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By
WAYNE KLEIN
Businessman Jake Van Doren's
(George C. Scott in a riveting, brilliant
performance) life and his deeply held religious
beliefs are shaken to their core. Van Doren's
teenage daughter doesn't return from a church
outing. Worried, Van Doran hires a private
detective Andy Mast (Peter Boyle) to help track
her down. What Mast returns with shakes Van Doren
Calvinist faith. His daughter has been appearing
in cheap porno movies. Van Doren realizes the only
way to bring his daughter back from this seamy,
sordid world is if he goes to get her himself. He
poses as a porno producer to get leads that will
take him to his daughter hoping that he can get
her back before something truly horrible happens
to her.
This riveting and disturbing drama from Paul
Schrader ("Taxi Driver") clearly draws from some
of Schrader's own convictions and religious
beliefs. His upbringing as a Calvinist influences
and informs the character of Van Doren vividly
bringing him to life and allowing Scott to burrow
into the character's core. Along with Scott, Boyle
("Outland," "Everybody Loves Raymond"), Dick
Sargent ("Bewitched"), Season Hubley and Marc
Alaimo ("Star Trek: Deep Space Nine") are also
great.
What's astonishing is how little this film has
aged in 25 years. Yes, our attitudes and sense of
morality may have shifted a bit, but overall we
still have the same vultures preying on our young
just as we did 25, 200 or 500 years ago. While our
society has become more permissive and accepting
of pornography and sexual attitudes have changed,
the basic core of humanity still has a nasty
underbelly driving our culture and our rage.
The DVD transfer looks crisp and sharp.
Unfortunately, the age of the film and the film
stock means that it does look grainy. That
actually works in favor of the story, capturing
the harsh look of porno movies and giving a gritty
reality to the film. The vivid, sharp high
definition transfer means that the image will look
good even on an HDTV or big screen, with only a
marginal drop in image quality. The film's
original soundtrack sounds as if it has been
cleaned up a bit. While it's a bit compressed and
lacks the depth and openness of a contemporary
film, the overall sound is clear without the thin
clipped quality one might expect of a film that's
25 years old.
There are no extras on the film, which is a pity.
I would love to have heard Schrader's comments 25
years later. It seems to me I recall a vintage
promo piece that was aired on TV during its
theatrical run. Including that, along with some
updated interviews with Boyle, Hubley and producer
Buzz Feitshans, would have provided extra value
but, knowing the limited budget the producer of
the DVD had to work with, it was probably cost
prohibitive. It's a pity since this terrific but
brutal film certainly deserves far better than
just a standard transfer without any extras. |
