American Gigolo (1980)
Julian makes a lucrative living as an escort to older women in the Los Angeles area. He begins a relationship with Michelle, a local politician's wife, without expecting any pay. One of his clients is murdered and Detective Sunday begins pumping him for details on his different clients, something he is reluctant to do considering the nature of his work. Julian begins to suspect he's being framed. Meanwhile Michelle begins to fall in love with him.
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not as good as all the hype
A Brilliant Conflict
A film of deceptively outspoken contemporary relevance, this is cinema at its most alert, alarming and alive.
One of the film's great tricks is that, for a time, you think it will go down a rabbit hole of unrealistic glorification.
Only succeeds because of Gere's charisma. Daring themes for its time but attitude to gays is outdated.
"American Gigolo" has a sleek, smooth, shiny surface - it's one of those movies which stylistically heralded the arrival of a new cinematic decade, the 1980s. But the murder plot is rather weak, and the insights are mostly shallow ("money doesn't equal happiness, but true love does"). Giorgio Moroder's trend-setting score (including the classic "Call Me") is a definite asset, and Richard Gere is ideally cast in the title role - not so much physically (I'll let the ladies decide that), but for his swagger. **1/2 out of 4.
Watched American Gigolo last night for the first time, and knowing it came first I could spot all sorts of ways it could have influenced things like Thief and Manhunter, and countless others. A big hit movie like this, there's no doubt its influence trickled down. I just love this era, from 79-83, Schrader/Moroder or Mann/Tangerine Dream movies seem to perfectly encapsulate that period for me. It's odd when you watch a movie so long after it was made, you are never sure if you love it for what it is or if nostalgia feeds into it. The Giorgio Moroder and Blondie music is perfectly at home in this movie.Gere is great here in the movie that solidified his fame. This could be one of his best parts, the wounded lost boy, which he also plays in An Officer and a Gentleman. He's an underrated actor but the man rarely has made any career missteps (we won't mention First Knight).A little sleazy but not too much. Worth a look for a perfect time capsule of 1980 if nothing else.
My views on American Gigolo (1980) One of Richard Gere's first and most memorable performances as Julian, a male prostitute. First, i'd like to say that i thought Gere was fantastic as the role of Julian, and was so believable as a mole prostitute. I own this Movie on DVD, and when i was reading the back cover of it, i wasn't too bothered about seeing this movie. But i was going through a fase of watching all these old movies from the 80's and 90s, and this popped up. I knew this was one of Gere's early roles, and i just wanted to watch it to see how young Gere looked. The director of this movie is Paul Schrader, Director of 'Affliction' Starring Nick Nolte, and Writer of Martin Scorsese's 'Taxi Driver' One of my all time favourite movies. So when i read that it was Paul Schrader, i had to give it a watch. I was surprised how impressed i was with Gere's performance, he was so captivating on screen, and i just thought that it was a really interesting idea for a film. To be honest, i tend to enjoy most films, but of course some films more than others. This was a film that i enjoyed a lot more than i thought i would. It really shows off Gere's talents as an Actor, and Schrader's talents as a Director.