Another Lost Angel: Paul Schrader's Hardcore

This week we continue our descent into Ibrahim Chavez's Los Angeles with a look at Taxi Driver screenwriter, Paul Schrader's blunt and brutal examination of the Los Angeles/San Diego/San Francisco sex trade of the late 1970s. Schrader's upbringing in a strict Calvinist environment would shape his social outlook and influence his abandonment of religion and drive towards sexual and cultural freedoms. Much like his screenplay for Taxi Driver, Schrader's Hardcore would take inspiration from John Ford's classic The Searchers, replacing the racism of that film with a difficult and controversial look at the world of pornography and the restrictive worlds that feed into it. Featuring George C. Scott in a powerful - at times sad and other times unlikable - performance of a man searching for his lost (runaway?) daughter, Season Hubley as a sex worker  he employs to lead him into this foreign world, and Peter Boyle as a smarmy, degenerate and exceptionally effective private detective. Schrader's sophomore directorial effort is a wondrous relic of California in the 1970s. Take a listen and give the film a watch. You can always reach us at [email protected]. We look forward to hearing from you. 

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