Just a Gigolo (1978) User Reviews

Tonally All Over the Place

[derek-duerden · 5/10 · 25 February 2022]

I'd heard for ages that this was pretty bad, and that Bowie was embarrassed by it. However, as it showed up on BFI subscription (i.e. Free to me) I thought I'd give it a go.

Simply stated, I can see why the reviews were awful at the time. There is a fair bit to enjoy also, though, so worth a look.

IMHO the main issue is that the tone is all over the place - some scenes are clearly played for laughs (heavily signalled by the "oom-pah" score) even if they are not funny. On the other hand, some bits really *are* funny. The balance between the nazism and the nightclub scenes is however much better handled in Cabaret (of course). Some reasonable acting therefore gets a bit lost along the way.

Bowie himself looks a bit stiff and awkward much of the time - something that worked much better in the context of The Man Who Fell to Earth than it does here.

Just an OK movie...

[JasparLamarCrabb · 6/10 · 22 April 2007]

By no means awful, but it is pretty tiresome. JUST A GIGOLO features David Bowie as a WWI vet who returns home to find that he really has no skills and no prospects...thus his turn to the titled profession. Bowie is pretty good, if a bit too subdued, while the supporting cast, including Sydne Rome, Kim Novak and Maria Schell act, act, act! They're fun to watch, just out of step with Bowie. Directed by actor David Hemmings, the film has a bleached out, depressing look to it and yet, a lot of humor gets through, particularly whenever Rome, as a zonked out would be movie starlet, is on screen. Marlene Dietrich pops up for a brief moment, and despite her advanced age, looks pretty good. It's slow going, but after a dull first hour, it manages to entertain.

Top-drawer cast, but a bit incoherent plot with Bowie as a Prussian war veteran turned male prostitute

[ma-cortes · 5/10 · 5 December 2023]

David Bowie stars this unusual melodrama set after World War I, a war hero , Army Lietenant, goes back to Berlin to find that there's no place for him, as he has no skills other than what he learned in the army, and can only find menial, low-paying jobs. He decides to become a gigolo to lonely wealthy women. As he spends most of his time working for the sexiest of ladies.

It is a mediocre film from Columbia Pictures with splendid cast that although in the technical sections: photography, music, costumes, coloring are quite good, it suffers from slowness, interference and confusion. It displays a lot of most expensive sets ever made in Germany to date, restoring some footage originally deleted by the producer Rolf Thiele, who radically reduced its 147 minutes running time after preliminary screenings. These alterations may well have helped, but no amount of tinkering could turn it into the comedy-drama that it was clearly intented to be. Its main problem is its tone, dealing with the story of a young Prussian returning to a turbulent Berlin after WWWI and finding himself torn between a number of successive lovers, homosexual Nazis, a group of gigolos and a flotilla of rich widows, but it never finds its nivel, swinging wildly between coarse knockabout farce and aspirations to tragic dignity. At the beginning there is a good recreation of the trenches during the First World War, and later there are some brief atmospheric descriptions of the German social situation during the failed Weimar Republic with the rise of the 'brownshirts' commanded by Ernst Rohm. But the film gets lost in different twists and turns in which our protagonist interacts with various women such as the dancer and singer Sydne Rome who's actually the attractive co-starring proving like never before that she is a good actress, singer and dancer; furthermore, the still charming widow Kim Novak, the gigolos-madam Marlene Dietrich, his mother played by Maria Schell who cleans the Berlin baths, among others. This film was about Berlin, shot in Berlin and financed partly by Berlin. However, none of the principal cast were from Berlin except for Marlene Dietrich in her last on-screen appearance, who was a native Berliner in self-imposed exile, in fact she shot in Paris but montage makes her seem to be in Berlin with David Bowie. Bowie's vacant acting reflects these uncertainties precisely and the cluster of star names around him are reduced to delivering awkward party pieces, these notorious players include as follows : Kim Novak, Maria Schell, David Hemmings, Maria Schell, Curd Jürgens and brief appearances from slighly known German actors, such as: Erika Pluhar, Hilde Weissner, Werner Pochath, Gunter Meisner, Reinhard Kolldehoff and 'with pride' Marlene Dietrich.

The motion picture was regularly and slowly directed by David Hemmings. This prestigious actor and directed -dead at 62- played some famous films: Alfred the Great, Blow-up, Profondo rosso, Barbarella, Camelot. And also directed some pictures with limited success. Hemmings made two Australian theatrical feature films in the early 1980s , the first was The survivor (1981) and followed by Race for the Yankee Zephyr (1981). This was last cinema movie directed by David Hemmings for around eleven years until 1992's Dark Horse (1992). Both films were made with producer Antony I. Ginnane and both movies featured an airplane as a central story element and David Hemmings replaced Richard Franklin as director. Hemmings' only other theatrical feature after that movie was 1996's Lone Justice 3 (1996). In between these pictures Hemmings did direct in television various episodes of popular TV series, such as: A Team (1983), Airwolf (1984), Magnum P. I. (1980) and Quantum Leap (1989). Rating: Average, 4.5/10. Only for David Bowie fans.

Just a Gigolo was NOT Bowie's first acting role.

[Philloz3000 · 20 June 2012]

Above, a previous post makes the claim, "Believe it or not, this was David Bowie's first acting role in a motion picture, despite the fact that this film was released a year after THE MAN WHO FELL TO EARTH. A large portion of this film was destroyed in a fire, so it took director Hemmings nearly three years to piece together a motion picture out of what remained." Don't believe it. This story is a total fabrication.

