The light casts stripes on Gere and the others. The architecture is clean, modern and linear. Watch how full of lines American Gigolo is. Giorgio Moroder’s music is so much of its time. The characters are obsessed by Armani and the right type of sports car. This is an incredibly '80s Californian movie. It’s so full of visual pleasure and empathy.įar from condemning Gere’s prostitution, Schrader seems to say that such men are an inevitable part of the American sexual economy, where the man is away all the time and couples are emotionally estranged. If you didn’t know otherwise, you’d swear that the famous scene where Gere gets out of Hutton’s bed, stands naked at the window and talks about women, was written by a woman. He really understands their desires and tries to compensate for their husbands’ lack of interest in them. My favourite scenes in this film are the ones where Gere is with older women or when he talks about older women. Especially in the hilarious scene where he lays out his clothes on the bed and Smokey Robinson sings. Gere’s gigolo, Julian Kay, does exactly that throughout this movie. Schrader is fascinated by men who perform. Think of how many of his men - Travis, Jake, Mishima - admire their own bodies. Well, just as Gere likes to be looked at, so Schrader - the writer-director of American Gigolo - likes to look. I’m sure you’ve noticed the way that Richard Gere likes to keep his clothes off in films.

I could talk about the film all night but I’m not allowed to so here are just a few points. It’s one of the great so-called ‘women’s films’ made by men, but we don’t apologise for screening it again because it’s wonderful and there’s always something more to see in it. You’ve probably seen American Gigolo before.

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