Paul Schrader’s drama is disturbing and excels both with the writing, also by Schrader, as well as powerful performances from George C. Scott and Peter Boyle, even if for the former it might not make the list of his top 5 roles, but it’s harrowing nevertheless.
Hardcore
— The Limited Edition Series —
(1979)
Genre(s): Drama
Twilight Time | R – 108 min. – $29.95 | August 16, 2016
Date Published: 08/28/2016 | Author: The Movieman
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PLOT SYNOPSIS
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| Writer-director Paul Shrader’s brilliant, horrifying Hardcore follows the grim pilgrimage of a Calvinist Midwestern businessman (GEORGE C. SCOTT) for his vanished daughter (ILAH DAVIS) in the scuzzy subculture of the West Coast porn industry leading to hiring a sleazy private investigator (PETER BOYLE). In his effort to trace the girl, he joins forces with a young hooker (SEASON HUBLEY) he hopes will help. |
SPECIAL FEATURES – 2.0/5 |
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This release comes with a 6-page essay booklet. Audio Commentaries – There are two tracks included, one with Writer/Director Paul Schrader; the other with Film Historians Eddy Friedhold, Lee Pfeiffer, and Paul Scrabo. Both offer different perspectives with Schrader obviously providing behind-the-scenes information while the historians give more of a background of the production. Theatrical Trailer (1:21; HD) |
VIDEO – 4.5/5 |
| Hardcore comes to Blu-ray through Twilight Time and shown in its original 1.85 widescreen aspect ratio and given a 1080p high-definition transfer. I was fairly impressed with the transfer, colors were generally vivid and bright, skin tones look natural, detail was sharp and well defined and there were no major instances of dust marks or other flaws. |
AUDIO – 4.25/5 |
| Despite having a limited DTS-HD Master Audio 1.0 track, there was a nice boost of depth with the music/score while dialogue levels sound clean and clear throughout. Given this is a drama, there’s not much to judge yet for a movie nearing 40 years of age, it’s an remarkable sounding lossless track. |
OVERALL – 4.0/5 |
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Overall, Paul Schrader’s drama is disturbing and excels both with the writing, also by Schrader, as well as powerful performances from George C. Scott and Peter Boyle, even if for the former it might not make the list of his top 5 roles, but it’s harrowing nevertheless. The Blu-ray released by Twilight Time has great video and audio transfers with two solid commentaries that will interest fans of the film. |
Check out some more screen caps by going to page 2. Please note, these do contain spoilers.