TheSteelHelmetReturns

Right away Anchors Away delves into Navy and sea related iconography with a medley of related tunes over the title cards with significant imagery straight into a big naval orchestra performance immediately showcasing the films ostentatious choreography focusing on the film's inclusion of composer, Jose Iturbi. The audience is then introduced to a sickly looking Sinatra and Kelly, who after being awarded the silver star, prepare for four days leave to hit the town with the same flamboyance as the opening scene suggests. Following a random scene with a little kid, Sinatra reveals his cuckold fantasies as he wishes to watch Kelly chat up his girl on the mainland so he knows what it's like to be a real man. All this interaction is cut short when corrupt police officers take the two protagonists to the station without arresting them so they can be acquainted with the random orphan boy we met earlier who wants to learn more about the navy. This starts a whiz bang friendship between the two leads and the boy's Aunt Sue. Cue love triangle. The working class humour of Gene Kelly that have made his films less dated then most other musicals of the Golden Era of Cinema is completely on show here where the audience is treated to humorous dance numbers about hooking up with women and sarcastically showing sympathy to fellow crew members when they're awarded with leave. Out of nowhere, pandering to the South American market (who were contributing in the war effort or something like that.) occurs when the characters end up in Mexico. It's this sort of randomness that occur in the film's painful 2hr 19minutes run length that distract the viewer from being fully engaged in the film compared to stronger Kelly efforts like An American in Paris or the near-perfect musical Singin' in the Rain. It's not surprising then when the most memorable sequence is about Kelly as he tells a group of children a fairy tale involving himself and a group of animated anthropomorphic woodland critters provided by the MGM animation department that climaxes with an iconic dance off between Kelly and Jerry mouse from Tom and Jerry. The sequence has absolutely no relevance to the film's paper thin plot but it doesn't matter and it's neat seeing an animated mouse upstaging Jose Iturbi in the star power department. I imagine musicals like these were a way for young people to spend a day out of the house rather than sitting at home and being on the Internet or watching TV like today. Anchors Away has very little to do with cause and effect story development here and more to do with killing time. When do they sing New York?

Roger Vadim's remake of his own film opens with a ridiculous jail break from what appears to be a soccer mum in a mullet and tracksuit and leads to a number of other embarrassing sequences that are at least saved with an early nude scene from Rebecca DeMornay. The moment is quickly ruined by a music sequence or however else Vadim over idealises his leading lady. It turns out this scene indicates DeMornay's desire to escape from prison and pursue her realistic dream of being a famous rock and roll star. The whole experience starts getting humorous when DeMornay is sent back to prison and arranges to marry a young carpenter to beat parole on the advice of Frank Langella, a candidate running for governor of New Mexico that ran into DeMornay during her failed escape from prison. Despite the obvious predictability of the love triangle that film will pursue the film is redeemed from plenty of comedic moments thanks to the strong performances from DeMornay and a whole cast of unknown actors. It turns out irresponsible screw ups are a great source of comedy. However, plenty of embarrassing moments continue to show up in the film including a cringe worthy disrobing of some random actress who rocked up to work in granny panties and a nauseating navel gazing Langella. It is pretty depressing seeing how easily the men in this film can be led just because someone is attractive regardless what a terrible human being said person is. I think the film is meant to be a farce, it's all very light hearted with some tacky New Romantic 80s pop thrown in.

Giorgio Moroder's signature synths followed by Deborah Harry's instantly recognisable new wave classic, Call Me, opens up American Gigolo as we see a pretty suave 80s Richard Gere in a black Cadilliac driving along the beachside. Gere has all the trappings of a wealthy 80s lifestyle so usually romanticised in a Bruckheimer production but the film establishes in its first few scenes that Gere is pretty much a buck for hire with little sway over his Aryan madam. This form of bait and switch appears throughout the movie, with Gere appearing in control and pretty cool at first and then as a total whore. The dichotomy between these two personas plays a big part of the film's plot as Julian K., Gere, becomes entangled in a murder investigation of a trick who is the wife to a wealthy S&M aficionado and learns that he should question the many friendships he's procured during his career as a loverboy. Lauren Hutton plays a random woman that Gere meets and develops into the film's love interest after one of the most minimalist sex scenes in an 80s film. The set production, music, acting and story is all very connotative of the eighties. Apartments are gray or salmon coloured with minimalist artwork and expensive vases and silver blocky stereo systems - it's clear with some scenes, including one where Gere hangs upside down to do some crunches, that the set design heavily influenced the mise-en-scene of Mary Harron's adaptation of American Psycho. Moroder's various compositions of Blondie's Call Me highlight the continuing descent of Julian k. as the chorus becomes more melancholic and ominous - it's all very suspenseful from an eighties perspective. Some may find the final scenes slightly ridiculous and most likely unrealistic, but one should remember that American Gigolo was produced by Jerry Bruckheimer and even on the tail end of New Hollywood, the film does show caution in its dark themes as not to alienate mainstream audiences. I definitely felt the material was pretty subdued for a film written and directed by Taxi Driver's Paul Schrader. However, it doesn't matter as the film is effective as a time capsule of the seedier side of the eighties.