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American Gigolo (1980) More at IMDbPro »

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48 comments in total

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21 out of 23 people found the following comment useful :-
A Stylish Morality Play, 12 May 1999

Author: Paul Arthur from London, England

Richard Gere is perfectly cast in the role of decadent but vulnerable male gigolo cum prostitute who is framed for a murder he didn't commit. His emotional entanglement with a married woman (Lauren Hutton) is believable, but the film is above all a dissection of the emptiness of the kind of stylish materialism which was to become such a hallmark of cosmopolitan lifestyle in the 80's. Like many such morality tales, though, the superficial attractiveness of the 'style' as a way of life is liable to lead some to embrace rather than reject it as a way of bringing excitement into their lives. In any event, a stylish piece of cinema.

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18 out of 21 people found the following comment useful :-
Gere is terrific!, 14 December 1998

Author: MAX80

Enjoyable and different character study works better as a romance than as a thriller. Julian (Richard Gere) is a male prostitute who falls in love with one of his clients (Lauren Hutton, who is well-cast), the wife of a famous politician. About the same time, Julian realizes that he is being framed for a kiky S&M murder, and is wanted by the police. Hutton is the only one who can give him an alibi, but can't without putting her husband to shame.

Although the thriller element doesn't really work, the film still excels because of Richard Gere's wonderful performance. He creates a character that is intense and somewhat sleazy, yet amazingly vulnerable and naive. His performance (and the chemistry he shares with Hutton) holds the film together and makes it work. Gere created one of the most interesting chracters of the last two decades.

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24 out of 34 people found the following comment useful :-
Fantastic, 21 July 2003

Author: Milan (mim-8) from Belgrade, Serbia

American Gigolo is surely one of the most underrated movies of all times. It's a very good movie, in my opinion second best of Paul Schrader's films, right after "Mishima - Life in four chapters", and I never understood why it got all the bad reviews. First of all it's one of the most stylish films I've ever seen, with fascinating scenes from start to finish, vibrant colors and beautiful sets and exterior shots. Paul Schrader, apart from being a great scriptwriter is also the master of photography, maybe the best in modern Hollywood. American Gigolo is a phenomenal character study too, struggle of a lonely man against the society he doesn't belong to, and in which he was artificially implanted by becoming something he's not. Michelle (Lauren Hutton) succeeds in bringing out the true Julian Kay, and their relationship on screen is very close and direct, although it maybe doesn't seem so, probably because both of the actors appear cold and distant, but that's just the result of the world they're living in. Both their lives are fake, and the only time they are real is with one another. The love scene between Julian and Michelle is one of the best in history of the cinema, it tells so much without showing much. Paul Schrader is one of my favorite directors, but that's only a small fraction of why I'm giving this movie

10 out of 10

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13 out of 16 people found the following comment useful :-
Excellent, 23 June 2003

Author: bsinc from Ljubljana, Slovenia

I was under the impression that "American Gigolo" was one of those "cult" movies I never understood why so many people liked in the first place. But I was utterly surprised by the user rating of this movie and the fact that there are only a couple of comments. But the biggest surprise is I actually liked the movie, I found it extremely interesting and thought it had a great 80's feel to it. Richard Gere, who never really impressed me with anything, is in the role of his lifetime, playing his playboy role to perfection.

Director Paul Schrader made a smart movie that doesn't have to show everything in order for the viewer to know what happens and I liked it. The ending is very suitable and I especially love the last scene and Gere's last sentence which really touched me.

I didn't really understand the plot, but with Gere, a great score that manages to keep a single song interesting throughout the entire movie and great directing "American Gigolo" stands high above average and is one of the best movies of the eighties. 8/10

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6 out of 7 people found the following comment useful :-
Excellent drama/thriller., 18 December 2002
Author: canot67 (canot67@hotmail.com) from Devon, England

Richard Gere is excellent as a high class escort in this storming and stylish drama.Richard Gere plays Julian,a man who is paid alot of money for giving older and married woman pleasure.

Life seems like it can't be better until he is framed for a murder he didn't commit.Everyone turns their back on Julian apart from a married lover of his called Michelle.Michelle is his only hope,things keep going more downhill and eventually collapse.

Anyone who thinks or mistakes American Gigolo for a psychological thriller before they see it will be dissapointed.It is a mix of a thriller,a drama and a murder mystery. It is slightly predictable but everything eventually picks up and it is electrical.Richard Gere is excellent and coo, as the character Julian.The film is dated by now but is a classic.Stylish,disturbing and cool.I rate 4/5.

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12 out of 19 people found the following comment useful :-
compromised sex, 4 November 2004

Author: mgrindberg from Tijuana, Baja California, Mexico

A male prostitute, Richard Gere as Julian Kaye, works out of a swank Malibu dating service tending to the needs of older, wealthy women, while also taking jobs with an entirely different clientele that are arranged through Leon (Bill Duke) the proprietor of a gritty downtown LA gay bar. The contrasting services are strikingly presented in this pre AIDS hysteria film, with a completely different twist to the theme of safe sex, as here he gets implicated in a murder while working a job in ritzy Palm Springs arranged by Leon. The most obvious suspect, he goes searching for an alibi, gets rebuffed by his rich acquaintances as well as by Ms Malibu, who never liked the idea of him doing tricks for Leon in the first place. Forced to go to Leon for an alibi, the film reaches its dramatic climax in Leon's high rise apartment, in a scene that is both suspenseful and disturbing. Apparently too downbeat for the studio to end it here, a sugarcoated redemptive ending was wedged in to try to lift the film out of the interesting gutter of prostitution, murder, and desperation it was doing an okay job of portraying.

