Schöner Gigolo, armer Gigolo

Infobox Film
name = Just a Gigolo


caption = Original film poster
director = David Hemmings
producer = Rolf Thiele
writer = Ennio De Concini
Joshua Sinclair
starring = David Bowie
Sydne Rome
Kim Novak
Maria Schell
Curd Jürgens
Marlene Dietrich
music = John Altman
Günther Fischer
cinematography = Charly Steinberger
editing = Susi Jäger
distributor = United Artists Classics
released = flagicon|Germany 16 November 1978
flagicon|UK 14 February 1979
flagicon|USA 1 May 1981
runtime = flagicon|Germany 147 mins
flagicon|UK 105 mins
flagicon|USA 98 mins
country = West Germany
awards =
language = German
budget =
preceded_by =
followed_by =
amg_id = 26846
imdb_id = 0079867

"Schöner Gigolo, armer Gigolo" (also known as "Just a Gigolo") is a 1978 film directed by David Hemmings and starring David Bowie. Set in post-World War I Berlin, it also featured Sydne Rome, Kim Novak and, in her last screen appearance, Marlene Dietrich. The hostile reception accorded the film led Bowie to quip that it was "my 32 Elvis Presley movies rolled into one".Angus MacKinnon (1980). "The Future Isn't What It Used to Be". "NME (13 September 1980)": pp.32-37]

Plot

A Prussian soldier (David Bowie) returns home to Berlin following the end of the Great War. Unable to find employment elsewhere, he works as a gigolo in a brothel run by the Baroness (Marlene Dietrich). He is eventually killed in street fighting between Nazis and Communists. Both sides claim his body but the Nazis succeed in capturing it and bury him with honours, "a hero to a cause he did not support".Nicholas Pegg (2000). "The Complete David Bowie": pp.539-540]

Production

Around the time of its release, David Hemmings said that "Just a Gigolo" was intended to be "highly ironic, tongue-in-cheek, about the period".Christopher Sandford (1996, 1997). "Loving the Alien": pp.183-185] Marlene Dietrich was persuaded to come out of retirement to make the film, reportedly receiving $250,000 for two days' shooting. [ [http://members.ol.com.au/rgriffin/GoldenYears/JustAGigolo.html "Just a Gigolo" at BowieGoldenYears] ]

It was Bowie's first movie role after Nicolas Roeg's "The Man Who Fell to Earth" (1976). As Roeg's film had played upon Bowie's earlier identification with science fiction and alienness, [Roy Carr & Charles Shaar Murray (1981). "Bowie: An Illustrated Record": p.78] so "Just a Gigolo" fitted his then-current interest in pre-war Berlin, pricked by meeting Christopher Isherwood, whose "Goodbye to Berlin" had inspired the musical "Cabaret". The city had also been the recording location for Bowie's latest studio album, ""Heroes"" (1977).

The singer has variously claimed that he took the role "as a favour to Hemmings",Roy Carr & Charles Shaar Murray (1981). Ibid: p.100] who at the time was also planning to produce a documentary of Bowie's 1978 concert tour,David Buckley (1999). "Strange Fascination - David Bowie: The Definitive Story": p.343] and because "Marlene Dietrich was dangled in front of me". In the event, the two stars never actually met. Dietrich played her brief part in Paris, where she lived, with the result simply being cut into Bowie's scenes that were shot, along with the rest of the film, in Berlin.

oundtrack

The soundtrack of "Just a Gigolo" included jazz and cabaret standards performed by various acts including Pasadena Roof Orchestra, The Manhattan Transfer and the Village People. As well as appearing on screen, Sydne Rome sang a track called "Don't Let It Be Too Long", by David Hemmings and composer Günther Fischer, while Marlene Dietrich performed the song "Just a Gigolo".

Unlike his work on "The Man Who Fell to Earth", Bowie did contribute a piece of music to the film; his so-called "Revolutionary Song" was co-written with musical director Jack Fishman and played by a band called The Rebels. It was released in Japan as a single, which later became something of a collectors item. [Nicholas Pegg (2000). Op Cit: p.173]

Release and aftermath

The film opened in Berlin on 16 November 1978. It received poor reviews and was pulled from cinemas. Hemmings recut the picture for its UK premiere in Leicester Square on 14 February 1979 where, at an ostensibly black-tie affair, Bowie and his date wore kimonos. Reviews were again negative; the "Sunday Mirror" called the film "all show and no substance" and considered Bowie "completely miscast", while "Time Out" advised its readers to simply "overlook it".

In an interview with "NME" in September 1980, Bowie was quoted as saying:

Bowie's biographers have labelled the film "an active pain", "an unadulterated flop", and a "debacle". Its reputation among mainstream critics generally remains low, Halliwell's calling it an "international misadventure... interminable... clumsily made", [John Walker (2005). "Halliwell's Film, Video & DVD Guide 2006": p.591] while Leonard Maltin describes it as a "weird melodrama". [Leonard Maltin (2006). "Leonard Maltin's 2007 Movie Guide": p.697] Allmovie's Hal Erickson has nevertheless given the film a 3-star rating. [ [http://www.allmovie.com/cg/avg.dll?p=avg&sql=1:26846 "Just a Gigolo" at Allmovie] ]

"Just a Gigolo" was released to DVD in 2004.

Notes