Main Cast: Richard Gere, Lauren Hutton, Hector Elizondo, Nina Van Pallandt, Bill Duke
Release Year: 1979
Country: US
Run Time: 117 minutes
Plot
A slick Los Angeles callboy finds love and redemption in Paul Schrader's ultra-stylish drama. High-living prostitute Julian Kay (Richard Gere, stepping in for John Travolta) has it all: the Mercedes, the clothes, access to Beverly Hills' swankiest establishments, and a stable of rich, older female clients. But it all falls apart after he does a favor for his former pimp (Bill Duke) and the trick turns up dead a short while later; Julian's actual client won't give him an alibi, and police detective Sunday (Hector Elizondo) doesn't believe the gigolo's denials. The one person who can help him is frustrated politician's wife (and sole non-paying bedmate) Michelle (Lauren Hutton), if only Julian could let down his defenses and accept her gesture of love. Mixing his admiration for European art cinema with a voyeuristic view of the seamier side of sex and affluence, Schrader renders Julian an inscrutable, emotionally disengaged purveyor of pleasure, decked out in Giorgio Armani clothes coordinated with Ferdinando Scarfiotti's meticulous production design. Amid critical doubts about its artiness and distanced eroticism, American Gigolo surprised everyone by not dying on the box office vine. With some audiences reportedly showing up for repeat viewings of Gere's seductive charms, it became a moderate hit, turning Gere into a star and Armani into the new fashion sensation. Whatever reservations one may have about the movie, it provided two indelible images of 1980s decadence to come: Gere's perusing his "artist's palette" of shirts, ties, and jackets, and Gere's cruising down the Pacific Coast Highway in his convertible to the New Wave strains of Blondie's "Call Me". ~ Lucia Bozzola, All Movie Guide
Review
In retrospect, Paul Schrader's paean to perms, pimps, and playboy peccadillos seems like the first instant of the 1980s. Even while the subject matter remains steeped in a depraved '70s milieu, Richard Gere practices the kind of casual materialism and wears the kind of pastel Miami Vice fashion that confirms the arrival of that decade. The result is a zeitgeist film balancing on a tight rope between one world of underground lairs and street hustles, and another of high-priced hotels and sprawling swimming pools. Even when Julian struts and strides, confidently burning bridges and flaunting his business acumen, all the while enjoying the fruits of his labors, the sword of Damocles is visible over his head. He's ready for the free enterprise of the 1980s, but the debts of the 1970s hold him back -- in more ways than he anticipated. Always good at documenting seedy underbellies, Schrader continued in that vein two years after writing Taxi Driver (and two years before Raging Bull), even if his agenda sometimes softens to lukewarmness, especially in the unfulfilling finish. This film also announced Gere as a handsome new star to be reckoned with, worth more than John Travolta's sloppy seconds. The other lingering impression is the genial malevolence of the pimp created by character actor Bill Duke; his is a simmering presence. American Gigolo is one of the best-known early efforts from producer Jerry Bruckheimer, and one of the last not to make a serious chunk of change at the box office. ~ Derek Armstrong, All Movie Guide
Brian Davies - Charles Stratton; K Callan - Lisa Williams; Tom Stewart - Mr. Rheiman; Patti Carr - Judy Rheiman; David Cryer - Lt. Curtis; Carole Cook - Mrs. Dobrun; Carol Bruce - Mrs. Sloan; Frances Bergen - Mrs. Laudner; MacDonald Carey - Hollywood Actor; William Dozier - Michelle's Lawyer; Peter Turgeon - Julian's Lawyer; Robert Wightman - Floyd Wicker; Richard Derr - Mr. Williams; Jessica Potter - Jill; Ron Cummins - Reporter; Frank Pesce - Suspect #4; Paul Schrader; Maggie Jean Smith - Girl at Daisy; Gordon Haight - Blond Boy; Kopi Sotiropulos - Reporter; Vic Ramos; James Currie - Bartender Cocktail Lounge; Harry Davis - Park Bernet Representative
Credit
Ed Richardson - Art Director, Vic Ramos - Casting, Peter Bogart - First Assistant Director, Paul Schrader - Director, Richard Halsey - Editor, Freddie Fields - Executive Producer, Giorgio Moroder - Composer (Music Score), George P. Gaines - Production Designer, Ferdinando Scarfiotti - Production Designer, John Bailey - Cinematographer, Jerry Bruckheimer - Producer, Mark Fabus - Set Designer, George P. Gaines - Set Designer, Barry Thomas - Sound/Sound Designer, Paul Schrader - Screenwriter
Julian Kaye (Richard Gere), is a male prostitute in Los Angeles whose job supports his expensive tastes in cars, stereophonic equipment, and clothes. He is, at times, blatantly narcissistic and superficial; however, he openly claims to take some pleasure in his work from being able to sexually satisfy women.
Later, Julian learns that the financier's wife was murdered. Los Angeles Police Department Detective Sunday (Hector Elizondo) investigates Julian as a primary suspect. Though he was with another client on the night of the murder, the client refuses to give Julian an alibi, to protect her and her husband's reputations.
As Julian's relationship with Michelle deepens, suspicion of the murder mounts against him. He soon realizes that he is being framed and grows increasingly desperate. His decline is visually represented by a degeneration in style as his clothes become rumpled, he goes unshaven, and he even rents a cheap commuter car after his Mercedes has been tampered with.
Julian finally confronts Leon, who confesses that one of the other, younger gigolos who works for him had killed the wealthy man's wife, and Leon had conceived the plan to frame Julian. After an argument, Julian accidentally pushes Leon over the apartment balcony and he falls to his death.
With no one to help him, Julian ends up in jail, awaiting trial for the murder. However, when all seems lost, Michelle risks her reputation and that of her husband to provide Julian with the alibi that can save him from prison.
Casting
John Travolta was originally offered the role of Julian Kaye but turned it down due to a personal "no nude scenes" policy (Julian appears nude in a bedroom scene when talking to Michelle after making love), and went on to star in Urban Cowboy in 1980 instead. Gere has also taken starring roles in Days of Heaven, An Officer and a Gentleman, and Chicago after Travolta turned them down.
The Ending Line
Director Paul Scrader was so impressed by the ending of Robert Bresson's The Pickpocket that he consciously modeled the end of American Gigolo, and its final line, on the previous movie. At the end of The Pickpocket the main character, Lasalle, after being imprisoned for his thievery, repents his sins and, touching his girfriend Jeanne's face, says, "What a strange road I had to take to reach you."
In American Gigolo when an imprisoned Julian realizes that Michelle has saved him, she reaches out her hand, touches the sheet of glass between them in the police interview room, he leans his head against the glass near her hand and says, "My God, Michelle...it's taken me so long to come to you."
The Walker
Paul Schrader's 2007 film The Walker was originally intended to be a direct sequel to American Gigolo with the main character a middle-aged Julian Kaye, in the interim having come out as an openly gay man.
2. http://www.landmarktheatres.com/mn/walker.html (Paul Schrader authored article discussing the relationship between American Gigolo and The Walker, including discussing Julian Kayes' sexuality.)
