A conservative Midwest businessman ventures into the sordid underworld of pornography in search of his runaway teenage daughter who’s making hardcore films in the pits of Los Angeles.
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Reviews
CinemaSerf
7
By CinemaSerf
George C. Scott makes good with his rather uncharacteristic performance, here. He’s the upstanding businessman “Van Dorn” who is shocked at the sudden disappearance of his teenage daughter. He hires “Mast” (Peter Boyle) to track her down and though he doesn’t find her, he does find some disturbing evidence for her dad that she is starring in some cheap porn movies. Determined to track her down and fetch her back, he tries to glean information from some sex workers by showing them photos and asking questions. They think he’s a cop so clam up, so he concludes a different tack is going to be needed. He dons a gold chain, a fake moustache and sets himself up as a producer in the hope that he can find either his daughter “Kristen” or her “co-star”. Aside from being one of Scott”a stronger efforts, this gritty and realistic looking drama also offers Boyle a chance to shine and he takes it. His character serves as an effective conduit as we explore the seamier side of Los Angeles in the company of a religious father for whom virtually everything he now encounters shakes his soul and his beliefs to the core whilst simultaneously opening his eyes in an wholly unexpected fashion. It is quite a leisurely paced and dialogue-light affair that I felt worked well as it allowed us to soak up a little more of an industry populated by the seedy, the needy and the greedy - but also by some decent folks down on their luck.
