June Scavenger: 4/30
#24: A film starring George C. Scott
http://letterboxd.com/scumbalina/list/alone-out-of-my-comfort-zone-june-scavenger/.

Sure, the plot sounds great but does it live up to what it promises? HELL YES. Absolutely holds no punches. I was expecting most of footwork to be done by Peter Boyle's character. I was expecting to go no seedier than strip clubs and "regular" pornography. I wasn't expecting George C. Scott to single-handedly beat the living shit out of the snuff film industry like a one man judge, jury and executioner. There is no more satisfying proof of Scott's talent than seeing him boil over into an explosion of parental rage directed at villainous sex trade scumbags.

On a side note, it invoked a memory of when I…

Hardcore is Paul Schrader’s lurid odyssey into the seedy underbelly of pornography and prostitution in 1970’s California. George C. Scott stars a conservative midwestern businessman who scours every street corner and dirty back alley in search of his missing teenage daughter whose been spotted appearing in underground porno films.

Coming off the success of writing Martin Scorsese’s masterpiece Taxi Driver, this film is essentially a B movie companion piece. Hardcore is a well written slow burn that has become slightly dated, but still manages to retain its potent commentary on the dark side of the City of Angels.

George C. Scott gives a tour de force performance as the religious calvinist Jake Van Dorn, Scott gives an earnest performance as…

From the opening moments of Hardcore you already have the world of Jake Van Dorn set up perfectly in front of your eyes, he is a single parent who loves his daughter very much. But in taking this seemingly ordinary image of an idealized American lifestyle, with the family’s own beliefs representing what already present themselves as so normalized by our own world, you have that world crumbling down rather quickly by the fact that another influence has entered the picture. Surely enough, you can already go ahead to point at Taxi Driver when thinking about another film that explores how the corrupted environment has slowly destroyed the world of Travis Bickle the way that we knew it, but what…

I remember I was on a podcast (the fantastic Gentlemen's Guide to Midnite Cinema) and the host asked me, 'DePalma, Friedkin or Schrader?". I immediately thought Schrader. No question.

Hardcore is a masterpiece. Scott is excellent as a man who has deemed himself to be decent and morally superior to many others, and has created a world in which he can live that way comfortably without worrying about any challenges to his worldview. Then his daughter disappears into the seedy world of porn, and this man has to go into it to find her.

The film exists on many levels, like all of Schrader's masterpieces. It is just a straight up great film about a father willing to do anything…

Scumbalina’s Alone Out-of-My Comfort Zone Scavenger Hunt
24. A Film Starring George C. Scott.

Hardcore is Taxi Driver, only instead of Travis Bickle, you have a grumpy dad from the Midwest.

A film full of flawed characters making their way in a sleazy world of apathetic police and bored criminals. Everything feels honest and concrete. I expected a morality play, but nothing is that simple.

Paul Schrader isn't afraid to chase rabbits, which makes for some memorable bits. I can't think of another movie that includes a full explanation of TULIP.

I'll be honest, I liked it, liked it much more than I expected, but I didn't love it. The music was often monotonous; I preferred the places where they…