Core blimey!

George C. Scott stars as Jake VanDorn, a highly religious man whose daughter, Kristen (Ilah Davis) runs away during a trip to a religious convention. VanDorn enlists the help of a seedy private detective (Peter Boyle) who discovers that the girl has been appearing in hardcore porn films. Having made little progress, VanDorn fires the detective and decides to find the girl himself.

This is an excellent drama from 1979 and set just prior to the video revolution. Scott is in fine form as the bewildered innocent who finds himself in a world he scarcely knew existed. The underrated Season Hubley gives excellent support as the prostitute who helps him navigate the seedy environment he now inhabits.

The film does look a little dated nowadays and some of the characterisation is a little sketchy: we are not aware that father and daughter have a problem before her disappearance, and we don't discover much about her reasons until the film is practically over. However, this is an engrossing drama from Paul Schrader and in some ways it can be seen as a pre-cursor to the Joel Schumacher directed '8mm' starring Nicholas Cage. 'Hardcore' is more restrained in its use of violence, but both films cover similar ground and both are well worth seeing.