Part one of Schrader-thon is here! American Gigolo (1980) marks Schrader’s third directorial effort, and Richard Gere’s very first full-frontal appearance (but certainly not his last).
Part one of Schrader-thon is here!
Exploring the filmography of Paul Schrader has been an absolute treat and we're starting this series off with a bang! We both really liked this one.
American Gigolo (1980) marks Schrader’s third directorial effort, and Richard Gere’s very first full-frontal appearance (but certainly not his last). Paul Schrader has become one of Laura’s favorite directors lately, so we’re both excited to delve into this man’s films. If things go as planned, we’ll even get to talk about some of his movies that DON’T have full-frontal…
Currently streaming free on HBO Max and anywhere else you stream your movies if you don’t have HBO Max (and you want to pay to rent it).
Ryan: Richard Gere goes to the Mustache Party nightclub.
Laura: Yeah, that's true. Yeah.
Ryan: Probe, do you remember when we were watching the scene and he walks down the stairs and he sees all those leather daddies and there's the one guy taking his shirt off and I just go, Yeeh
Laura: Well, hello there. Welcome to On The Bitte, the podcast that uncovers full-frontal male nudity in cinema. My name is Laura and I am joined by my stupendous tremendous breathtaking co-host, Ryan.
Ryan: Hey there, pretty lady. Oh, my sexy lady.
Laura: That is so nice of you.
Ryan: Yeah, just not fly. Now, like, can a guy just walk up to say, like a cold check? It'd be like, hey, there sexy lady.
Laura: Maybe if that's your rapport, if it's the first time you've ever met them, I'd say, no, that's a no go.
Ryan: It's like I'm incredibly greasy and I'm just going up there and I'm just like, hello, sexy lady, how are you? Would you like to exchange digits?
Laura: Let me write my digits on your forehead.
Ryan: Yeah, why don't I put my digits somewhere? That isn't to do with the phone. I'm a gigolo.
Laura: Perfect segue into talking about the neo-noir crime drama American Gigolo. Omg, Ryan. It's our first Schrader selection.
Ryan: Yeah, uh, Schraderthon it is commenced.
Laura: Shred. I am absolutely thrilled about it because over the last couple of years, Paul Schrader has become one of my favorite directors.
Ryan: Yes. Um, well, I mean, I've been aware of Paul Schrader's movements for a very long time as a filmmaker, though. Yeah.
Laura: You put a tracker on him?
Ryan: Well, no, he's busy right now, but he's been involved in either writing or making some of my favorite films. In terms of, like, his filmography, we've only become more accustomed to it over the last couple of years. I think it's another one of those pandemic journeys that we've taken together where we've looked at the filmography of Paul Schrader potentially.
Laura: I remember when we first met, we went to what was that store we used to go to and buy movies.
Ryan: Fop.
Laura: Fop. Yeah, yeah, we used to go to FOP. And I remember trying to impress you because you'd never seen First Reformed.
Ryan: No, I hadn't seen First Reformed.
Laura: So I bought it and I'm like, oh, you guys have this?
Ryan: But by the time you met me, I was only going to the cinema to go see things that I thought were going to be good. I didn't go to the cinema quantity and then you met me and then I won't watch anything. Well, here's the thing. Like, the first thing we went to go and see was the Halloween movie. What was it just called? Halloween.
Laura: That was the first movie we went and saw together at the cinema. We went and saw Moon and A Trip to the Moon.
Ryan: Yeah, I took you to a matinee on a Sunday at the Cameo. That was lovely for like a day thing. And I took you out and treat you to some class.
Laura: Um, almost like Julian Kaye, Richard Gere’s character from American Gigolo. I was treated like a real lady.
Ryan: Yeah, I treat you like a real lady. I showed you a silent film. It was the terrible Cannes Film Festival version of A Trip to the Moon with the soundtrack by Air. It's awful.
Laura: Absolutely awful.
Ryan: Yes. And then obviously, Moon, the Duncan Jones movie.
Laura: Sam Rockwell.
Ryan: Yeah. Anyway, we're not doing that movie. There's no Dicks in that movie.
Laura: Let me just throw out who else is in this film before you tell me about Paul. Even though I know about Paul, I love Paul.
Ryan: Yeah, of course.
Laura: Lauren Hutton plays Michelle. Hector Elizondo plays Detective Sunday. And I was just telling you while we were watching the film that he always plays cops. He's always playing the police.
Ryan: He's always playing an authoritarian figure.
Laura: Lieutenant Detective.
Ryan: Because I'm pretty sure he's in. No, you know, Elsie is in. He's in The Princess Diaries. Yeah, I think so. He's always in a state of authority or he's a mentor.
Laura: You guys have probably seen American Gigolo, and if you haven't, obviously it's streaming. Watch it. But you'll recognize this guy right off the bat. He has a very particular look, and he's great.
Ryan: Well, that's not true, because I didn't recognize him straight off the bat.
Laura: No, he's very young. I mean, this is 40 years old. Yeah.
Ryan: He's got no facial hair.
Laura: Correct. He still has that.
Ryan: He doesn't have a lot of hair.
Laura: No, but he still has that gap in his tooth.
Ryan: Okay.
Laura: Not unlike Lauren Hutton.
Ryan: No.
Laura: Gorgeous. And Bill Duke. Bill Duke. Isn't this.
Ryan: Yeah. This is Predator. Or Predator?
Laura: Predator.
Ryan: No, this is pre-Predator.
Laura: Pre-Prediting.
Ryan: Any time.
Laura: Tell me about Paul. I want to hear just fill my Brain and my Body with Paul Schrader.
Ryan: So as we've already kind of pointed out, um, this is kind of like a Schraderthon. We are going to be covering more than just this one movie. I would say that in chronological order. This is the first film that he has directed and obviously making that kind of plain distinction. But this is the first film that he has directed that has any full-frontal male nudity in it.
Laura: Yes.
Ryan: So when I say I'm quite familiar with Paul Schrader, I'm more familiar with Paul Schrader. Certainly earlier on as the young script writer from the 70s. That's what I remember.
Laura: Yeah. I think most people would recognize him from the things that he's written. And I agree with that.
Ryan: Uh, he's a fantastic writer. Oh, uh, yeah, I'll just put that out there. He's a fantastic writer, but he writes and he directs his own stuff as well. So he's very much a kind of separate entity to the stuff that he's also penned. He's, um, also a film critic as well. He's a very intelligent man, but kind of noted out there. Let's just say he was more well known in the 70s for writing and co-writing a bunch of stuff with Scorsese. So let's just say Taxi Driver, Raging Bull, The Last Temptation of Christ and also Bringing Out the Dead. He's paying for Scorsese.
Laura: Yeah. That's crazy.
Ryan: Yeah. And they're all very good films. I think Taxi Drivers probably the most prominent one out of those four. And I remember with Raging Bull, Mardik Martin started the script. Raging Bull was a project that went on for quite a number of years. De Niro was reading Jack Lamar's book and they were like, Marty, this is something you should make. And I think Schrader comes in to clean the script up and by cleaning the script up, he basically brings a really hard edge to it. Basically, what makes the film what it is now.
