Out on Blu-ray and 4K UHD June 18, 2024
A gigolo living it up in Los Angeles, surrounded by beautiful, rich women suddenly finds himself the prime suspect in a crime he did not coming. While trying to clear his name, other discoveries are made.
Written and directed by Paul Schrader, American Gigolo is sometimes referred to as one of the best films of the disco era. Nowadays, the disco era is lesser known and the connection between this film and the culture of disco is not exactly obvious. Of course, the fashions, some of the music, the decor, the sets, everything in here is very, very much late 1970s/very early 1980s. The story itself feels like it is from then but would only need a few changes to be current (which the TV series has addressed to a certain extent). The story here, the putting on screen the life of a sex worker, was something often seen back in the day, but it was not something discussed in terms of a man being the one selling his company, his skills in the bedroom, his capacity to be there at a price. This many years later, the story here is still relevant, the writing and direction are still solid, there is something to be taken from this film today. Treachery, lies, sex, and greed are still very much something that film explore, still very few have made it all work around a male escort, making American Gigolo a film that was ahead of its time, still working quite well these days, a testament to good writing and direction.
The cast here is absolutely solid. The film of course stars Richard Gere, some would say at his most charming (others would say his most charming was about 20-25 years later). His performance here sells the characters the way he sells himself to his clientele. He makes the part a character to care about, someone that is fully human, with his greed, his life experience, his needs, his care for some of his clients. He’s a fully rounded human, like him or not, and Gere works this part beautifully well. In supporting roles, Lauren Hutton, Hector Elizondo, K Callan, and a few others are charming, bringing a bit of the attention to themselves with good performances that work well with that of Gere. Everything does indeed revolve around here and it works quite well.
A rare item for us to focus on here is the wardrobe work by Richard Gere here. His clothes throughout the movie are exclusively Giorgio Armani designs, something that was used a marketing point, but also something that help Armani get in front of more people and have his particular style of suits become more popular and recognizable. The wardrobe for Gere here shows class, money, and a good sense of style, it elevates him from other characters, other men even, in the film by giving him perfectly tailored (to the fashion of the era of course) suits. The art found in his apartment, his personal style, compared with some of his clients establish him and his personality and helps set the different universes they each live in.
All of this is taken to the screen by cinematography John Bailey is subdue and beautiful to look at. This is a film that needed someone with a knowledge of film, someone who could build an image with any scene, someone who could almost steal the show from Gere at some moments which letting him just be his magnificent Julian self.
This new release from Arrow Video is lovely. It does have a new 4K remaster which looks great but without losing the look and charm of shot-on-film movies. This does look like film, but with a good transfer and one that is devoid of any artifact. It’s one of those films that looks so good, it makes one want more of it, more from the era, more non-digital filmed material while keeping the digital world in mind. This is the right way to do a remaster like this. This film looks and sound fantastic. The contents of the release, the extras, are packed here with so many things, it will take a normal human a very long time to get through it all. The best of the bunch here, besides that gorgeous new cover art, are the interview with Professor Jennifer Clark on the film and the fashion and styles of the early 1980s, the new interview with Hector Elizondo who is always one to watch no matter what he’s in or talking about, and the new interview with Paul Schrader. These are but a few of the interviews on here. The one lower interest item here is the commentary, which is with Adrian Martin, a film critic. Nothing against Adrian Martin, but this film nerd was hoping for a commentary by Paul Schrader. Overall, though, lack of Schrader commentary aside, this is a solid release with plenty for fans of the film and fans of film in general to spend some time with.