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Storyline
Jake Van Dorn is a businessman from the American heartland who shares strong Calvinist convictions with most of his countrymen. His teenage daughter is missing from her church youth convention trip to California and Van Dorn hires a private investigator to find her. The result of the investigation is his daughter is spotted in a cheap X-rated movie. Van Dorn decides to bring her back personally and during the quest he becomes familiar with the pornographic underworld.
Written by
Dragan Antulov <dragan.antulov@altbbs.fido.hr>
Plot Summary
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Taglines:
"Oh my God, that's my daughter."
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Did You Know?
Trivia
A Kiss pinball machine is in the background of "Drucker"s'" bar in San Diego. This movie was filmed and released during Kiss' popularity peak when Kiss had its franchise, ex. pinball machine, as some of their merchandise of the time.
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Goofs
Jake takes Kristen directly from the back room of a nightclub to the back seat of a squad car. Jake and Kristen were both inside the nightclub before any police arrived on the scene. There is nothing in the film to explain why Jake and Kristen just walk out and get in the police car.
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Quotes
Jake VanDorn:
Turn it off! Turn if off! TURN IT OFF!
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Connections
References
Hi School Honies (1976)
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Soundtracks
VanDorn
Written by
Jack Nitzsche See more »
This is an extremely sordid movie, but one you never forget. I saw it in the theater almost 20 years ago and it was shocking then, so much so that I've only seen it once since and have no desire to see it again. It just left such a bad taste in my mouth.
This is a frightening picture of the pornography business 20 years ago featuring about everything you can think of in that seedy world. Unfortunately, the story centers around finding a girl from a "religious" family and the father, played by George C. Scott, is painted as something of a fanatic. He's portrayed as a cold and violent figure. (Hey, Hollywood isn't going to portray a Christian father as kind and loving.) Yet, Scott is not all that bad because he still is extremely dedicated father who went to all lengths to get his daughter back.
This movie really shows the sleazy side of the entire porno business and, thankfully, it doesn't glamorize any of it. Peter Boyle is good as the detective and Season Hubley is interesting as the prostitute who gives you her ideas on life in the business. This is a fascinating film in parts but also very tough to view in a number of areas. This may sound naive, but when I saw this in 1979, I was stunned that this type of sick-underbelly of a society existed....at least to this degree. I can't imagine what's out there today.
In summary, a very powerful but brutal movie to watch, especially if you have kids of your own.