Laura: Yeah, I think he typically does that. I was reading how he started the script for Spielberg's Close Encounters of the Third Kind and then Spielberg read it and goes, OOH, this is a bit rough. This is a bit too intense.
Ryan: Yeah. Content wise his stuff can be a little bit edge, like a little bit on edge. Um, but that's not to say that it's not, it's not interesting to watch. It's just a lot of the themes. Not thing we concentrate on. I would say like a lot of these films focus on elements of the sex industry and the sex trade. That's definitely a thing that he's done.
Laura: Yeah. A lot of sex and drugs.
Ryan: Yes. A, uh, lot of crime, a lot of violence, loneliness.
Laura: There's definitely a lonely man theme.
Ryan: Yes, the lonely man theme, which will cover. But let's look at his filmography. So, um, he's directed 19 films and he's been active since 1974. Now, in 1974, that's where he gets a co writing credit with film, uh, called The Yakuza that came out in 1974. But he did make two films in the 70s which were Blue Collar and Hardcore in 1978. And then American Gigolo follows them up in 1980.
Laura: Yeah. I think it was the success of him being able to write those films for Scorsese that gave him the opportunity to be able to direct his own and write his very own stuff. Right.
Ryan: Yeah. He already had a hand in the film industry regardless.
Laura: Right.
Ryan: Of course he was a film critic. So obviously we're covering American Gigolo today. 1980 comes that's effectively where we stop, we will be covering more straighter stuff as we go along. In 82 we have Cat People. In 85 we have Mishama Life and four Chapters. In 87 we have The Light of Day. Then there's The Comfort of Strangers, Light Sleeper. And then obviously the list goes on with Touch Affliction, Forever Mine, Autofocus Dominion, which was the Exorcist prequel. Never realized he directed that one.
Laura: I know, I've never seen it.
Ryan: I might have done, but it's also part of a string of like Exorcism films that they seem to be making and kind of pulling out of.
Laura: Uh, I love a good exorcism. Yeah, I think they're fun.
Ryan: Okay, well, that's what you're saying.
Laura: I'm going to try it.
Ryan: Yeah.
Laura: Anything for Paul.
Ryan: Yes. And continuing the list, there's the Walker, Adam resurrected Canyons dying of the light, doggy dog, first reformed and then his last film that was released, although he is making something else just now was the card, uh, counter with Jason Isaacsax.
Laura: Hope everyone that wait.
Ryan: That wasn't Jason Isaac.
Laura: Oscar.
Ryan: Oscar Isaac. I made that mistake quite a lot. Yeah. Be different if it was Moonlight, Pod, Amarin. Any other kind of roles that the man has taken that are completely inconsequential to the real roles that man has taken?
Laura: Um, we're going to talk about him too, but it's very exciting and I hope you wrote all of those films down because we will be talking about quite a few. Yes, quite a few of those phones.
Ryan: Yes, it's a mofool. Hey, uh, let's, uh, get into the movie.
Laura: So I have this synopsis from Letterbox and it's terrible. I genuinely, uh, hate it. I think that they could have done better. And I think that the synopsis for it on HBO Max, which is where we watched it today. I don't think we own that movie.
Ryan: No, we, uh, will. No, we don't.
Laura: Don't worry. The synopsis from Letterbox is Julian makes a lucrative living as an escort to older women in the Los Angeles area. He begins a relationship with Michelle, a local politician's wife, without expecting any pay. One of his clients is murdered and Detective Sunday begins pumping him for details on different clients, something he is reluctant to do considering the nature of his work. Meanwhile, Michelle begins to fall in love with him. That's the letterboxed that is letterboxed.
Ryan: It could be a little bit long winded.
Laura: I know I said it was terrible.
Ryan: A little bit long winded.
Laura: But we do the letterboxed one. So I did the letterbox one. I didn't pick a different, um, one.
Ryan: No, the HBO one is better. It's only one line.
Laura: Which is, uh, like the man Gere gets it on with hot older women.
Ryan: Well, no, it's like. Yeah, it's like male escort gets embroiled in a murder, uh, plot and he has to figure out who's trying to frame him. Pretty much.
Laura: The tagline is better. It's the tagline that you would see on the poster.
Ryan: Okay.
Laura: He's the highest paid lover in Beverly Hills. He leaves women feeling more alive than they've ever felt before. Except one.
Ryan: That's clever. Yeah, I get that.
Laura: That's, uh. All right.
Ryan: Yeah, that's not too bad. Yeah, it's a quintessential modern film noir. This is what American Gigolo is. And, um, it's very much at the cusp of the 80s as well.
Laura: So good.
Ryan: Yeah. So it's got a really nice style to it looks amazing. A lot of strong primary colors. There's lovely pastels and stuff in the clothing and stuff that they wear the real sense of style and design about the film, which I quite enjoy.
Laura: Yeah. A lot of his clothes are Armani, which I think kind of that was like a big deal.
Ryan: Yes.
Laura: All those Armani suits.
Ryan: Yes.
Laura: So he looks good.
Ryan: He has to look the part.
Laura: He's a fancy man. He's got to dress like a fancy man.
Ryan: Yes. And primarily the reason why he's an escort to older women is these older women are the ones with the money. That's the reason he's doing it.
Laura: Yeah. I guess he never exactly says that, but, yeah, they're the ones they want to take them out. They want to get them dressed. They want to buy a nice things.
Ryan: You know, something nice to have on your arm. But he also kind of points out during the course of the movie is that he can't relate to people who are younger, is that he has an understanding of an older woman and what they want that he is certain that he's able to provide. And by that he means he's able to get them to orgasm, and they're relatively quite chuffed with themselves afterwards.
Laura: Yeah. I mean, he gives them so much as well. He's intelligent. He's an intelligent man.
Ryan: He's multilingual.
Laura: He is five or six languages.
Ryan: He says, which is obviously to his own benefit, so that he can get more clients because international clients is obviously the way to go.
Laura: Yeah. People traveling, and he can be their tour guide, as he says.
Ryan: Yeah. He likes a bit of the crinkly.
Laura: Oh, my God. Hey. Women at all not okay, hold on. Adult women. Adult women, uh, need love. All right. It doesn't matter how old you are.
Ryan: Okay.
Laura: Okay.
Ryan: Well, you're an adult. Do you feel loved? But I'm not cracking stupid jokes.
Laura: Yeah, I don't know.
Ryan: Whatever.
Laura: I think it's lovely. He takes care of these women. They have a need. He's got it Bada. Boom. I'm ready to open the champagne. He says, pop the Cork, baby. Do you know what he's doing?
Ryan: He's able to spin a yarn in such a way that just kind of draws the ladies in. I think that's kind of what he's got, the gift of the gap.
