Hardcore is a 1979 American neo-noir crime-drama film written and directed by Paul Schrader and starring George C. Scott, Peter Boyle, Ilah Davis and Season Hubley. The story concerns a father (Scott) searching for his daughter (Davis), who has vanished only to appear in a pornographic film. Schrader had previously written the screenplay for Martin Scorsese's Taxi Driver, and both films share a theme of exploring an unseen subculture.

Plot

Jake Van Dorn is a prosperous local businessman in Grand Rapids, Michigan, who has strong Calvinist convictions. A single parent, Van Dorn is the father of a seemingly quiet, conservative teenage girl, Kristen, who inexplicably disappears when she goes on a church-sponsored trip to Bellflower, California. Andy Mast, a strange private investigator (PI) from Los Angeles, is then hired to find her, eventually turning up an 8mm stag film of Kristen with two young men.