the whole film suffer. The film does investigate the rarely filmed seedy pornography world of the late 70's and shows the audience a world where anything you want is available if only you know the right people. This is still true today, only now one must only know the right file-sharing program to download to gain access.

Overall - 6/10