Laura: And you know what that presence about him. You know what that 6th. Um, language. He knows what's that language of love.
Ryan: Yeah. Uh, that's what that is.
Laura: Yeah, baby.
Ryan: What does Michelle call it? Because she just kind of fly out international language. Yes, she does. Yeah.
Laura: She's amazing. I recognized her, and I couldn't remember where from. And it was from that 1985 Jim Carrey movie Once Bitten, which he plays a vampire. And I had such a thing for Jim Carrey when I was younger. He was my very first crush. It was ridiculous. I had a scrapbook and everything.
Ryan: Well, he was your very first celebrity crush.
Laura: It was probably my very first crush.
Ryan: You have to make the distinction between. Okay, well, you have to make the distinction between someone who is attainable.
Laura: Okay.
Ryan: But also, how young were you when you had this crush?
Laura: 91.
Ryan: So gross.
Laura: When did Ace Ventura and all of these movies came out? Actually, it might have been before that. I genuinely was very young. Probably like, because I used to watch In Living Color, and I was obsessed with In Living Color. I've shown you it's Got Fire, Marshall, Bill and Homie. Don't, um, play that right.
Ryan: Okay.
Laura: It's hilarious sketch comedy.
Ryan: Okay. Yeah.
Laura: With all the Waynes Brothers.
Ryan: Oh, right. Okay. Yeah.
Laura: Got you the Fly Girls. I remember. Okay, this is such a tangent. I'm going to be.
Ryan: American sketch comedy is like, hit and miss for me.
Laura: I'm working on it. I'm working on it.
Ryan: There's always little bits and bulbs.
Laura: I think that's any sketch comedy, you've got some winners, you've got some losers. But I remember telling my mom when I was very little, I was probably six years old, and I said, Mom, I know what I want to be when I grow up. She said, what, dear? I said, A fly girl. And she goes, well, that's a shame, because that shows canceled. Crushing my dreams. Crushing my little girl dreams.
Ryan: Yes.
Laura: Can't dance like a flaggirl.
Ryan: I mean, I'd also be like, that silly. Well, I remember getting sat down by my dad and his wife at the time. Like, he, uh, was like, you need to get this illusion out of your head. You want to make films. Who do you think you are? Spielberg, you said, yeah.
Laura: But it never changed your trajectory in your life. Actually, to be fair, I did take hip hop classes when I was in middle school.
Ryan: Yeah, I didn't do that. I just kind of, like, studied and did it all. But at the end of the day, I don't know, maybe it didn't change my trajectory. I could probably deal with it due to the mental health implications that it probably garnered at the same time. Yeah, sometimes, um, a little bit of real life. Real life kicks you into Gere.
Laura: There you go. That's fine.
Ryan: Going back to American Gigolo, this film, um, is really cool.
Laura: This film opens with a title track from Blondie that she wrote for this film. And, uh, that song has been played out for the last 40 years. You hear call me?
Ryan: Yeah, it's calling me.
Laura: You hear call me all the time on the radio and it's calling on me.
Ryan: Did I just say call on me?
Laura: I think you did. I was trying to just bypass that and just call me that's.
Ryan: Call on me?
Laura: Take on me?
Ryan: Take on me? I'm on fire today.
Laura: Lemole Giorgio Moraler does the score, but I think he just tinkers around with Blondie's song. But there's also cool tones, the synth. Oh, baby, it is so solid. Even when the movie before it's black screen. American Gigolo and the titles are coming up. Like, the music is just banging right off the bat. I'm like, yeah, it's really good.
Ryan: Yeah. It's a really good, solid a soundtrack. It's not a wine chunk.
Laura: But it's a fantastic score. And it made me like, Call Me by Blondie again, a little bit more. Yeah.
Ryan: No, I think it fits in the film because, um, that whole opening sequence is just him going from place to place to place. We're not really 100% sure what it is. I mean, we already know it's about Jigglow.
Laura: He's dressed well. He has an incredible car. He's got cool sunglasses. His beautiful wavy 70s hair is blowing in the wind. It's amazing.
Ryan: Yeah. I, uh, think one of the most prominent things about this, and at least like that, I saw in the opening title sequence, is that it's produced by Jerry Bruckheimer and Freddie Fields, of all people. I did not expect that.
Laura: Do you want to, uh, know something interesting?
Ryan: Do I ever, uh.
Laura: Jerry Bruckheimer is still super into this concept, and they are in the process of making an American Gigolo series for Showtime, like, right now.
Ryan: Okay.
Laura: Uh, it is weird. Yeah, it is really, really weird. I was not expecting to find out that information. I mean, who knows? It says it's in production.
Ryan: Yeah. I don't know if it's something that fits in with the present day. You know what I mean?
Laura: Filming began last year in 2021. In July, they commissioned ten episodes. Jon Bernthal from Walking Dead. Punisher.
Ryan: Yeah.
Laura: Is meant to play Julian Kaye.
Ryan: Okay.
Laura: Okay. Indeed.
Ryan: Yeah. Do you want to know who's meant to scary like he is.
Laura: I think he can turn sweet.
Ryan: You saw him in Wolf at Wall Street.
Laura: I saw him in a convention once.
Ryan: He's ready to knock on out, like at any given moment, like he's just ready to punch something.
Laura: I saw him in a convention once at the bar, and he had a bunch of dogs with him, and I can't remember what kind of dogs they might have been pitbulls, which makes me like him a little bit more.
Ryan: Okay.
Laura: But he was really nice. He's like a chill bro.
Ryan: I'm sure he is. Just.
Laura: I think he could play. I don't know who can do a Richard Gere now.
Ryan: Charlie Hunnam. I don't know. Okay. Chris Hemsworth, Robert Downey Jr. Oh, my God. Jude Law. Then just get him back. Do an Alfie.
Laura: He's too old.
Ryan: All right, well, who's young?
Laura: Who's a young hot upstart?
Ryan: Timothy Shalomi. Who are him and fucking everything. Because they already are and everyone shallow made out.
Laura: You know who could have done it before? All of the cannibal, uh, accusations is Army Hammer. I think Army Hammer could have done it really well.
Ryan: Yeah, but then you'd immediately go into the series like, yeah, he murdered someone. That's why he wasn't in that movie. Fresh. They had to get Sebastian Stan to do it because it's immediately off the bat. You'd be like, no, he's chewing on some poor girl's leg. You know what I mean?
Laura: Could all substand do it, you think?
Ryan: I mean, maybe he seems to be hot right now. They're putting him in a lot of stuff. Yeah, I don't know.
Laura: I don't care.
Ryan: I kind of feel like American Gigolo lives and dies in this movie.
Laura: To be fair, it lives and dies in the smoke in the 70s.
Ryan: It's not a lot of smoke.
Laura: There should be more smoke.
Ryan: There's not really a lot. Not really a ton of 70s in this either. It's just that the cusp at the end of the 70s.
Laura: It'S just Richard Gere's hair that survives from the 70s.
