American Gigolo

Wait a minute. They pay him to do WHAT?

It could've been great, but director Paul Schrader is sabotaged by writer Paul Schrader.

I always feel like the opening credits to this movie when I'm out and about but I know the real opening credits has the pop and charm of the Elephant Man.

Sleek and stylish in that 80s-riffic way, but also very silly. The film doesn't know what it wants to be, and ends up being a thriller that doesn't make a whole lot of sense, and a romance that makes even less sense. Both are resolved in a way that will make you say "wait, seriously?", given the tone of everything leading up to the finish. I suspect that the ending was one of those studio-mandated things after a bad test screening. But it's fun watching Gere go about his gigolo business.

Written and directed by Paul Schrader... hell yeah! Soundtrack by Gorgio Moroder... hell yeah! Richard Gere full frontal... uh, okay sure! Another Schrader joint that ends with the same scene as Light Sleeper and The Card Counter, which is also the ending scene of Bresson's Pickpocket from two decades earlier.

Not a terrible film but it is filled with a lot of bland, stale scenes with not much going on. The plot is pretty weak and the love story is just a typical throwaway encounter. The last 30 minutes are pretty boring and it has a pretty bad ending. Not really worth watching.

This is a cheesy film. I remember thinking I wonder if this is like the male version of Pretty Woman or something? I'm not sure I'd go along with that, having seen the full film really but whatever...if you like cheesy 80s films with electronic music and a slightly gritty Hollywood backdrop then you may enjoy this. Or if your a fan of Richard Gere's, no doubt you'd want to give this a go. A bit predictable, not great, not entirely awful and sometimes a bit amusing (if unintentionally), its ok.

This is an undeniably stylish film that I wanted to like, but it's so ferociously dull. It's like an Armani ad stretched out to two hours. The relationship with Gere and Lauren Hutton that provides the redemptive ending is so shallowly depicted that it's ridiculous to suggest that she provides some kind of transcendentally redemptive love that saves this stupid man's shallow soul. I did like the Giorgio Moroder score.

Richard Gere is one of the blandest "name" movie star I have ever seen.

Gere's best performance by far, Bill Duke is great whenever, and overall it's aesthetically excellent. The romance plot is rather hollow and unbelievable however.

This movie is for a one type of specific people only. The ones who likes Armani fashion porn, Blondie reprises, Richard Gere, bare male asses, milfs and murder. In the same movie.

This was not what I expected. It was good enough I guess?

Richard Gere hangs dong. We get 6 different versions of "Call Me", which took me way too long to realize that the lyrics relate to his life as a gigolo. Possibly the second-best film with Gigolo in the title.

Wait, people are getting paid for doing this?

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https://esperwatchesfilms.tumblr.com/post/642856345418268672/american-gigolo-1980

has camp potential but really is just too uninteresting

A decent and reasonably entertaining character study.

had to play it again just to watch and listen to that opening, wow.

Supposedly American Gigolo helped popularize the Armani brand in America, which is a rather grim irony given that it partially functions as a critique of the emergent fashionable male consumed with vanity that Schrader glimpsed on the cultural periphery. In that regard, the film was slightly ahead of its time, and Schrader's increasing confidence with the camera was clearly evident, but the stale romance and strangely unsatisfying redemption arc for Gere's character let it down.

Very mild, but shows off an articulate style in its clothes, sets, cars, and underwear. It's visually impressively most of the time, but has little else going for it as its underwhelmed by a very general murder plot.

On rewatch this is just a straight up masterpiece.

Told to be an alltime classic, but I have some doubts about that. The story doesn't really offer something special and however Gere is just great in this film, we simply get to see a melodramatic flick with some extra's. Nothing too special, except when you know that this was released in the 80's.

Thematically it doesn't come together, even if Schrader has quite the guts ripping off an ending from Bresson. I also see a lot of Scorsese in the camera moves and of Antonioni in the interior movements of the characters. Stylistically it's a key film of the 80s, thoroughly confident, with Gere quietly falling apart in the middle of it.

I am disappointed because I feel this could've been a better movie. American Gigolo starts out as a clinical study of a gigolo's life, which is all good, but Schrader decides to bring in two elements (a crime story and a love story) that muddy the waters. The first element definitely works, this is Schrader at his best, documenting the lifestyle. Near the end of the movie we get some brilliant shots of Julian driving through the city. They do not, however, redeem the ridiculous climax.

The style and Moroder soundtrack is wonderful, but the ridiculous idea to make this a thriller with an incredibly lame love story ruins everything. Gere doing his gigalo thing is much more interesting.

I liked the style but didn't understand the plot and couldn't care about what was going on.

The Armani clothing is gorgeous and the Moroder soundtrack is nice but the movie and characters are empty.

63.500

fucking worthless shit!

#919

Disconnected. Not much to engage the audience.

There's kind of an odd tone to the film, not helped by the very 80s styling, and the characters aren't really ones you can care about, both of which distances you from the film. Some of it appears intentional, so it's not a huge problem. Besides Gere and what happens to his character is pretty compelling.

Film works best as a mystery, especially in its second half, when the tension really winds up, it suffers when it focuses on pretentious philosophical digressions about Julian's (Gere) life. Nevertheless worthy for Gere's mostly fine performance, and a great supporting role for underappreciated character actor Hector Elizondo as the sleazy detective on the case. Giorgio Moroder's score, based on Blondie's "CALL ME", is also wonderful. A disappointment from Schrader but still worthwhile.

856

null

Nice movie. The soundtrack by Giorgio Moroder is flawless.

815

# 873

Dated.

My recollection is that it is quite poor in parts, but somehow still draws in the viewer.

Schrader is all themes and ideas with no cohesion. The end result just looks sloppy.