People are gonna judge, and when someone has a career as a sex worker, they are going to be faced with moral judgments in spite of how they are involved with that person. In the case of the female clients of well-dressed gigolo Richard Gere, they are frightened into keeping mum of their involvement with him when he is tied into a Palm Springs murder that he claims to have no involvement in.
Having been with a rather shady deal of alleged spousal abuse that led to orders by the husband to beat the wife as part of their sexual games, he had no idea that it would go too far. When news of this breaks, his clients want nothing to do with him, even those who just use him as a date for social occasions. How is a man used to the best of material possessions supposed to survive? Gere finds his life going down the toilet all because of one indiscretion and could possibly face a prison sentence for it.
This film is definitely a product of the easy sleazy early 80's, a depressing view of society at its most decadent outside of New York's Studio 54. It's made clear that Gere only services female clients and with beautiful older women such as Carole Cook, Carol Bruce and Frances Bergen among those he escorts as either a professional "shopper", "chauffer" or general companionship. Meeting senator's wife Lauren Hutton seems to open up his emotionally empty existence, and when everything begins to fall apart for him, she seems to be the only one who really cares. But of course, she's trapped, and with a Los Angeles detective (Hector Elizondo) sure of his guilt, he's going to need all the support he can get. Director Paul Schrader once again takes us into the darkest places of society, having written a few films earlier on that subject, and while it's nice to visit on screen, real life visits to such places seem psychologically forbidden.
While I had already discovered Richard Gere through two artistically acclaimed films ("Yanks", "Days of Heaven"), this was the first of his box office successes, and it shows off his handsome seemingly angelic face and toned body nicely. But just how angelic is his character of Julian? He's dangerously quiet because he says very little but always seems to know the right thing to say, even if it all seems part of a script that his character has mapped out in his mind. Gere doesn't really need to act here. Most of his performance is reacting, and he's a fascinating, troubled young man who needs to completely collapse to grow up and really live. So while this is not a great film, it is interesting for many of the elements, and that's why it has become something of a cult classic.
Having been with a rather shady deal of alleged spousal abuse that led to orders by the husband to beat the wife as part of their sexual games, he had no idea that it would go too far. When news of this breaks, his clients want nothing to do with him, even those who just use him as a date for social occasions. How is a man used to the best of material possessions supposed to survive? Gere finds his life going down the toilet all because of one indiscretion and could possibly face a prison sentence for it.
This film is definitely a product of the easy sleazy early 80's, a depressing view of society at its most decadent outside of New York's Studio 54. It's made clear that Gere only services female clients and with beautiful older women such as Carole Cook, Carol Bruce and Frances Bergen among those he escorts as either a professional "shopper", "chauffer" or general companionship. Meeting senator's wife Lauren Hutton seems to open up his emotionally empty existence, and when everything begins to fall apart for him, she seems to be the only one who really cares. But of course, she's trapped, and with a Los Angeles detective (Hector Elizondo) sure of his guilt, he's going to need all the support he can get. Director Paul Schrader once again takes us into the darkest places of society, having written a few films earlier on that subject, and while it's nice to visit on screen, real life visits to such places seem psychologically forbidden.
While I had already discovered Richard Gere through two artistically acclaimed films ("Yanks", "Days of Heaven"), this was the first of his box office successes, and it shows off his handsome seemingly angelic face and toned body nicely. But just how angelic is his character of Julian? He's dangerously quiet because he says very little but always seems to know the right thing to say, even if it all seems part of a script that his character has mapped out in his mind. Gere doesn't really need to act here. Most of his performance is reacting, and he's a fascinating, troubled young man who needs to completely collapse to grow up and really live. So while this is not a great film, it is interesting for many of the elements, and that's why it has become something of a cult classic.