Main Cast: Ben Gazzara, Denholm Elliott, James Villiers, Joss Ackland, Rodney Bewes
Release Year: 1979
Country: US
Run Time: 112 minutes
MPAA Rating: R
Plot
After a couple of major studio flops, Peter Bogdanovich returned to his 1960s filmmaking roots with this Roger Corman-produced low budget film. Easygoing expatriate Jack Flowers (Ben Gazzara) makes his living in early-1970s Singapore legally and illegally looking after the needs of American and British businessmen, such as the mild-mannered William Leigh (Denholm Elliott). With his gift for putting clients and girls at ease, Jack opens a successful brothel, but pressure from local mobsters soon puts him out of business. Ever the survivor, he starts working for the shady, Cuban-cigar-smoking Eddie Schuman (Bogdanovich) as a pimp for GIs on breaks from Vietnam. But Jack's conscience starts to dog him when Schuman hires him to take compromising pictures of a visiting Senator (George Lazenby). Adapted by Bogdanovich, Howard O. Sackler, and Paul Theroux from Theroux's novel, Saint Jack offers a pimp with a heart of gold, who is less an ugly colonial American abroad than an outsider trying to make the best of a bad situation. Shooting on location in Singapore, cinematographer Robby Müller lends an appropriately gritty look to the matter-of-fact narrative. With restrained and forceful performances by Gazzara and Elliott, Saint Jack was something of a succès d'estime for the embattled Bogdanovich, winning the Italian Journalist Award for Best Film at the 1979 Venice Film Festival. While not a box-office success, it remains an affecting and unsung character study of a man's desire to forge a reasonably honorable life in a dishonorable profession. ~ Lucia Bozzola, All Movie Guide
Review
After the disappointing commercial and critical reception afforded Daisy Miller, At Long Last Love, and Nickelodeon, Peter Bogdanovich went back to his early patron, Roger Corman, and created a film that confirmed the director still had talent and a voice of his own. Though not a great film, Saint Jack is clearly one that had genuine meaning for its director, and that personal touch is felt throughout the film. Bogdanovich employs a number of lengthy continuous shots and telling close-ups to very good effect, and he's not afraid to make the audience pay attention to follow the story (which may confuse some viewers). The movie is essentially a character study, and Ben Gazzara makes that character compelling and engrossing. Tough, full of street smarts, and insightful, Gazzara's Jack is a vivid and engaging personality that's surprisingly easygoing and considerate when the occasion allows -- and above all, despite the sleazy world in which he operates, he's at heart a decent man with a code he will not violate. Gazzara makes the character three-dimensional, and someone the audience is glad to spend time with. Denholm Elliott also turns in a finely calibrated performance. Bogdanovich and Gazzara would team up again two years later for They All Laughed. ~ Craig Butler, All Movie Guide
Mark Kingston - Yates; Lisa Lu - Mrs. Yates; Monika Subramaniam - Monika; Judy Lim - Judy; George Lazenby - Senator; Peter Bogdanovich - Eddie Schuman; Joseph Noel - Gopi; David Lazenby
Credit
David Ng - Art Director, Peter Bogdanovich - Director, William Carruth - Editor, Hugh Hefner - Executive Producer, Edward L. Rissien - Executive Producer, Robby Müller - Cinematographer, Roger Corman - Producer, Edward L. Rissien - Producer, Jean-Pierre Ruh - Sound/Sound Designer, Peter Bogdanovich - Screenwriter, Howard O. Sackler - Screenwriter, Paul Theroux - Screenwriter, Paul Theroux - Book Author
Saint Jack is a 1973novel by Paul Theroux and a 1979 film of the same name. It tells the life of Jack Flowers, a pimp in Singapore. Feeling hopeless and undervalued, Jack tries to make money by setting up his own bordello, and clashes with Chinesetriad members in the process.
Saint Jack was shot entirely on location in various places in Singapore in May and June of 1978. As of 2006[update], it is the only Hollywood film to have been shot on location in Singapore. Places featured in the film include the former Empress Placehawker centre (now demolished) and Bugis Street. The local authorities knew about the book, hence the foreign production crew did not tell them that they were adapting it, fearing that they would not be permitted to shoot the film. Instead, they created a fake synopsis for a film called "Jack Of Hearts", and most of the Singaporeans involved in the production believed this was what they were making.
The film was banned in Singapore and Malaysia on 17 January 1980. Singapore banned it "largely due to concerns that there would be excessive edits required to the scenes of nudity and some coarse language before it could be shown to a general audience," and lifted the ban only in March 2006[1]. It is now an M18-rated film.
Saint Jack was re-released in North America on DVD in 2001.
A book which details the development, production and aftermath of the Saint Jack film, entitled Kinda Hot: The Making of Saint Jack in Singapore, was published by Marshall Cavendish in March 2006 and is written by Ben Slater.
In an interview with The New York Times on 15 March 2006, Bogdanovich said, "Saint Jack and They All Laughed were two of my best films but never received the kind of distribution they should have."[2]