Ryan: Pretty much. There's a poster for the warriors in this movie. Yeah, there is, like, all spray painted out, and they're trying to save moved into another decade. We need to forget about the warriors. Water Hills, the warriors. The 70s are over.
Laura: I really do think that I never really cared for Richard Gere. I'm not saying that I disliked him at all, but I do think that the Richard Gere from American Gigolo is one of my favorites.
Ryan: Well, I would say this is like the beginnings of him genuinely about to blow up as an actor.
Laura: Yeah.
Ryan: Because before then he was in Days of Heaven, uh, the Malek.
Laura: Right.
Ryan: Darren's Malik movie. So I remember him in that. And I can't remember when curusa was it. Dreams came out.
Laura: Right.
Ryan: He's also in dreams.
Laura: So I feel like that's also around 80, isn't it?
Ryan: Yeah, I think he's in dreams. Either dreams or rapidly the in August. I'm not sure. I keep on mixing up those late Ericurists.
Laura: Okay.
Ryan: But either way, this is Pretty Woman. Pretty Woman's common. Either way, how big was Richard Gere, gerbils or not? You know what I mean?
Laura: Jesus.
Ryan: You know what I mean?
Laura: How dare you?
Ryan: I mean, they put it in the papers, but, uh, this is the beginnings of him blowing up. And, I mean, I think this is a good role for him. And this certainly puts Schreider on the map as well. This film's massively successful.
Laura: Yes. $5 million budget. It made $52.7 million at the box office. That is a Slam dunk.
Ryan: Okay.
Laura: I do love that this is a film where you kind of get a bit of the female gaze, a bit where you get to objectify men. And by men, I mean Richard Gere.
Ryan: Well, I mean, we are focused on the male prostitute aspect, as opposed to the female prostitute aspect. He gets out later with pretty women, obviously. We get that later.
Laura: This is different. This is definitely more of an objectification because not only are we as an audience, objectifying him, he as the character is objectifying himself. Super narcissistic. Always the best dressed, always the best groomed. He checks himself in windows as he walks by. He makes sure that he's always dressed to the Nines. There's that incredible montage of him putting all of his suits together, picking the perfect shirt, uh, picking the perfect tie, dancing and singing. How often do you get that with a man in a film?
Ryan: Not often. I suppose the 70s is like a period where, um, you're, Clark Gables and your Carrie Grants and stuff are swept to the site. You can get a little bit more of a realistic portrayal of a man in a movie, which means exposing a lot of the flaws.
Laura: Yeah, fair enough.
Ryan: And this is kind of a nice balance of the two, where your hero isn't exactly a very flawed, present individual.
Laura: Oh, yeah. I mean, he's got tons of issues, but he does go into the category of being a lonely man. When you look at his life, he has no love. He has no actual friends. The friends that he thought he had leave him the moment that they don't profit from him anymore. Yeah, they're not real friends.
Ryan: Well, there are these pimps. Effectively, that's what's happening there.
Laura: He's building a life based on material things and always keeping love at a distance, because in terms of sex and women, they are his job, his career. So why would you intermingle those things? I think he's so deep into the fact that he is a jiggle o and that he is man for hire that he can't even imagine or disconnect from that to allow love to come in. He's so business. Yeah, always business forward.
Ryan: Yes. He's good at, um, his job, though he seemingly does make quite a fair amount of money doing it. But then, obviously, when Michelle comes in, Michelle comes in just on the basis of just like, she's desperate to find out how he fucks.
Laura: And she never says anything other than that. She goes, I want to know what it's like to fuck you. It's really kind of obscene.
Ryan: Uh, well, here's the thing. The circles that he runs in. Michelle is the wife to a center who's on the campaign trail. And within the circles that they run in, obviously, his campaign donors are mostly the women who have his clients effectively. Right. And within the circles, they're just like, you know what he does, right. You know why he's here?
Laura: It's a very unspoken but very obvious thing.
Ryan: Yeah. They know he's arm candy and he's a paid escort. So for that reason, they have zero respect for him when he's in these high class situations, uh, these country clubs and stuff like.
Laura: Who doesn't respect him because he's not like other ladies.
Ryan: The thing is, the way that I saw it, and certainly the way that the male characters talk to him, certainly the Senator, when we do speak to him eventually, is that the way that Richard Gere’s character makes his money is not a true and honest living. That's what the Senator is affecting.
Laura: Well, the thing is.
Ryan: Obviously, that's juxtaposed against the fact that he's a Senator within politics. It's all pandering. It's all mouth service.
Laura: Mouth servicing his wife. Yeah, I kind of consider that the biggest reason why he didn't like him.
Ryan: Yeah, well, I mean, she takes a liking to him purely on the basis, um, that he's good in bed.
Laura: Yeah, that's it. She tracks him down, and it is incredibly easy for her to find this man in his profession. It seems that he would want to cover his tracks and keep his whereabouts hidden. He told her she shows up at his apartment. He says, I don't bring women here. She expected it to be fluffy red carpet and around rotating bed and all this. And he says to her, I don't bring women here. But the fact that she could find him, find his name probably through the connections around town. Yeah, he's quite the high paid translator.
Ryan: Escort the men in the lives of the women who are clients to Richard Gere all know exactly, uh, who he is and what he's doing. But this all kind of changes when it seems like these men conspire against them and they try and frame him for murder. And that scene where he goes to that house, and basically the conceived notion is that the husband is going to be tucked and watch Richard Gere have his way with his wife.
Laura: That is a wild scene.
Ryan: Yeah.
Laura: So you have his other pimp. What was his name? Leon.
Ryan: Yeah, bill Duke.
Laura: And he says, can you sub in? Can you sub in tonight? There's just the, uh, situation. I got this lady out in Palm Springs. But when he gets there, he realizes that. Yeah. He says he doesn't do gay stuff. That is kind of all he says. Of course. He says it in a moral way.
Ryan: Yeah. He says it in the. A's way. He's the F word.
Laura: Yeah, not cool. But he doesn't do guys, even though there is.
Ryan: Uh, a massive, like an elongated version of what you'd probably call a cigarette in the UK. And those little roll dot balls of meat. That's what he refers to.
Laura: But there's a huge homosexual undertone. Not even necessarily an undertone to the whole film.
Ryan: Well, Bill Juke runs a club called Probe, which is effectively just a gay club.
Laura: Oh, my God, I loved it so much.
Ryan: Uh, it's just a gay Leatherman hang out.
Laura: Oh, my God. I want to talk about that for 15 hours, but I want to get back to that later. Yeah, I love that scene so much. But when Richard Gere, Julian shows up to this appointment, uh, there's a guy there again. He says, I don't do men. And he goes, oh, no, it's just my wife. But I can watch, right? Yeah, of course. But then it just goes south immediately.
Ryan: Yeah. He probably should have got out there where he noticed there was Cactus, like, behind glass baby. That was in the bedroom. I was in the hallway of the bedroom.
