Richard Gere plays a gigolo. Somewhere along the way he finds himself a prime suspect in a capital crime. Who could have framed him, and why?
This film will be remembered for creating Richard Gere. He is the entire film. The seedy look of LA is created deliberately by Paul Schrader, and his social commentary concerning the emptiness of peoples lives shines through. Yet it's not enough to make the film entirely enjoyable. Richard Gere is perfect here, his Julian Kay is a character not easily forgotten. However, all the other characters should have been polished just a little bit more. None of them are interesting. Lauren Hutton's character comes off as a bimbo, nearly plain dumb. The murder subplot is never fully developed, and hence, never becomes all that interesting. And the finale, with it's relentless shifts between scenes that all seem to be cut short, makes one wonder if Schrader knew entirely how to finish the film.
Still, an interesting early eighties film, which looks great, is completely original, has a fantastic central performance and a great music score by Giorgio Moroder. And the Blondie song of course.
This film will be remembered for creating Richard Gere. He is the entire film. The seedy look of LA is created deliberately by Paul Schrader, and his social commentary concerning the emptiness of peoples lives shines through. Yet it's not enough to make the film entirely enjoyable. Richard Gere is perfect here, his Julian Kay is a character not easily forgotten. However, all the other characters should have been polished just a little bit more. None of them are interesting. Lauren Hutton's character comes off as a bimbo, nearly plain dumb. The murder subplot is never fully developed, and hence, never becomes all that interesting. And the finale, with it's relentless shifts between scenes that all seem to be cut short, makes one wonder if Schrader knew entirely how to finish the film.
Still, an interesting early eighties film, which looks great, is completely original, has a fantastic central performance and a great music score by Giorgio Moroder. And the Blondie song of course.