Sightlines · reception
How American Gigolo was received
1980 · Paul Schrader · American Gigolo on Sightlines
The arc
Critics in 1980 were lukewarm — too cold, too glossy — but it was a hit, and it's since been reappraised as a key text of 80s style and the start of Schrader's 'man in his room' cycle it shares with Taxi Driver and Light Sleeper.
What’s debated
The perennial fight: is it a hollow surface with nothing underneath, or is the surface the whole point — a film *about* a man who is all packaging?
Its footprint
It gave the world Blondie's 'Call Me' (a #1 hit written for the film), put Giorgio Armani on the American map, and the shot of Richard Gere laying out shirts and ties on his bed is one of cinema's most referenced fashion moments.
Where it stands
A canon-climber beloved by Schrader completists and fashion-minded cinephiles — the 'style bible' entry point to his loner cycle.
Did you know? John Travolta was cast in the lead and dropped out shortly before filming — Richard Gere stepped in, and the role made him a star (and made him the rare Hollywood leading man to do full-frontal nudity at the time).
Named by the director
- Pickpocket (1959) — Schrader has openly said he lifted the ending from Bresson's Pickpocket — a theft he's cheerfully admitted to repeating across his career.
- The Conformist (1970) — Schrader wanted Bertolucci's look so badly he hired The Conformist's production designer, Ferdinando Scarfiotti, as visual consultant.
- Robert Bresson — Schrader, who wrote a book on Bresson's transcendental style, cites him as the film's spiritual model for the redeemed-loner ending.