Laura: Modern houses where not unlike the color of, uh, night house. You've got kind of weird windows and stuff.
Ryan: Yeah.
Laura: And. Yeah, they probably just have that strange, almost cloudy type window. Yeah.
Ryan: It's like the sort of windows you have in a bathroom. So people can't see unique, but they can see a shape. See, like a Blobby, flesh colored shape on the side of the window. Yes. No, there's, like, Cactus. Like a self contained little Cactus Cactus garden in the hallway.
Laura: I guess that's all you can grow in Palm Springs. Palm Springs.
Ryan: Yeah. This is also La. So everything's art Deco. His deck was fuck. Pretty much.
Laura: I love it.
Ryan: Like, there's circles and squares everywhere. There's no reason for it.
Laura: I genuinely don't hate that. Maybe it's coming back.
Ryan: Is it? This movie is from 1980 times for a resurgent. How many years this is? 40, 42 years.
Laura: Uh, Holy Moly. I want a lot of black and white tiles.
Ryan: Yeah. I want a window that doesn't look like it can open because it just looks like a small arch.
Laura: Yeah, exactly.
Ryan: If you saw a window, you'd get in a medieval Castle. That's what I want.
Laura: Yes.
Ryan: And then you can't seal it properly, and it gets really wet and damp, and then it just flies off, um, when there's a bit of wind. Love it.
Laura: This husband is trying to conduct this sexual situation between Richard Gere and then this man's wife.
Ryan: He's directing them, basically.
Laura: So creepy.
Ryan: Yes.
Laura: I mean, it is tense from the moment he walks in the door. It is creep city. Definitely not, um, going to repeat some of those phrases that comes out of that band's mouth.
Ryan: No, we don't need to. But basically what we're kind of showing, though, is like, this is the darker side to what Richard Gere is doing, because before then, we're kind of seeing he's franizing with these older women, and he's, like, opening, uh, their balls of champagne. And then he's probably showing them a good time in the bedroom. And then he just kind of leaves, and he talks to them on the phone, and he's like, he's so up that way, and it's kind of keeping them all interested in things. This is where it basically is like, I pay you to have sex with my wife, and I'm going to watch it, and I'm going to say obscene things while you're doing it.
Laura: Yeah, I want to get cooked.
Ryan: But obviously, this is the turning point. This is where he goes against the grain, starts to do something they don't want to do. And then obviously, it comes to kickback later when they find out that this woman has been murdered.
Laura: It certainly seems like this type of behavior and this type of job he's done in the past, and he feels as though he's above it now. So he's done the kink, and he's done the. I don't know what he called it, but the rough and the kink. He doesn't do it anymore. And I'm sure that he did it on his way up to where he is now, where he has these lovely older women who pay him tons of money and might not even have to have sex with them. Probably not.
Ryan: Like, if he shows them a good time.
Laura: Yeah. They probably just want a companion, someone to go shopping with, someone to have fun with.
Ryan: Yeah, well, an older woman is less likely to want to be, like, donkey punched or something. Probably. You know what I mean?
Laura: No one wants to be donkey punched.
Ryan: God, unless these people pay for it. I don't know. Look, I'm just putting.
Laura: He won't do that, though. He won't do that because he doesn't do the roughy. Kinky.
Ryan: It's not real. You shouldn't punch people in the back of the head While you're trying to have sex with them. It really dulls the mood a bit.
Laura: It really dampens the mood.
Ryan: Yes.
Laura: Wow.
Ryan: Um, did you know how many Venetian blinds are in this movie?
Laura: Not enough.
Ryan: I mean, there is so much horizontal lines in this movie. It's insane.
Laura: It's crazy.
Ryan: And this kind of leads us into our Dick scene. So basically, if you've seen the cover of the DVD or the movie poster to American Gigolo, It's pretty much the Dixie, except he's stark ball at naked.
Laura: Yeah, that's true. Well, it's after he decides that he should indeed, for free, have sex with Michelle After she comes to his house and basically begs him to show her his Wiener at a good time.
Ryan: Yeah. There's this strange performative sex scene, which is kind of just a lot of close ups of shapes and forms, and you kind of like, how are they lying in that position? Like, her legs up, his arms around his leg. Your leg. How is that?
Laura: It's very bright.
Ryan: Yeah. It's not. What, like, real difference between.
Laura: Say, is that what real sex looks like?
Ryan: Well, like having sex. Right. Which can be very mechanical and animalistic, obviously to a certain degree.
Laura: Like a color of night.
Ryan: Yeah. Or is this, like, love? Is that what it is? Let's see what sort of shapes we can get into. Because I love you so much. Can I get your knee touching my chin? And then can I kiss your tailbone area?
Laura: Is this when a couple that have been together for a really long time Just rents out the kamasuta from the library and just flips to a page?
Ryan: Maybe. I don't know.
Laura: This one tonight, honey.
Ryan: Yeah. Or like, you're just like, you know, you're just above a man, um, and then the, um, man slowly brings his hands to cup your breasts.
Laura: The weird pan tilt that they do with the camera.
Ryan: And she's just, like, staring them down, Smiling down at.
Laura: Um, him always just lightly touching her breath.
Ryan: It's very strange. Very weird. And I didn't hate it. That's the thing I was like, all right. And it's all against this pastel blue, and it looks really nice. All the bedsheets are pastel blue, and it looks very nice. But you're kind of just like, there's some choices that are made where you're kind of it's kind of gross for me to say that.
Laura: Uh, it was very dry, but you have sex scenes that are typically around this time. I'm bringing a Color of Night specifically. I know that's a later film, but it's very wet every time they have sex. It's a very wet.
Ryan: Well, that's a quintessential sweaty. Yeah, that's quintessential of the 80s. Uh, though, like, that opposite comes to be. This is very, um, sensual and calm.
Laura: It is deliberate, um, and dry.
Ryan: Right? I would say so, yeah.
Laura: You know, and I'm just meeting by. They're not sweaty. They're not huffing and puffing. They're just enjoying each other's company.
Ryan: They're romancing each other's organs.
Laura: Indeed.
Ryan: Yeah. Uh, that's lovely. I love you so much. This is amazing.
Laura: I mean, she fell in love with him. Um, Bada boom. Right there. Right there.
Ryan: Well, I'd be more kind of like, look, either put a Jimmy hat on or get a test, because I'm not sure about this. No, you know what I mean. It's not to say that I don't trust the women that you've been with, because obviously they're paying you a lot of money. But at the same time, I'm like, yeah, um, what if, uh, you've got gonorrhea.
Laura: There was certainly no conversations about any sort of protection in this film.
Ryan: No, this film takes away the romance. Yeah. I mean, this film is not explicit.
Laura: No.
Ryan: The thing is, for the premise of the film, for the premise of the film, gratuity. But the thing is, I feel like with the Jerry and the Freddie inclusion and the producer stuff, this film is meant to be mass marketable. But the lack of explicit content isn't missed at all.
Laura: No, it works as it is. You still get some boobs.
