American Gigolo - Thoughts on Paul Schrader's 1980 film

I haven't seen it since I was a teenager in the late 80's, but it's on my list to see again.

I recall it as totally trashy, but lots of fun. Kind of like Fatal Attraction.

OP, Bill Duke played 'Leon' the pimp. 'Julian' was Richard Gere's character. AMERICAN GIGOLO launched the '80s NYC metrosexual long before that was even a word.

Oops thanks r2!

It's an interesting time capsule at this point but the movie was never anywhere near a great one - ultimately, it's as shallow as Richard Gere's acting (in his early years he really was just ALL preening and attitude; fortunately he improved in his later years).

Schrader can and has done much better - obviously not counting the Canyons.

Schrader effective and pulpy, but one of his lesser achievements.

The idea that fish pay for sex is absurd to start with,

Also, starring a well known homosexual!

I don't know if I want to see it again. Haven't seen it in a long time, maybe it looks stupid.

I watched this a couple of weeks ago. I enjoyed it. A Richard Gere movie is best watched on a lazy Sunday afternoon with a couple of glasses of Rose' and a big bowl of popcorn. Except for Internal Affairs and Primal Fear;)

[quote]The idea that fish pay for sex is absurd to start with

I know, right?

The movie is far from perfect but i loved the Gere Hutton chemistry and the look of the film. Plus its depiction of the seedy underbelly of L.A.

I only saw this for the first time last year. I was expecting to love it after having read about it for years. Also, I'm a fan of the French filmmaker Robert Bresson and 'American Gigolo' is supposed to be a kind of homage to Bresson's 'Pickpocket' (Schrader even lifts the entire ending, dialogue and all, I think). But I was surprised by how much I disliked the film. The attitudes to gay people in it felt homophobic, to me. And it has nothing of Bresson's style in it (I agree with the poster above that it's a very superficial film). Having said that, it is an interesting film in terms of the era. It points forward to the '80s with all the overt style on display, yet it feels like one of the last films of the '70s in many ways. And best of all, Gere is absolutely gorgeous in it.

Loved the older, blonde actress who played Gere's madame.

It holds up, maybe better as a period piece. I even liked the plot of him being accused of a murder and needing an alibi that nobody would volunteer to be, not even the real alibi. Schrader was still fun then.

They need to remake it. But this time have it be more realistic by having the clients be male instead of female.

It's great to have Probe captured on film for all to see – I MISS PROBE!!!

I liked it but was disappointed the sex scenes were too tame.

R17 I didn't mind the sex scenes being tame I thought the one between Gere and Hutton was nicely done. For all that was made of Geres frontal nudity in the film it really didn't turn me on a lot. But with his clothes on and his bare chest hell yes sex on a stick!

For me the sexiest thing about Gere has always been his walk.

He has the sexiest walk ever.

It would've been better with John Travolta in the lead.

Always thought the sex scene in "Team America" paid major homage to Gere and Hutton here. The way girl puppet stares at the ceiling; she even has the same hair.

Anyone see its spiritual sequel THE WALKER? Kind of terrible but oh so luxe. Woody Harrelson was very good, as usual.

It would've been better with Stevie "I Killed My Kid" Nicks

The Walker is great. But it's all substance, very little style. AMERICAN GIGOLO is a masterpiece of style. A lot of that comes from the music. Cinema today is missing great music and melodies to carry the visuals.

I can name three massive hits from Flashdance off the top of my head, two of which I still hear occasionally on the radio. I can remember a few of the songs from Dirty Dancing. I can't remember any from Step Up--or Showgirls.

The music and the fashion. Julian might've been the first metrosexual on film though we had no name for it then.

Another dude that should "NOW" come out of the closet ;) the stories I heard from the 80's Richard Gere has been with MEN!

It's a clothes movie for me.

Didn't Gere supposedly spend time with real gigolos to get into the part or was that an urban legend / hype for the movie?

It made me gay

Nut sure about the mixing of attitudes in the Probe club scene. Cruising taught us that leather men, cops and cowboys don't mix - unless you are The Village People.