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8 out of 12 people found the following comment useful :-
Death of LA in the 80s, 11 May 2000
Author: (faziners@hotmail.com) from NYC

It's hard to precisely depict the impact of the smoky undertow of 1980s LA mores on the emotional and cultural landscape of the city, but Richard Gere's subversive topsy-turvy solo show comes close. Weird, well-shot and intriguing. The queasy feeling it leaves is hard to remove even days later. A/A-

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3 out of 3 people found the following comment useful :-
Another sleazy tale from the mind of Paul Schrader., 27 August 2008

Author: TOMASBBloodhound from Lincoln, NE USA

Fresh off his eye-opening 1979 effort Hardcore, writer/director Paul Schrader struck again in 1980 with American Gigolo. This is the story of a high-end male prostitute (Gere) named Julian Kaye. Julian caters to the every need of several well-to-do older women whose husbands either are unable or reluctant to satisfy them. Julian is good at what he does, and he knows it. But that's his problem. His subtle arrogance is beginning to rub others in his line of work the wrong way. After he is framed for the murder of a kinky wife, Julian finds that none of his associates will help him clear his name. Adding to his misfortune is the fact that in order to clear his name, he will have to reveal much of what he does, as well as the identities of some of his powerful clients to the police. Either way he's screwed. He either goes to jail for the murder, or he never enjoys his profitable career again. The only person who seems interested in helping him is a state senator's wife (Hutton) who has fallen for him.

The film is really not bad. Maybe better than it deserves to be. Much of the credit goes to Richard Gere. Say what you want about the man's odd behavior off screen, but as an actor he is always top drawer. He plays Julian as a smug, intelligent, and sexually ambiguous young man. The performance keeps you guessing as much as the screenplay. Lauren Hutton is very beautiful and plays her part with classic sensuality. This woman never did that much after this, but she gives a fine performance here. Hector Elizondo is on hand as a sleazy detective, and look out for Bill Duke in an early role as a homosexual hustler at odds with Gere.

As for the direction, Schrader does what he can, but he is much better as a writer than a director. There is nothing overly creative about how much of this film is shot. George C. Scott tried to convince Schrader to stick to writing while on the set of Hardcore. American Gigolo is a much better film, so maybe Schrader took those comments to heart and made himself better. Still, the man is just not quite the director you'd hope. Some of the scenes are just a little too stale, with only the actors to breath life into them. One downfall might also be the conclusion. The film just kind of ends without a lot resolved, and a tough choice made by a major character just isn't given the proper motivation you'd think it would need. That said, American Gigolo is not a bad film at all. It was better than I expected, and it is a nice time capsule from 1980 Los Angeles. Give it a try. 7 of 10 stars.

The Hound.

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6 out of 9 people found the following comment useful :-
An example of 80's style, 6 April 1999

Author: Andrew C. Jackson (stonewall@mediaone.net) from Plymouth, Michigan USA

This is one of Richard Gere's first lead roles in Hollywood, and he doesn't disappoint. The film gives a little insight, a preview even, of the seamier side of the 1980's. Beginning with the shots of Julian Kaye's (Gere) Mercedes convertible, glimpses of Rodeo Drives and Malibu (all with Blondie screaming "Call Me"!), the film manages to be more than just a whodunit. Perhaps the charm of the film for me is that we're never quite sure what to think of Kaye and his married lover (Lauren Hutton), but their quest for happiness with each other is believable. And though the detective plot-line of the movie is a little contrived, Detective Sunday and Leon provide good opposite poles of this Sodom and Gommarah-like portrayal of life in L.A. In fact, Julian's verbal sparring with Detective Sunday provide a light contrast with the realistic portrayal of a gigolo on the run.

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2 out of 2 people found the following comment useful :-
Gere is excellent in entertaining Schrader effort, 23 June 2008
Author: AdnanZ

"American Gigolo" really is slick and stylish. As slick and stylish as any film could be, so you really wonder whether this is Schrader's film or Jerry Bruckheimer's? If you look solely at the screenplay, it almost fits into the typical Schrader exploration of any given 'seedy underworld'. You could even argue that Julian and Michelle are in a way similar to Travis and Betty. Looking at the final product, however, I see a slick Hollywood mystery-thriller that's actually far more interesting for its romantic sub-plot than for any of the suspense parts.

Don't get me wrong, in places "American Gigolo" is a quality character study, and the romance is as well-written as you could ever expect from a major, mainstream Hollywood production, but the suspense thriller portion is just so banal, expected, and predictable that it really takes away from an otherwise very good film. Perhaps most worthy of praise here is Richard Gere who gives one of his best performances here, and I certainly cannot even begin to imagine John Travolta in the lead role.

It sounds like I'm criticizing how stylish this film is, I'm really not. It's pulled off pretty darn well in comparison to how many films of this sort have ended up, and you have to admit Gere's wardrobe is impressive. The film is well-shot and well-acted and for the most part quite well-written (although this is far, far from Paul Schrader's best work as a screenwriter). My comments on the film's slickness are really just a natural reaction to this film coming right after "Hardcore". Indeed, it seems like this film is a signpost for the early 80's (the dud of a score proves it) where in Hollywood even homicide cases with a Gigolo as the main suspect are glamorous rather than gritty.

A lot of people hate this film, but it has also gained a large cult following and a respectable following from film critics and aficionados, even landing a spot on the 'They Shoot Pictures, Don't They?' top 1000 list, and I can't really understand why anyone would have such extreme feelings about a film that is just watchable and entertaining. I don't think Schrader did his best work here, but it's not his worst either and the film as a whole is so unimposing and forgettable that I find it hard to believe it has so many fans and so many detractors.

7/10

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