Excellent, Without a doubt!!

An Exercise In Nonsense

A brilliant film that helped define a genre

While it doesn't offer any answers, it both thrills and makes you think.

"American Gigolo" has a sleek, smooth, shiny surface - it's one of those movies which stylistically heralded the arrival of a new cinematic decade, the 1980s. But the murder plot is rather weak, and the insights are mostly shallow ("money doesn't equal happiness, but true love does"). Giorgio Moroder's trend-setting score (including the classic "Call Me") is a definite asset, and Richard Gere is ideally cast in the title role - not so much physically (I'll let the ladies decide that), but for his swagger. **1/2 out of 4.

Young Richard Gere plays Julian; a man who knows how to please women and is paid handsomely for it. Things are going well for him and he can pick and choose who he works for and he has just started a relationship with a beautiful woman but his life is soon turned upside down. After taking a job in Palm Springs as a favour for his friend Leon the woman is murdered. When the police start asking questions he isn't concerned at first but soon it becomes apparent that somebody is trying to frame him. He was with another woman on the night of the murder but she is not going to ruin her reputation to give him an alibi. As the story approaches its end it looks as though Julian won't be able to clear his name; he may work among the upper echelons of society but he certainly isn't part of it and it isn't likely that anybody will risk ruin to help him.Richard Gere goes a fine job in a role that could have been written for him; he is believable as the man older women pay for. Lauren Hutton is also good as love interest Michelle and Bill Duke is great as Leon; the friend who might not be as friendly as he claims to be. Writer/director gives us a stylish mystery with a twist; this isn't about finding who committed the murder, it is about whether or not an innocent man will be able to clear his name. Given the subject matter it isn't surprising that there is some nudity but it is shown in a fairly matter of fact way and is limited to a couple of scenes. Overall this is a slick film that fans of Richard Gere or '80s movies will want to check out.

This incredibly stylish movie that did so much for both Richard Gere and Giorgio Armani initially seems to celebrate materialism and equate it with success and fulfilment. Gere's character dresses in designer clothes, drives a Mercedes and spends his time mixing with conspicuously wealthy people in Los Angeles. He's seen in expensive restaurants, exclusive country clubs and posh hotels but gradually it becomes evident that there's an emotional emptiness in his life which becomes even more pronounced when he's accused of murder and has to face the prospect of losing everything. Unexpectedly, what follows is a story that illustrates how genuine love (that leads to redemption) can develop in even the most unpromising of circumstances.Julian Kaye (Richard Gere) is a male escort who's handsome, charming and very good at his job. He speaks five or six languages, lives in a luxurious apartment and is very accomplished at attending to the needs of the affluent older women who pay him very well for his services. Most of his introductions are provided by Anne (Nina van Pallandt) who taught him everything he needed to know to be successful in his business but despite all that she's done for him, he's disrespectful to her and treats her unfairly in their financial dealings.In the course of his work, Julian introduces himself to a politician's wife called Michelle Stratton (Lauren Hutton) at a hotel bar but her reactions lead him to believe that he'd made a misjudgement and that she had no interest in becoming one of his clients. Later, however, she contacts him and they get to know each other better. Julian's problems begin after he's directed to a client in Palm Springs by a down-market pimp called Leon (Bill Duke) because a short time later, she's found dead and Julian becomes the prime suspect.Police Detective Sunday (Hector Elizondo) is assigned to the case and firmly believes that Julian is the killer. Suddenly, Julian finds himself in a position where he's unable to provide an alibi because the nature of his work means that discretion is vital but also his rich clients start deserting him at a rapid speed. Although it's obvious to him that he's been framed, Julian doesn't know who's set him up and so his efforts to prove his innocence become increasingly desperate as he can see no way out of his predicament.The plot in "American Gigolo" is almost of secondary importance to the relationship that develops between Julian and Michelle and the surprising way in which their affair enriches both their lives. Julian's journey from being a conceited, selfish and superficial person is remarkable and is seen to take place very gradually as the loneliness that both he and Michelle had previously experienced is replaced by something far more meaningful and substantial. Richard Gere and Lauren Hutton are marvellous in their roles as they evolve so subtly from the awkwardness of their first meeting and find so much more in each other that they could ever have imagined was possible. Nina van Pallandt, Bill Duke and Hector Elizondo are also superb in their supporting roles."American Gigolo" is a work of greater depth than it might appear to be on first viewing and is strongly enhanced by its wonderful visual style and the music of Blondie and Smokey Robinson & The Miracles.

Paul Schrader has always come across to me as a particularly graceless screenwriter and especially director. Although he can create intense moments and thoughtful compositions, even a sense of stylishness, there is also a heavy element of cheesiness to the texture of his films, similar in many ways to the feel of Brian De Palma's work.However, "American Gigolo" is one of his more creditable efforts. There is sufficient intrigue in the film's second-half, once the crime narrative gets going, to hold one's attention. There is also a certain sordidness that is well-captured about a subsection of petty criminal to whom money, sex, clothes, social status are everything, and human beings nothing. Richard Gere and Schrader ably convey a sense of purposeless and drifting loneliness in the character of Julian Kaye. One has to ask, though: Isn't Schrader embarrassed to copy Bresson's "Pickpocket" so brazenly, as he has done in other films? His application of Bresson's themes to Gere's character here seemed strained at best. And anyway, no matter how skilled the filmmaker (and Schrader isn't all that skilled), you can't really effectively execute what Bresson pulled off within the context of a Hollywood film. There's too much surface nonsense, commercialism, and gratuitousness to arrive at the sublime emotional and intellectual rewards produced by the no-compromise "Pickpocket," "A Man Escape," "Mouchette," and "L'Argent."6/10.