American Gigolo - film review

I watched American Gigolo not too long after it first came out in 1980, and found it a reasonably enjoyable thriller, though not in the same league as Taxi Driver, which also had a screenplay written by Paul Schrader. When it cropped up on the TV schedules,I decided to take another look. It's still perfectly watchable, but it's also a very good illustration of the fact that nothing dates faster than fashion. American Gigolo was quite stylish thirty-odd years ago, but now it is in some respects a period piece.

Richard Gere plays Julian, the eponymous gigolo, and Lauren Hutton, the wife of a rising politician, falls for him in a big way. Unfortunately, Julian is mixed up with some very dodgy people, and is hired to perform with a rich financier's wife while the rich financier, who is keen on violence towards women, watches. A couple of days later, the wife is murdered, and Julian becomes the prime suspect.

The crime plot is straightforward, and not terribly interesting, something which originally was quite well disguised by the sexy style of the film, but which is now rather more obvious. Lauren Hutton is a woman of legendary beauty, and Richard Gere is a very good-looking man, and (although the likes of the equally charismatic Julie Christie, and also John Travolta, were considered for the parts at one time) their appeal helps to explain why the film was, and I think remains, quite popular. Nina van Pallandt (remember the singing duo Nina and Frederick?) also features, but although the film has quite a few good moments, overall it now seems excessively long, with less to it than meets the eye.

There's an interesting contrast between the music used in Taxi Driver and the soundtrack of this movie. Bernard Herrmann scored Taxi Driver, and although at the time he was coming to the end of his career, and had been abandoned by Hitchcock, there is a timelessness about his music which helps to make it memorable. Giogio Moroder composed the soundtrack of American Gigolo, and although I like his work, again that electronic sound now has a very Eighties feel about it. This is not by any means a bad movie, and is still a perfectly good time-passer. But the fashionable flourishes that were integral to its original success are now more like an encumbrance.

The Double: film review

The Double is a 2011 film, a spy thriller, which benefits from the appearance in the cast of two very bankable stars, Michael Douglas and Richard Gere. Douglas, whose part in the movie is smaller than Gere's, plays the boss of the CIA. Gere is a retired agent,Paul, who is called back from his quiet retirement for "one last job" when a senator has his throat cut. The killing has all the hallmarks of the work of a former Soviet assassin know as Cassius, who was thought to be dead.

Paul teams up with a young agent called Ben, played by Topher Grace, who is an expert on Cassius's methods. They go to question Brutus (one of Cassius's sidekicks, needless to say) who escapes from prison rather cleverly. However, Paul slits his throat, and it seems as though Paul is Cassius. Ben grows suspicious of him, and Paul, who has his own reasons for feeling some sympathy for Ben, tries to persuade Ben's wife to call off his investigation.

From there, the plot continues to twist and turn, and all in all, I found it enjoyable. Watching it, however, reminded me of a truly memorable movie, the highly suspenseful No Way Out. That film, starring Kevin Costner (not Gere, thanks JohnG for putting me right!)  was based on one of my favourite American crime novels, The Big Clock by Kenneth Fearing, and is even more ingenious than the book.

The Double is not in the same league, though I think it is better than some of the more negative reviews on Rotten Tomatoes would seem to suggest. The acting is good, and although the screenplay does contain one or two formulac elements, it works quite well. Worth watching, but if you get the chance to watch No Way Out (dated as some of its plot points are), I think you'll enjoy that more.

Adrian Lyne

After watching the Richard Gere movie Unfaithful the other day, I looked up details of the director Adrian Lyne. His name rang a bell, and I soon realised why – his CV includes a number of highly successful movies, including the ultra-memorable Fatal Attraction.

It turns out that his other achievements include Flashdance, and directing the music video of a song from the soundtrack, ‘Maniac’, which I’ve always liked (it’s performed in suitably manic style by Michael Sembello in the film.)

Unfaithful is a good film, which has earned much critical acclaim. And although I called it a ‘Richard Gere movie’, in truth the show belongs to Diane Lane, who earned an Oscar nomination for her performance as Gere’s wife. Lane also starred in Untraceable, which I covered on this blog a while back. She is a fine performer, and also very lovely.

Lovely enough, in the film, to be seduced by a glamorous Frenchman. Their torrid affair is conducted so carelessly that it’s no surprise when Gere gets to hear rumours of it. He hires a private detective to follow Lane, and a series of calamities ensue. The film does, at times, move excruciatingly slowly, but it’s very well-made. Lyne is a genuinely accomplished director.