Ryan: You get butts, and you get a big Dick.
Laura: You get a Dick.
Ryan: So here we are. We're, uh, at the Dick scene.
Laura: 39 minutes, 47 seconds into the film, you get a charismatically, um, reminiscent Richard Gere staring out his full length window.
Ryan: The Venetian blinds is massive. Yes, but he's living in an apartment complex. But it's like a very expensive apartment complex. Yes. They have room service and all sorts, um, of things kind of going on at this place.
Laura: It's a hotel and apartment.
Ryan: Right. Okay. Either way, it looks expensive. And he's either just moved in because he seems, um, to be constantly changing the decor because he keeps making money. Baby, you got to upgrade so many fazes. That's the thing. Like, loads and loads of fazes.
Laura: How many do we have?
Ryan: Two.
Laura: One?
Ryan: Yeah. I mean, you keep buying plants. That's more the issue. Obviously, the sex scene has preceded this. We're now into the Dick scene he wakes up with her. This is the scene is he on the phone, and she wakes up, and he's talking to one of the clients, and he's saying how hard he is, or is that a different moment?
Laura: I'm struggling to remember. I know that happens.
Ryan: Yeah. So either way, that happens at one point, but it's not really important to the scene itself, but pretty much they wake up together, and she starts, like, talking to him. What it's like with these older women? And he goes into this monologue about how it is. So he basically gets out of bed, he walks towards the window, and he starts ball it naked. So we see his ass first, and then it kind of ends in this wide. And he's kind of proclamating how he makes these women feel and how he understands them and how he's, um, able to make them feel, um, better about themselves and take them to places they never felt they could ever get to. And he talks about this woman who seemingly had not had an orgasm in, like, 18 years. And he's like, I was working for, uh, 3 hours. Didn't think it would happen. But he's, like, so proud of himself. Really proud of himself. He's a narcissist. I mean, sex is his artistry. It seems to be, you know.
Laura: Yeah.
Ryan: And the thing is, it looks really good.
Laura: China is his canvas pretty much.
Ryan: Pretty much, yeah, it is. It's something. All right.
Laura: And his Weiner is his paintbrush.
Ryan: Yes. And you see all of it.
Laura: You see it. And I feel like when I'd watched this film before, I don't feel as though you see it as well as you do, but you do. And it comes back a couple of times and a couple of shots.
Ryan: Yeah, it does.
Laura: So it cuts back and forth, and he just wax poetic out this window about his conquest and just naked. I think it's fantastic. I think it's fantastic. This was not in the script. This was Richard Gere's idea, by the way.
Ryan: Okay.
Laura: It was not written in. This was not Schrader's, uh, idea. It wasn't anybody's idea. He just said it made sense. Wasn't in the script, and I just did it.
Ryan: That's weird, because usually Paul Schrader doesn't like people going off script.
Laura: I don't think it was an off script type of thing. I think maybe he just was okay with it. And as we know about Paul Schrader now, Paul Schrader is down with that type of thing. He doesn't shy away from full frontal male nudity in his films.
Ryan: No.
Laura: And so if you have an actor, especially an American actor, that's super rare to have someone super comfortable with their body and able and willing to go out there and with no shame. But that's also his character. So it makes sense for his character. He's not ashamed of his body. He takes a lot of time to make sure it looks perfect.
Ryan: Yeah. He does that upside down thing.
Laura: He does this upside down.
Ryan: I've never, uh, seen this film all the way through, but I had seen that bit where he's learning Swedish whilst he's also doing these exercises and he's hanging upside down like very American Psycho. Uh, or Batman.
Laura: Yeah.
Ryan: Was that there? I think Michael Keaton does that in one of the battles. Yeah. He hangs up upside down, actually. Couldn't sleep in bed. Uh, I think that happens. He's a bat because he loves that so much. Because he's crazy.
Laura: He's also afraid of bats.
Ryan: Yeah. He's got mental health problems. Like he dresses up as a bat and he goes out and face crimes. Obviously, there's slightly big issues there, but, yeah, no, I think.
Laura: Uh.
Ryan: I quite like this scene and I quite like this is like the first stage of Paul Schrader is what we're seeing here. This is the kind of first few steps of it. Once we get into the late 90s and we're obviously into the 2000s, that's where we see the second age of Paul Schrader, where everything is a little bit crazy, um, a little bit more wild, a little bit more experimental. But, uh, I quite like what this film does quite a lot, actually.
Laura: Yeah. And from what I was reading, there was, uh, a couple of instances where, uh, I read that this was the first time that a major Hollywood actor was frontally nude in a film. Like a big deal.
Ryan: I would say a big draw of the box office is probably from this scene alone.
Laura: Just the fact that Richard Gere is playing a gigolo.
Ryan: Probably. Yeah. I mean, the fact that it's called American Gigolo.
Laura: Uh, for Dicky Gere.
Ryan: Yeah.
Laura: Well, like I say, they still are. For crying out loud. People love him.
Ryan: Yeah. I mean, I would say so. I would say so. He's probably not. He's not at his best now, but no one is really.
Laura: Speak for yourself. Come on.
Ryan: What do you mean?
Laura: I don't, uh, know. We're both beautiful.
Ryan: Terrible, awful. Yes. I've got to grow a mustache in order to hide the fact that I'm a fat fuck.
Laura: I love the mustache. Uh, Richard Gere goes to the mustache party. Nightclub.
Ryan: It was just a mustache party. Everyone had a mustache. It was just that Bill Duke and Richard Gere didn't have mustaches. Everybody else had a mustache in that scene.
Laura: So this is when the film turns from kind of this superficial display of sex and vanity and drugs into this kind of like classic crime noir. You kind of have the switch flipped. When no longer is this about all these lovely women and all the boning and all the champagne popping. This is about, oh, no, my life is in danger was the woman that I cooked the cooking situation where I had to swap this guy's wife around for money has come back to bite him in the ass because she was murdered.
Ryan: Yes. And he says he didn't do it. And for the most part, he didn't. And not to spoil anything. There's a lot of stuff that happens and you kind of find out the level of collusion and people start to tear away from Richard Gere because of the accusations made against them.
Laura: Fair enough. He needs an alibi and what's he going to do. I mean, the people that he was with are high up in society and they're also people that are philandering.
Ryan: They're also bankrolling his life for real.
Laura: So, yeah, he doesn't want to mess around with that. But he also needs to not be put in prison wrongly for murder.
Ryan: No, that would also help. His cause is to not go to prison so he can continue making money and making love to the ladies.
Laura: Not being prison.
Ryan: No. Uh, I guess because the film takes this turn and it's maybe a little bit too long, kind of 15 minutes probably could have been cut out of this kind of meandering, wandering around, being followed, trying to figure things out for yourself sort of stuff. But, yeah, everything kind of comes to, uh, a head. Things start to happen and we're not going to spoil it for you. You should watch it yourself, because that's kind of the way it is. And plus, we don't really have anything to kind of add after that. It's like a good windy tale. It looks great. Really good. Solid. Like film noir. Fair.
