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American Gigolo
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by Paramount
Sales Rank: 11413
Price: $4.99
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Writer-director Paul Schrader viewed this as the second part of a trilogy that began with <i>Taxi Driver</i> and concluded with <i>Light Sleeper</i>--each dealing with a lonely man trying to deal with both his own dizzily spinning moral compass and the hypocrisy of the society that's trying to tell him what to do. Richard Gere plays a high-priced prostitute, an immaculately dressed stud for hire who services the bored women of Beverly Hills without ever allowing himself to be touched emotionally. His affair with a politician's wife (Lauren Hutton) changes that, at a point when he is being framed for a murder he didn't commit. Even as he tries to elude the law, he allows himself to become enmeshed with her in unexpected ways. Too cool and distant for some viewers, the film has a distinctive look and deliberate pacing--and about two endings too many. But it will keep you watching in spite of yourself. <I>--Marshall Fine</I>
Viewer Reviews
I was weary of turning the volume up and down during this movie. Richard Gere is either mumbling or yelling. Lauren Hutton was whispering the whole time. Although I thought she was great for the part, with her androgynous looks that would appeal to a line-straddler such as Julian Kaye, she needed more acting lessons. She appeared nervous -- more nervous than her character required. I would have liked to see Julian with one of his older clients, doing what he apparently does best. The movie got it backwards -- older women, it seems, want to be sexually noticed, and the younger women want someone who will listen to them. Gere goes on and on about older women and the pleasure he gets from giving them pleasure, but all you see is him safely escorting older women, as a gay pal might do for any gal. Gere has that ability to be both low-class and yet convey to others that he believes he's superior. I'm surprised that Swedish madam didn't wring his neck and dump him in a bay. I just love the stupid scene in which she's not paying attention to her child with whom she gets only visitation, and Gere comes up with something like a "Hey, kid,," and throws his ball to another area as if he were a fetch dog. And the poor kid character runs after it. Just an upscale version of the strippers who have their kids backstage, being watched by God knows who. It's seedy as all get-out, with great clothes. Hutton has the best wardrobe. I would have liked to see more development of why her character and Julian Kaye fell in love. She makes it clear that it isn't the sex. She seems to portray a depth that Kaye can't match, so what does she see in him to warrant love? Something shared, something more revealing would have been interesting. Was his last line really, "It took me so long to come to you?" I couldn't hear well because of his mumbling. But if so, that is hilarious, considering his earlier speech of how long it took him to help an older woman to orgasm.
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American Gigolo
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