Alternate Best Actor 1979: George C. Scott in Hardcore

George C. Scott did not receive an Oscar nomination for portraying Jake Van Dorn in Hardcore. 

Hardcore follows a devout Midwesterner who goes in search of his daughter in California after she appears in a pornographic film. 

 

This film marks the second film written and directed by Paul Schrader after his excellent debut in Blue Collar. It is once again working within the same starting point, as Schrader starts in almost every one of his films written or directed, that is a man on some kind of edge, usually inhabiting a world in some kind of fringe. Although this film isn't nearly as effective as that film, a bit of a mixed bag overall, particularly with some of the "action" scenes but certainly with some intensely effective emotional moments. The film opens though with a snowy Michigan with a quiet seemingly peaceful religious life. Scott is barely even particularly present in these moments as basically just a quiet father figure, not even exactly stern as the man keeps his distance from his daughter who soon disappears on a religious school trip. The most we get with Scott is the man handling his business with a certain cordiality but a hard line in terms of what it is that he wants and doesn't want with his company. A lot of what makes the character have a presence in these scenes is just Scott himself being such a strong presence innately within himself. We get him though as this kind of hard rock of a man who then the film is going to challenge, the first challenge being when a sleazy Private detective (Peter Boyle) hired by him brings Jake some evidence of his daughter, that being a low rent pornographic film staring her. A great scene for Scott in his reaction to the film as you see the striking different emotions of initial disbelief, then heartbreak then intense anger that all flash against his face. 

We then follow him as he goes about infiltrating the world of the sex trade Scott's performance is basically these different mixtures of this outsider experiencing this. Scott is quite effective in managing to modulate between the states of the character. There are moments of intense anger of course that are these pent-up snaps well performed as the innate reaction of the man towards the world. This amidst moments of trying to infiltrate it as some wannabe producer which Scott brings the right awkwardness to in each scene never quite hiding his true nature all that well as he either is just barely hiding his disgust or anger towards the various people he comes across in his intense search. Eventually, this changes slightly when he meets a prostitute Nikki, who offers some kind of help to him, while also offering a more human expression within this world that feels so alien. This is an aspect that I don't think quite hits the sweet spot in terms of its realization of it though the general idea is a good one. Scott is effective though for his part in portraying many steadfast aspects of Jake as he states all his beliefs regarding his religion and against sex with this certain strict certainty in his delivery. This is against his moments of interacting with Nikki on a slightly more human level where Scott brings these excellent glints of a momentary empathy though he never seems to fully embrace Nikki as a person in her own right. 

 

The last act of the film is Jake getting closer to his daughter as he explores the even more extreme fringes of a fringe world. This has some truly pointed moments in there where Scott shows the intensity of the unnerving qualities as he seems to find a snuff film, and more expectedly I think brings the powerful sense of bluntness in the character's conviction to find his daughter. What is unique though is that Scott never feels the avenging angel for a moment, and there is always a greater kind of messiness with it, even a sense of coldness about it that suggests what maybe made her leave to begin with. Scott shows this measured man in conflict with himself in every scene of letting the emotions of a given moment only out carefully most of the time either because Jake is hiding essentially undercover, but just as often because that is the nature of Jake as a man. Scott earns the final moment of meeting his daughter again, who blames him for being loveless. This is an uneven scene because the actress as his daughter is pretty terrible. Scott though is excellent in the way he shows the struggle for Jake to show his genuine emotions to this daughter, the strain of it is wearing on him, but also the force within himself to show it all in attempt to connect with her. Scott is powerful in the scene because he shows that every tear is being forced out, not as an unnatural act, but rather the man fighting against his nature to bluntly show his love finally.