Hardcore is a 1979 American neo-noir crime drama film written and directed by Paul Schrader, and starring George C. Scott, Peter Boyle, Season Hubley, and Dick Sargent.

A single parent, Van Dorn is the father of a seemingly quiet, conservative teenaged girl, Kristen, who inexplicably disappears when she goes on a church-sponsored trip to Bellflower, California.

With the help of his brother-in-law, Wes, Van Dorn hires Andy Mast, an eccentric private investigator in Los Angeles, to locate Kristen.

After five months pass, in May 1978, Van Dorn has been living as usual without Kristen, until Mast unexpectedly visits him in Grand Rapids, and shows him an anonymously-produced 8 mm stag film he located in a Los Angeles sex shop.

The unlikely pair ends in San Francisco, where Van Dorn learns that Kristen may be in the hands of Ratan, a dangerous sadomasochistic porn player who also procures snuff films on the black market.

Van Dorn is horrified by the footage, which shows Ratan stabbing a man to death before slashing the throat of a Mexican prostitute in a Tijuana motel room, but is relieved that the victim is not Kristen.

Van Dorn and Mast track Ratan to a nearby nightclub, where he is watching a live sex show, with a young woman revealed to be Kristen.

Despondent and tearful, Van Dorn explains that his inability to express affection in the past was the result of his austere Protestant upbringing, and Kristen ultimately decides to go back with him.

Paul Schrader partly based the screenplay for Hardcore on his own experience growing up in the Calvinist church in Grand Rapids, Michigan, where he studied theology at Calvin College.

[7] Real-life adult film actress Marilyn Chambers also auditioned for the role, but was turned down by a casting director who thought she did not fit the image of a porn star.

[8] Years later, Chambers said "The Hardcore people wanted a woman with orange hair who chews gum, swings a big purse, and wears stiletto heels.

"[9] Ilah Davis, a first-time actress, was cast as Kristen Van Dorn as Schrader felt "she was not conventionally beautiful, and was the sort of person who could be lured by flattery," mirroring her character's story.

[3] By Schrader's account, the shoot in Grand Rapids was unpleasant, as locals expressed disapproval for the film and its depiction of the community as highly provincial and socially antiquated.

"[5] Despite arguing that the climax lapses into action film cliches, Roger Ebert nonetheless gave the movie a four-out-of-four-star review for its "moments of pure revelation", particularly in the scenes between Scott and Hubley.

[12] Vincent Canby of The New York Times wrote in a mixed review that Schrader "demonstrates an extraordinary sensitivity to the realities of the American heritage that are seldom even thought about on screen, much less dramatized.

"[13] Pauline Kael of The New Yorker was negative, explaining that Taxi Driver worked because "the protagonist, Travis Bickle, had a fear and hatred of sex so feverishly sensual that we experienced his tensions, his explosiveness.

"[14] Charles Champlin of the Los Angeles Times called the film "strong but finally disappointing stuff", explaining, "Quite apart from the plot concoctions that leave reality so far behind, the exasperation of Hardcore is that the confrontation has never quite come off.

The site's consensus states: "Director Paul Schrader's preoccupations with alienation and faith are given a compelling avatar in George C. Scott's superb performance, although some audiences may find Hardcore too soft to live up to its provocative promise.

[22] Jack Nitzsche's soundtrack for Hardcore has never been officially released, but Twilight Time's Blu-ray re-issue features an isolated score audio track.