A Midwestern businessman is simmering with rage against the world when his daughter runs away to California to become a porn performer. His journey after her takes him into the seediest circles of the sex trade, exposing him to a series of shocks to his conservatism.

Paul Schrader’s splendidly sordid second film dives into the sexual underworld of 70s California and its adult film industry. A brilliant combination of John Ford’s The Searchers, the existential nihilism of Taxi Driver (which Schrader of course wrote) and the combustible acting of George C. Scott.