American Gigolo

Although his social media rants are becoming more irrelevant and out-of-touch by the day, there was a time when Paul Schrader was at the cutting edge of cinema.  Only four years after the success of his screenplay for Taxi Driver, he was both writer and director of the most talked about film of 1980:  American Gigolo.  A spot-on skewering of the capitalism obsessed decade to come, what’s most surprising about the film today is how chaste and naïve it plays to a modern audience, where sexual appetites are an expected part of society’s conspicuous consumption.

In the sex-for-hire business, Julian (Richard Gere) is the cream of the crop, sought after by upper crust clients and welcomed into the most exclusive establishments.  But his ego is his own worst enemy when he’s framed for the murder of a one-night-trick.  Targeted by an unsympathetic detective (Hector Elizondo) and abandoned by his so-called friends, Julian’s only supporter is Michelle (Lauren Hutton), the lonely wife of a rising politician who in unable to provide an alibi without ruining her husband’s career.  Which leaves Julian to solve the caper himself before the cops come calling.   

 

If you couldn’t tell by the synopsis, American Gigolo is first and foremost a classic example of film noir, a genre Schrader has already dabbled in with Obsession and his previous film, Hardcore.  And the best bits of Gigolo are watching Richard Gere get wrapped tighter and tighter in a trap of his own making.  Schrader even cuts to a Hitchcockian overhead shot as Julian tears apart his luxury condo and disassembles his Mercedes Benz looking for planted evidence.  

 

At its core, the film is a throwback.  But Schrader gives it the perfect L.A. facelift by setting it in the shallow pool of high society.  Julian doesn’t get turned on by sex, he’s in it purely for what it can buy him.  Long driving sequences and shopping montages have the same flash Miami Vice would use unironically just a few years later.  Schrader tried to warn us, but the temptation was just too great.  What doesn’t play so well is the rampant homophobia, with a nightclub sequence every bit as offensive as Al Pacino’s Cruising (seriously, was dressing like the Village People part of the dress code or something!?).  Thankfully that throbbing Giorgio Moroder music score and Debbie Harry’s “Call Me” on an infinite loop make it easier to overlook.

 

Out in a new 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray limited edition, this is exactly the sort of material that the big studios overlook.  Arrow Films, working with a brand-new remaster from the original negative, give this one the white-glove treatment all around, starting with an HDR polish on the main feature that really pumps with neon landscape.  You also get two new audio commentary tracks (one with Schrader himself), new interviews with Schrader, Elizondo, Bill Duke, editor Richard Halsey, camera operator King Baggot and music supervisor Dan Wilcox, plus piece on the fashion landscape of the ‘80s.  The package itself comes with artcards, a foldout poster and collector’s booklet.

 

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