“American Gigolo” (1980)
The movie that put Gere firmly on the A-list (only after he battled off Travolta once again, and after Christopher Reeve turned it down), “American Gigolo” marks a perfect midpoint between sleazy L.A. sexploitation movie and Bressonian character drama. The third directorial effort from “Taxi Driver” writer Paul Schrader sees Gere as Julian Kaye, a gorgeous male escort who ends up framed for the murder of a client. An early delve into the materialistic, me-first culture of the 1980s, the film’s more successful in its examination of the day-to-day existence of an escort than it is at being a noir movie (there’s little surprise in the way the crime plot plays out, though actors like Lauren Hutton as a potential alibi, Hector Elizondo as the cop tracking Gere, and Bill Duke as his pimp, add some color), with Schrader giving a cool sense of detachment to the sunny sleaze of his environment. Though imperfect, the film has the perfect lead in Gere, a cock of the walk seemingly more attracted to his own reflection than to any of his clients who becomes positively desperate as his life unravels. Gere’s always been a deceptively brave actor, and that’s shown clearly here: as he’d later tell Entertainment Weekly, he embraced the film’s gay subtext and nudity, saying “I wanted to immerse myself in all of that.”
“An Officer And A Gentleman” (1982)
A sort of proto-“Top Gun,” Taylor Hackford’s “An Officer And A Gentleman” was a big, unashamed popular hit that established Gere as the romantic lead that he’d occupy for much of the next decade, and proved to be an unlikely awards success as well (winning two Oscars and picking up a further four nominations). Written by “The Blue Lagoon”’s Douglas Day Stewart, the film sees Gere as a recent college grad (he was 33 when the film was released) who heads to the Navy’s Aviation Officer Candidate School in order to fulfil his dream of becoming a jet pilot, clashing with tough drill sergeant Louis Gossett Jr. (who won an Oscar), and falling in love with local factory worker Debra Winger. It’s broad, populist stuff, but Hackford gives the film more grit and steel than you might remember, which only makes it work more like gangbusters when the rousing love-lifts-us-up-where-we-belong finale arrives. Both leads are terrific, but Gere deserved an Oscar nod alongside Winger, displaying a sort of working-class determination that’s closer to “Days Of Heaven” than to “American Gigolo.”
“Breathless” (1983)
It’s certainly a complement to be given a role in a remake of one of the great incarnations of cinematic cool, thanks to Jean-Paul Belmondo. But while Jim McBride’s “Breathless,” a remake of Jean-Luc Godard’s stone-cold Nouveau Vague classic “À Bout De Souffle,” can’t match up to its predecessor, it’s nevertheless an interesting picture that features some great work from Gere. A deeply ’80s movie even as it tips its head to ’50s rockabilly atmosphere and Godard’s original, it sees the star in Belmondo’s shoes as Jesse, a comic-book loving Vegas drifter who kills a cop and reunites with a French flame (Valérie Kaprisky) to go on the run. McBride’s film has a distinct look and feel, beautifully shot in neon and pastel by Richard H. Kline (“Body Heat”), but it feels rather more effortful than the lovingly tossed-off (we mean this as a complement…) vibe of Godard’s original. The same extends to Gere, who’s more restless and needy than Belmondo ever was, but it helps him stand apart from the source material a little more, creating a slightly mad version of the rebel without a cause that makes him feel less cool and more alien, closer to a David Lynch creation than something more familiar.
