Saint Jack (1979)

Jack Flowers, an American hustler in early 1970s Singapore, dreams of building a fortune by running a brothel and returning to the States to lead a life of luxury.

Director:

Peter Bogdanovich

Writers:

Howard Sackler (screenplay), Paul Theroux (screenplay)

Stars:

Ben Gazzara, Denholm Elliott, James Villiers

Nominated for 1 BAFTA Film Award. Another 1 win.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Ben Gazzara	...	Jack Flowers
Denholm Elliott	...	William Leigh
James Villiers	...	Frogget
Joss Ackland	...	Yardley
Rodney Bewes	...	Smale
Mark Kingston	...	Yates
Lisa Lu	...	Mrs. Yates
Monika Subramaniam	...	Monika
Judy Lim	...	Judy
George Lazenby	...	Senator
Peter Bogdanovich	...	Eddie Schuman
Joseph Noël	...	Gopi (as Joseph Noel)
Kian Bee Ong	...	Hing
Yan Meng Tan	...	Little Hing
Andrew Chua	...	Andrew (Taxi Driver)

Storyline

Compelling character study, revolving around Jack Flowers (Ben Gazzara), an American hustler trying to make his fortune in 1970s Singapore in small time pimping. He dreams of building a fortune by running a brothel himself and returning to the States to lead a life of luxury. Savvy but not unsavory he strikes up a friendship with William Leigh (Denholm Elliot), a genial and decent auditor who travels to Singapore every year. Ultimately, the background of the Vietnam War comes into the picture as Jack is offered the opportunity by the CIA to run a brothel for the R&R activities of U.S. soldiers on leave in Singapore.

---

Plot Keywords:

american abroad | 1970s | reference to fidel castro | reference to john f. kennedy | cia | 

---

Taglines:

"People make love for so many crazy reasons-- why shouldn't money be one of them?" - The Gospel According To Saint Jack

---

Genres:

Drama

---

Certificate:

R

Did You Know?

Trivia

To keep the plot on a hush from the Singapore government, The filmmakers went through produciton under the title "Jack of Hearts". The scripts would have the title, and even the crew members wore shirts with the name.

---

Goofs

Around 01:20:08, a woman on the left of the screen step out from a building, look at the camera, then goes quickly backward.

---

Quotes

Jack Flowers: How would you like it if I called you chink? Huh? You got no tact, you know that.

---

Crazy Credits

We thank the people of the Republic of Singapore, on whose island this picture was filmed.

---

Connections

Referenced in Corman's World: Exploits of a Hollywood Rebel (2011)

---

Soundtracks

An Okie from Muskogee
Written by Eddie Burris (uncredited) and Merle Haggard (uncredited)
Sung by Merle Haggard

User Reviews

Ben Does Bogey

Saint Jack is a film short on plot, but long on character study, at least for the title character Jack Flowers, patron saint of the working girl in Singapore. Ben Gazzara plays the title role and if you can imagine Humphrey Bogart at his most existential running a brothel, than you've got Gazzara's character.

And that's what Jack Flowers does, he served in Korea went to college on the GI bill and tried a hand at writing. He gave that up because he hadn't experienced enough of life in his own words, shipped out on a tramp freighter and wound up in Singapore managing a brothel. If he wanted to know about life, that's as good a place as any to get material for twenty books. And he's originally from Buffalo, New York, probably on the west side, unanglicized name Jack Fiore.

Gazzara's co-star is the city of Singapore in all its aspects, both the high and low end of it. Gazzara's got friends in high and low places, his most unusual friend is Denholm Elliott who is an accountant and sent by the front office in Hong Kong to do a yearly audit. They hit it off believe it or not, Elliott becomes kind of a role model of probity for Gazzara.

Humphrey Bogart, starting in Casablanca did a lot of his films in exotic locations. But mostly he never got there, his films mostly done on studio back lots, The African Queen a shining exception. I'm sure Bogey would have jumped at the chance to do a location film in Singapore which in his day was involved in a nasty civil war after World War II.

There's not much of a story line, in fact Gazzara's not a terribly heroic character until the end when he does have an attack of conscience. For what that is you'll have to see Saint Jack.

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English Cantonese Dutch French Italian

Release Date:

5 December 1979 (France)

Also Known As:

Saint Jack

Filming Locations:

Bugis Street, Singapore, Singapore

Box Office

Budget:

$2,000,000 (estimated)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Copa del Oro, New World Pictures, Shoals Creek

Technical Specs

Runtime:

112 min

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1