Not sure ...

Frances Bergen as one of Gere's clients.

I love American Gigolo and I thing Gere had a beautiful dick.

It was a big deal on HBO because it showed his penis. (sort of, I can remember girls in my neighborhood talking about how they stayed up late to watch it so I did that.) BUT the penis flash is just like a millisecond. You had to wait until Breathless a few years later for the whole presentation.

It made ME famous

Gere was ultra hot in his prime, but I couldn't care less about he movie. Aside from the soundtrack, Donna and Giorgio Moroder are my favorite artists. He just nails my taste in music square on the head. And fuck Whitney, Donna Summer is the most underrated singer ever. I know she's not on the album, but her band is. Call Me's instrumental section is sublime. Blondie didn't play on it, Giorgio delivered the a completed track to Debbie, who wrote the lyrics and sang on it. It was the #1 biggest hit of 1980. There's a few other instrumental versions and other interesting tracks. An icon of electronic music, most of Giorgio's soundtracks are pretty good.

R33 and he wonders why he's had to struggle to be taken seriously.

Oh, oh, r14 (Horshack voice)! Black and Asian, too! Wait! Add Caitlyn and Laverne!

I rewatched it about a year ago. The plot is the weakest thing about it.

But it still was as stylish and visually exciting as I remember it being. Soundtrack was great. Gere was great. Definitely captured the feel of the late 70s. Glad I saw it again.

some of it is painful too watch. The part where he talks about getting a woman "off" after working sooo hard and what an accomplishment it was is cringeworthy.

I was looking at Gere and Lauren Hutton and thinking there wasn't much difference between them acting-wise. They were both cast for their looks. Hutton probably has the edge.

An exercise in style over substance.

I love the bit in the beginning where they speak French to each other.

R40 whenever I see that movie (well, really, bits of that movie cause it's kind of a chore to watch the whole thing), I realize...Richard Gere has improved a lot as an actor.

Yeah, Gere sure was pretty in that film

[quote]Loved the older, blonde actress who played Gere's madame

T'was Baroness Nina van Pallandt. Yeah, she was great. All smokey-voiced Euro sophistication.

I think the film is a kind of masterpiece: all shimmering surface. People will always love it in the way To Catch A Thief will always be the most popular of Hitchcock's films over the ones that make film snob's knickers soggy.

Amusingly, Time magazine -- at its most homophobic- hated the film with an absolute passion, especially the passive attitude of Gere, which it took special issue with. Ha! Now that fascist rag is a ghost of itself and totally irrelevant.

John Travolta was supposed to have the lead but Lily Tomlin talked him into doing a film with her.

It was definitely style over substance and was one of the first films to influence the 80s style, from fashion to music. R11 nailed it when he wrote it pointed forward to the 80s but still felt like one of the last films of the 70s. Stylistically, it was a bridge between the two decades, but more forward thinking to the 80s. But the plot sucked and the movie wasn't that great. The topic for the time was considered shocking--women paying for sex? Say it isn't so!

Gere's love scenes are totally unconvincing. He barely kisses Lauren Hutton so the idea that she complains how his lovemaking turns him into a professional is laughable. Compare him with William Baldwin in Three of Hearts (1993) where Baldwin played a male escort and he passionately had sex with women.

Well (since both Gere and Hutton are said to prefer the company of their own gender) they were TRULY acting....

Lauren Hutton was/is a lessie?!

I thought it was extremely dull. For Richard Gere at his prime, I much prefer the "Breathless" remake.

R46: and Julie Christie withdrew from the production upon being told Travolta would lead the film. Meryl Streep also rejected the role, which ultimately went to Lauren Hutton. When Travolta changed his mind, and Gere was brought in instead, Christie wanted back into the film, but was refused.

Armani furnished Gere's wardrobe.

R46, Was Meryl even offered the part to reject?

