1980: "American Gigolo"

                                    American Gigolo is an 1980 drama written and directed by Paul Schrader. It stars Richard Gere as an emotionally disconnected male escort in Los Angeles who finds true love in the wife of a senator (played by Lauren Hutton). However, his life is interrupted when he becomes the prime suspect in a murder and tries to clear his name.

                                   American Gigolo is shallow, empty, and vacuous. These are obvious adjectives to describe the world of the movie (posh Beverly Hills culture, the Armani suits, the detached sex, the cool posturing of its main character, the slickly produced Blondie song that plays during the opening credits). I mean, that's what Schrader going for, I presume. Under all that superficiality, there's a beating heart somewhere. But alas, no. The movie ends up just being just as shallow, empty, and vacuous as the world it tries to depict.
                                   The plot is drearily typical hard-boiled noir and it's rigidly nihilistic and humorless to the point of boredom. It feels somewhat atypical of Schrader who is usually good at injecting humanity into his lonely characters. This felt too much like a stylistic exercise, which is ironic because the filmmaking lacks any style. Even the sex feels more Skinemax than anything hardcore or degrading.
                                   Another problem I have with Gigolo is Richard Gere. He looks the part. He's handsome, well-dressed, and does his prostituting with a level of soft-spoken sensuality that works for the character. But, man, he is not a compelling actor. I mean, Gere could have brought a disarming charisma to him or a subtle vulnerability. But he plays the part so sullenly and disaffectedly, with a surface-level nihilistic view of life that seems akin to a 16-year-old high school punk.

                         I like Paul Schrader a lot and he has a lot of quality work under his belt. I loved Mishima and his most recent movie First Reformed is very good. He wrote two of my favorite movies, Taxi Driver and Raging Bull. But American Gigolo is just not a good movie. It's just slick phoniness.