American Gigolo (1980)
Directed by Paul Schrader
Julian makes a lucrative living as an escort to older women in the Los Angeles area. He begins a relationship with Michelle, a local politician's wife, without expecting any pay. One of his clients is murdered and Detective Sunday begins pumping him for details on his different clients, something he is reluctant to do considering the nature of his work. Julian begins to suspect he's being framed. Meanwhile Michelle begins to fall in love with him.
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What critics compared American Gigolo to
SoCal Satanism, glam trappings, and messianic pathology can recall Kenneth Anger and Curtis Harrington, while in his gesamtkunstwerk ambitions, at least, the filmmaker Refn most resembles is Paul Schrader, particularly in the period of American Gigolo (1980) and Cat People (1982), the latter evoked when a mountain lion makes a cameo in Jesse’s room, the former in everything but the breakthrough of spiritual succor, which has no place in Refn’s nihilistic fable.
Despite citing Bertolucci’s Last Tango in Paris as a tonal touchstone, and nodding cheekily to American Gigolo/Psycho, the result smacks more of Adrian Lyne’s blandly naff 9½ Weeks, the S&M frankness of Barbet Schroeder’s Maîtresse usurped by the archaic softcore of Just Jaeckin’s The Story of O.
He is a journalist with a selection of suits and ties that Richard Gere would have killed for in his "American Gigolo" days.
That coupled with a killer (and, some would argue, almost too subtle) promotional campaign including character posters modeled after classics like The Long Goodbye, American Gigolo and To Live and Die in L.A., Hotel Artemis has all the makings of a cult classic waiting to happen.
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That said, it benefits from really nice performances from LaBelle (“The Predator,” “American Gigolo”), who offers all the qualities you imagine Spielberg possessing at that age, and Dano — terrific earlier this year as The Riddler in “The Batman” — as the contemplative, possibly overly understanding and patient Burt.
Aging to become a high school teen relocated to Arizona and played by the fresh-faced Canadian Gabriel LaBelle of Showtime’s American Gigolo series, Sam has evolved his self-taught skill set into a creative obsession that earns him Boy Scout merit badges and a loyal group of bike-riding friends.
“Blade Runner” (1982), with Ridley Scott at his most bristling-glistening, and Paul Schrader’s Ferdinando Scarfiotti design hoedowns like “American Gigolo” (1980) and “Cat People” (1982) were in that moment, too.
The scribe-turned-helmsman could probably learn a thing or two from Paul Schrader, who penned Taxi Driver but had mixed success transitioning to the director’s seat with the likes of American Gigolo, Cat People and Light Sleeper.
“Drive’s” opening sequence felt a little like Schrader’s 1980 hit “American Gigolo” and the nighttime sequences in the city felt like Schrader’s forgotten gem “Light Sleeper.”
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Schrader himself says he was concentrating on visuals in this movie, which was made right after his 1980 film, "American Gigolo."
In Cat People as in his previous two movies, Hardcore and American Gigolo, director Paul Schrader explores the intricate textures of desire and the interplay between eros and animality.
The remarkable thing about their two collaborations is that 1980’s American Gigolo and 1982’s Cat People—the latter of which has just been released on Blu-ray via Shout!
After the screenplays for Taxi Driver and Raging Bull and his brilliant early work which includes Blue Collar, Hardcore and American Gigolo , Cat People was a misstep and he would not direct another decent film until Affliction in 1997.
Throughout most of his career, Schrader never shied away from exploring the often polarizing themes of raw sexuality and power- particularly, Taxi Driver, Hardcore and American Gigolo, all which he penned before helming Cat People.
After an impressive, down and dirty debut with the 1978 Detroit factory film Blue Collar (helped enormously by the lived-in performances of Richard Pryor, Harvey Keitel, and Yaphet Kotto), Paul Schrader took a turn for the worse with his pseudo-artistic wankings American Gigolo and Cat People .