Laura: I love when he starts kind of descending into the drama because his life is falling apart. Uh, he keeps going into certain places and everyone's telling him he looks like shit. He still looks great. He's got like barely a. 05:00 shadow.
Ryan: Yeah, pretty much barely.
Laura: He's just looking more rugged.
Ryan: I've been sleeping in my car and smoking more than two cigarettes a day. I look rough. Well, he goes to his Madam and stuff looking for help, and she's like, Go fuck yourself.
Laura: Yeah. Because he's friends.
Ryan: I'm your number one boy.
Laura: Oh, yeah. Not anymore, babies.
Ryan: Yeah, well, Michelle makes the point later on as well as kind of like, this is what kind of changes the distinction between whether they like each other or love each other is that she says to him, is like, when you make love, you go to work. So he finds it very difficult to make the distinction between what's work and what's actual love. You can't separate the sex and the relationship from what he does as a professional gigalo.
Laura: She's, um, the only person left in his life at the end of this film. And it makes sense because she's only, um, ever actually loved him and risks everything that she has to save him. And he could never really actually open himself up. No, but he's lost everything. He's lost everything that ever meant anything to him, which is essentially nothing, because it's all materialistic. He never had anything real.
Ryan: No.
Laura: Until she came into his life and then he realized he really liked his stereo. Stereo?
Ryan: Yes.
Laura: And he fucking destroyed it because then he starts to realize that this stereo isn't as important as my life.
Ryan: Yes.
Laura: And a little bit melancholic, but it's also kind of sweet. It's a bit tragic.
Ryan: Yeah. You never get the full end result of the story. It just kind of ends on the most positive note that the film can effectively.
Laura: I can forgive it. I can forgive the. It seems like kind of weird mishmash at the end. A lot of cuts, really short scenes and fades. It's a little weird.
Ryan: Yeah. It kind of takes you a wee bit. Sorry.
Laura: Oh, we have to see what happens here. Fade. Okay. We have to see what happens here. Cut, fade. And then we see what happens here. And it's just a little bit redundant just to get to the point. But I forgive it because all in all, it's not a bad way to spend 2 hours. There's this one part when he goes to see his lady pimp and when he's all disheveled and he asks for a straight bourbon, which is when you know that things are going downhill for him because he originally, when he was all super fancy, ordered a Manhattan.
Ryan: Yes, he liked to Manhattan.
Laura: Like to Manhattan. And then he just orders a straight bourbon. But they did the thing that is my pet peeve at a bar. I love ordering just a neat bourbon. A bourbon meat at a bar because it's just a nice drink. Put it in a cup, for crying out loud. They give him that straight bourbon in a shot glass.
Ryan: Yeah. Give it in a nice decent glass. A nice big glass.
Laura: Obviously, he's at a nice cocktail bar. He's not at the local.
Ryan: Well, the thing is, before he goes in, they're just like Julie and you can't come in looking like that. You look like shit.
Laura: You need a jacket.
Ryan: He goes, no, I don't need a jacket.
Laura: We're going to give him a jacket, too.
Ryan: I smoked four cigarettes for coming in here.
Laura: I never smoked cigarettes before. I only snort cocaine.
Ryan: My life is on the line. I want the bourbon.
Laura: I can't afford cocaine. I can only afford cigarettes.
Ryan: My old lady is. What the fuck.
Laura: So sad.
Ryan: Here's a short glass of Barb and shut the fuck up.
Laura: Yeah. Maybe that's why. Maybe they'll just hurry up. We don't want to give you a sip and glass. Just have some Wild Turkey.
Ryan: You fucking Jamison. Get the fuck out.
Laura: Disgust.
Ryan: I like Jameson.
Laura: I also like Wild Turkeys. I don't have anything else about the movie, but I do have fun things to talk about.
Ryan: No.
Laura: Did you know that John Travolta originally was going to play Julian?
Ryan: Okay.
Laura: Not the first time that Richard Gere has taken a roll over from John Travolta. It happened in Days of Heaven. First of all, an officer and a gentleman.
Ryan: Okay.
Laura: This film in Chicago mhm were all films that Richard Gere took over when John Travolta didn't want to do it.
Ryan: Okay, yeah. When John, uh, Travolta didn't want to do it.
Laura: Or when John Travolta got cold feet, or they offered it to John Travolta and he said nothing.
Ryan: John Travolta got cold feet. I feel like you have to.
Laura: That's what they said.
Ryan: When does that man ever had cold feet?
Laura: That is what I read. Okay. John Travolta got cold feet about this film. And then he went and did Urban Cowboy.
Ryan: Which is not bad trash. Uh, I thought film was okay.
Laura: I didn't like it.
Ryan: Urban Cowboy. Well, there's a few films that have cobolay. Midnight Cowboy is obviously good. That's the John Voight movie.
Laura: I know.
Ryan: Justin Hoffman and Drugstore Cowboy. I think I'm mixing it up with that one with Matt Dylan. Yeah, Matt Dylan one. I think I'm mixing it up. No, maybe I've been quite. Cowboy isn't any good. Yeah, I don't know. Cowboys.
Laura: That's for another podcast.
Ryan: Yes, that's for another one.
Laura: Another few people that were offered, um, to play Julian K, where Christopher Reeves was actually one of the first choices, and they were going to offer him a million dollars to play that role.
Ryan: Holy shit.
Laura: Chevy Chase turned it down. Uh, also considered. Are you ready?
Ryan: Fucking Fletch could have been an American Gigolo. You're joking.
Laura: Are you ready? I've got more.
Ryan: I fucking would have been weird as fuck. Mel Gibson, uh, not terrible. Harrison Ford, not terrible.
Laura: I know that would have been great. Also, Richard Gere is great, but Sylvester Stallone, Arnold Schwarzenegger.
Ryan: Well, uh, think about those two trying to do this.
Laura: Movie. Imagine that sex scene where you've got the lady and then you got, like, Arnold's hands, just gigantic arms, girl open at her boobies.
Ryan: It's like, Arnold, your hands are too big. You look like you're going to kill her.
Laura: And honestly, the funny thing, it's okay. I just showed you my love is that Paul Schrader did not want Richard Gere for this movie.
Ryan: Okay?
Laura: So much so that he called Richard, uh, Gere's agent. It said, don't let him read this script. So he knew he was going to like it. He goes, don't read the script. There was someone at Paramount who offered it to Richard Gere, okay?
Ryan: It's a role that's now become synonymous with Richard Gere. It's one of those rules, you know what I mean?
Laura: Quintessential.
Ryan: It's a quintessential Gere rule.
Laura: Absolutely. Richard Gere said kind of recently that he liked it because of the gay subtext. He said, okay, I know it's not even subtext. I quote, there's kind of a gay thing that's flirting through it. And I didn't know the gay community at all. I wanted to immerse myself in all of that. And I had literally two weeks, so I just Dove in.