According to IMDb:

"Paul Schrader wanted Lauren Hutton for the role of Michelle Stratton, but the studio wanted a bigger name and chose to go with Jessica Lange. In the end however, the decision was taken out of their hands when Lange turned down the role as being "too dark", and Hutton was cast."

why wasn't Karen Carpenter considered for the part?

Why does Schrader make Gere learning Swedish for a new client an extended plot point and then drop it with the news that he failed to meet her at the airport? Are we supposed to believe this Swedish woman, who is never seen, just turned around and left LA because she was stood-up?!

It was the first R rated film i snuck into and the first time I heard the word cunt in a movie

[quote]Lauren Hutton was/is a lessie?!

Maybe. I used to walk past her house on Waverly Place on my way home from the bars during the 1970s.

The film has a scene shot at Perino's, the year before it was memorably used in Mommie Dearest.

The idea that fish pay for sex is truly hysterical.

I was 15 or 16 when A.G. came out. My friend and I went to a multiplex with the intention of seeing the Blues Brothers.The bitch at the booth however refused to sell us tickets and we were unable to sneak in due to the busy crowd, and it's showing right near the booth...the bitch... and a security guard camped out by the entrance.

We went upstairs where A.G. was being shown along with whatever crappy movie we'd purchased the tickets to. I saw an R rating for A.G. and knew this was going to have to be it. I truly thought A.G. was going to be a raunchy comedy as I had no clue what a gigolo actually is .... Honestly.

My buddy was straight and I was in the closet. Watching the film together was sorta fidgetingly uncomfortable... but hot. I noticed my friend didn't take his eyes away from Richard Gere's very fine form either. The style of the movie was vivid and aspiring for a teen queen at the time. The homoerotic subtext got me hot 'n bothered. I became less judgemental and prudish concerning male ho's. As a matter of fact, I probably would've tricked after seeing the film-- and it's influence on my young impressionable mind, had the opportunity presented itself. Just sayin... A.G. was one of 4 films released in 1980 that had a very profound effect upon me.

Did you blow your 'str8 buddy' during the movie?

[quote]he bitch at the booth however refused to sell us tickets and we were unable to sneak in due to the busy crowd,

So you stole and instead of being ashamed of your actions you publicly go on about it, even decades later. You are exactly why America lost its way.

I hope you paid for the movie later on and did restitution for your crime at a later date. If not you should do so immediately..

No R62, America lost it's way when rushing to judge preachy prudes like you, didn't learn to read. I clearly state "the tickets we'd purchased" to a crappy movie I had no intention of watching. And I was ensuring that I was going to get my money's worth, one way or another.

R61, sorry but no. My straight friend was a little on the ugly side. If someone were to blow him, it sure as shit wasn't going to be me.

American Gigalo, 10, Empire Strikes Back, Little Darlings, even Xanadu! Wow

R35, Donna Summer is in no way "underrated": not by her peers in the industry, not by her millions of fans around the world, and certainly not by music journalists. Her talent is WELL recognized.

He said that American Gigolo was part of a trilogy, maybe the other movie was that movie about videotapes and the guy who was swinging friends with the famous actor, and the other movie was with Willem Defoe, I think. He said that the guy from American Gigolo was also in the other movies, with different name and all, but that the two other movies tell the story of his life as well. Makes the three movies more interesting, imo.

I liked it very much as a gayling. I liked the outfits and the shadows from the venetian blinds, and that art auction he attends with the old woman.

Was that "shade" meant for me R64 ? Because it doesn't make sense in reference to anything else. You can't count. I stated '4' movies that were also released in 1980 that had a profound effect on a young impressionable mind. AG rocked for most gay guys at that time because of little or NO gay images in movies or TV.

The film also seemed to symbolically usher in the 198Os’ love for all music ‘60s-related, including for Motown, with the sublime Smokey Robinson & The Miracles’ “The Love I Saw In You Was Just A Mirage.”

Loved Lauren Hutton in it.

Never seen it. Any good?

R71 it's worth a watch. Also doesn't hurt if you're a Pretty Woman fan.