Double Feature
Blue Collar
Richard Pryor, Harvey Keitel and Yaphet Kotto star in the powerful, critically acclaimed drama, Blue Collar. Three auto assembly line workers, fed up with union brass and tired of scraping by, hatch a plan to rob a safe at union headquarters. Disappointed with their measly bounty, they realize they’ve made off with something much more valuable than cash. Their unexpected swipe suddenly envelopes the three autoworkers in a desperate fight against corruption and organized crime. (Universal Studios)
- Director
- Paul Schrader
- Writer
- Paul Schrader & Leonard Schrader
- Starring
- Richard Pryor, Harvey Keitel, Yaphet Kotto, Ed Begley Jr., Harry Bellaver
- Year
- 1978
- Rated
- R
- Country
- USA
- Format
- 35mm
- Running Time
- 114 minutes
American Gigolo
A slick Los Angeles callboy finds love and redemption in Paul Schrader’s ultra-stylish drama. High-living prostitute Julian Kay (Richard Gere, stepping in for John Travolta) has it all: the Mercedes, the clothes, access to Beverly Hills’ swankiest establishments, and a stable of rich, older female clients. But it all falls apart after he does a favor for his former pimp (Bill Duke) and the trick turns up dead a short while later; Julian’s actual client won’t give him an alibi, and police detective Sunday (Hector Elizondo) doesn’t believe the gigolo’s denials. The one person who can help him is frustrated politician’s wife (and sole non-paying bedmate) Michelle (Lauren Hutton), if only Julian could let down his defenses and accept her gesture of love. Mixing his admiration for European art cinema with a voyeuristic view of the seamier side of sex and affluence, Schrader renders Julian an inscrutable, emotionally disengaged purveyor of pleasure, decked out in Giorgio Armani clothes coordinated with Ferdinando Scarfiotti’s meticulous production design. Amid critical doubts about its artiness and distanced eroticism, American Gigolo surprised everyone by not dying on the box office vine. With some audiences reportedly showing up for repeat viewings of Gere’s seductive charms, it became a moderate hit, turning Gere into a star and Armani into the new fashion sensation. Whatever reservations one may have about the movie, it provided two indelible images of 1980s decadence to come: Gere’s perusing his “artist’s palette” of shirts, ties, and jackets, and Gere’s cruising down the Pacific Coast Highway in his convertible to the New Wave strains of Blondie’s “Call Me”. (Paramount)
- Director
- Paul Schrader
- Writer
- Paul Schrader
- Starring
- Richard Gere, Lauren Hutton, Hector Elizondo, Nina van Pallandt,,Bill Duke
- Year
- 1980
- Rated
- R
- Country
- USA
- Format
- 35mm
- Running Time
- 117 minutes