Ryan: All right, well, good for him for saying that. It's a weird statement to make it's, uh, kind of like I love because here's the thing. There's a diplomatic way of making an answer like that where it's just like I love the dramatic elements of the script. I loved where the story was going. I loved where my character was going, as opposed to I love the gay stuff.
Laura: Yeah.
Ryan: Which is all good and fine. There's nothing wrong with it, but as far as I'm aware, Richard Gere is heterosexual.
Laura: Hey, I know there is a sexual spectrum and I don't know where he lies on that spectrum.
Ryan: Who knows? Who knows? It doesn't really matter. I find that statement just very honest in a kind of very innocent, very kind of naive way.
Laura: There's a couple of people who auditioned for or were considered for the part of Michelle. Originally, Julie Christie was meant to play Michelle, but she dropped out when Travolta was replaced by Richard Gere. Meryl Streep was offered the part but did not like the tone of the film.
Ryan: I don't think she would have worked anyway.
Laura: Glenn Close auditioned, but they didn't want her.
Ryan: Glenn Close brings a bit more of a classical flavor, I feel like. And Meryl Streep also does as well. They also have a habit of chewing up the scenery and maybe all about themselves.
Laura: Uh, maybe. God, I love Glenn Close.
Ryan: Yeah. At least like what they do with who did they cast?
Laura: Lauren Hutton. Lauren Hutton amazing. Uh, she looks so delicate.
Ryan: She looks really good. That's the thing. She looks really good. And she kind of struts around. Kind of like, who is the girl who played, um, to Live and Die in La? She had a very kind of similar flavor. Darlene Fugal. Oh, right, yes. She has a very similar flavor to what it just fits really well.
Laura: And you can't really see anyone else doing that role. And although we do love Richard Gere, seeing someone like Harrison Ford playing that role, I think would also fit in well. I think Harrison Ford has got a little bit more of a smarm to him. A little bit more smarmy.
Ryan: Harrison Ford can be a little bit cheeky.
Laura: Yes.
Ryan: But then let's have a wee think like by 1980, what's Harrison Ford doing? I mean, he isn't Raiders comes out in 1980.
Laura: He's a hot ticket. He's a hot ticket around this point. And Richard Gere is less so.
Ryan: The thing is, Harrison Ford gets his time doing these sexy thrillers. And also Schrader wrote The Mosquito Coast, which is that Peter.
Laura: Oh, he did, yeah.
Ryan: With Harrison Ford. I think that's Peter Weir with Harrison Ford a hot dog. So there is a connection there. I'm glad I was able to get that one out for whatever reason. Anything else you want to add before we wrap this sucker up?
Laura: No. Why don't you give me your ratings? Why don't you, uh, start off with your I feel like I go back and forth all the time whether or not I want to do separate visibility in context. I'm going to do one rating for visibility and context today, and you can do the same if you want.
Ryan: Okay.
Laura: You can separate them. I don't know if you separated them.
Ryan: I'm not going to separate them.
Laura: Good. Let's just do it. We might just go back. I, um, don't know. We're trying things out.
Ryan: I gave it a straight four.
Laura: Oh, my God, we're twins.
Ryan: Uh, wow.
Laura: I did the same.
Ryan: It's like we're on the same wavelength, we're on the same schedule. We're like the same synced up and shit.
Laura: So we've got four stars for your visibility and context.
Ryan: Yeah.
Laura: And how about the film? What's your overall film rating?
Ryan: Well, I gave it four and a half. I quite like this. Yes, I'm partial to a colorized film, modern film, war Story. I wouldn't mind making a list of the modern film noirs and stuff to maybe watch a little bit more of Heat. There's a ton, absolute shit ton all the way up to, like Bound and Red Rock West. But one movie with all the Elders, Presley is in it with Corny Cox. I think it's in that movie. I'm not too sure there's a ton.
Laura: Four and a half.
Ryan: Okay, good.
Laura: We're in the Twins Club. I don't know.
Ryan: We're in the Twins Club. Okay. Everything was the same because you never said. You just kind of.
Laura: I got too excited because I knew I did the same. Sorry again, but thank you. Thank you so much.
Ryan: Uh, I know. Well, the thing is, the podcast doesn't exist without me. You keep on telling me this.
Laura: Well, it's always nice for you to be here and show up. It's nice to spend time with you. It's nice to be here together and do the things that we love to do the most. Which is talk about movies.
Ryan: Yes. I don't know if this is the thing I love the most.
Laura: It's the thing I love the most.
Ryan: Okay, well, and I'm just along for the ride.
Laura: Wow. We're going to have to talk about this off Mike. Hurting my feelings.
Ryan: Okay, just close this up.
Laura: Coming to you from the Probe nightclub. Uh, I have in, Laura.
Ryan: We all know why it's called Probe. You know what I mean? Uh, I know probing. Like bumchy butts.
Laura: Yeah, but windows and, um, butts.
Ryan: I got a probe in my pants. Don't you probe in your pants.
Laura: You just had to see me. And he goes, yeah.
Ryan: It'S a Close Encounter of the Third Kind. It's just kind of probing getting you proven.
Laura: Proven.
Ryan: But supposedly there are different levels of Close encounters. So Close Encounters of the Third Kind is when you see an alien, and then there's a Close Encounter of the 6th kind, and that's when you're fucking alien.
Laura: What?
Ryan: Yeah, there's all these different levels again, that's maybe a different thing, but yeah, I think it's like Close Encounter. The 6th kind is like when you are probed by the alien oh, my God.
Laura: Yeah, I am upset. Why do you know this? Because what were you looking up?
Ryan: Here's the thing.
Laura: Is this why you're always deleting your search history?
Ryan: No, here's the thing. Wow. Here's the thing. The reason why I know these things is I'm a keeper of weird and strange facts. The same as if I would say to you is like, do you know that Sharks have two Dicks?
Laura: Yeah, you told me that on our first day.
Ryan: Yeah, it's because they have seen that piece of knowledge like dropping that knowledge down because it gets you thinking about certain things. Sexy things because it's like Dicks and Sharks because they have such rough sex over the course of a lifetime. Sharks can live for hundreds of years is that eventually they will lose one of the course of it. So yeah, there you go. Uh, that's it. I'm checking, um, to make sure that I'm correct. Yeah. There's third. There's fourth, there's fifth.
Laura: You guys can do that research on your own time, honestly and then delete your search history.
Ryan: Yeah. No, just don't be, um, banging any aliens and I mean the ones from space.
Laura: Close it out. You have to sign off. I got to get out of here. I'm hungry.
Ryan: I'm done. Oh, shit. I'm done. I'm finished you're, Ryan. Well, I, um, finished all my notes. I'm Ryan.
Laura: Bye, guys. Please wear protection out there so terrified.
Ryan: Looks like that's super strain at gonorrhea they found in middle Europe that couldn't be cured with antibiotics and everyone was terrified. It was really funny be safe.