All available contemporary sources reveal that "The Man Who Fell To Earth" was shot in 1975, and a simple viewing will attest to the fact that Bowie's physical appearance is of the 1975/1976 era of his career. Contemporary sources also show that "Just a Gigolo" was shot Berlin in 1978, and its initial running time was 147 min. upon its November, 1978 release in German cinemas. It was soon pulled from release because of poor reviews, and it was *intentionally* cut down to shorter lengths for its various international releases, not because of accident by fire.

Hopelessly awful

[dierregi · 1/10 · 3 November 2023]

I saw this movie years ago and I thought it was bad, and now after a second view, I found it even worse. Bowie was a great entertainer and a fine musician, but not such a good actor, not by chance his greatest success was "The Man Who Fell To Earth" where he played an alien, and his weirdness came with the territory. However, with this script and editing, I doubt even the best actor could have managed a decent performance.

The movie starts in black and white, with Bowie's character Prussian officer Paul standing rather stupidly next to a trench on the last day of WWI. Then a bomb explodes and Paul ends up in a French hospital where a grotesque scene ensues. Back in Berlin, haunted by an abysmally dreadful music score, Paul finds that he needs a job to help his impoverished family. He tries some jobs like advertising walking inside a bottle (it's supposed to be funny? It just looks silly), and then he joins a thuggish group that will evolve into the Nazi party. Finally, due to a chance meeting, Paul is dragged into the world of gigolos.

Allegedly, the scene with Marlene Dietrich, as the "madame" was what convinced Bowie to be in the movie. He wanted to meet Marlene, but she was in Paris and did not go to Berlin, where most of the film was shot. During the scene, Dietrich and Bowie never appear together and their dialogue is sort of silly because of the lack of interaction. Besides, Bowie is stiff, awkward, and totally unconvincing as a gigolo. When Kim Novak appears as a wealthy widow, the movie turns to worse.

Besides the awful, unbearable score, the problem is that the movie doesn't work as a farce or as a drama, ending up being neither. Paul manages to look simultaneously proud and deeply stupid, definitely not funny, as in the scene with Cissy, the Sidney Rome character trying to seduce him. Cringeworthy embarrassing... and who would name a character Cissy?

Bowie himself said that this was "all of Elvis's bad movies rolled into one" and who am I to contradict him?

Offbeat, parallel-universe look at Weimar poised between romanticism and despair

[AbuAhzan · 7/10 · 25 September 1999]

This is one of the most unusual films I have ever seen. It's an offbeat, sensitively filmed look at Weimar Germany in a sort of parallel-universe version. "Cabaret" it is not! If you ever get a chance to see it, I don't want to spoil the ending for you . . . but when you see it, you'll say to yourself, "Of course! Why didn't I foresee that coming?!?" David Bowie plays a sort of innocent ne'er-do-well discharged from the German army after World War I and drifting through existence; he can't find anything to do with himself except hire himself out as a "gigolo" for rich, proto-Eurotrash war widows in ballrooms where they "dance to forget". Bowie's father is a once-domineering tyrant who has been silenced by a stroke. Bowie tries to break the news to him that he has descended so far as to play the gigolo, a betrayal of his father's macho ideals, but Dad only sits in stony silence -- a disturbing scene. Bowie plays a poor lost soul. As Western civilization decays all around him, a sinister character stalks him and tries to gain control over him; this bloke is vaguely homosexual (only suggested), and one of his lines is a real groaner of a double-entendre: "We will have you in the end!" Marlene Dietrich is the center of romantic gravity in this story; she sadly, sweetly tells Bowie the raison d'etre of forlorn women dancing with gigolos in the ballrooms -- the only way to assuage loss and stave off despair. Then she performs the song "Just a Gigolo", bringing out all the heartbreak from its depths. The end of the film is dark and truly chilling. Go see it if you can!

A little strange and slow

[HotToastyRag · 3/10 · 3 May 2021]

If you're looking for another American Gigolo, you're not going to find it in Just a Gigolo. Starting with the extremely strange music during the opening credits and the odd war footage, it's clear the movie isn't going to make the history books as a classic.

David Bowie comes home to Berlin after WWII and can't find work. He doesn't have any "skills", and since the workforce is pretty competitive from all the returning soldiers, he's unemployed and poor. Meanwhile, Sydne Rome comes onto him constantly, and even though he rebuffs her and seems a little shell-shocked, somewhere along the line he decides to become a gigolo to make some money. Given the general disinterest of his character, that part of the plot didn't really make sense to me. It did make sense to see Marlene Dietrich (brought out of retirement just this once) as the madam of the brothel. And it was nice to see Kim Novak, but next time I'll just rent one of her earlier movies that I know and love.

This Is Not Just A Bad Movie, It Is A Carelessly Executed, Failed Comedy

[Thom-Peters · 3/10 · 10 December 2023]

The bad reputation of this movie is well deserved. There are two reasons why people might still consider to watch it: David Bowie and Marlene Dietrich. Here, Bowie doesn't have the aura of a rock star. He is a broody, nerdy, wimpy kid. He isn't charming, entertaining, brazen, doesn't have the physical presence a gigolo needs. When Marlene, the madam of the gigolo brothel, asks him some questions to see, if he could do the job, he doesn't answer at all, he just stands there like an timid school boy. This awkward monologue is her big scene in "Gigolo". She wouldn't go to Berlin and was filmed sitting in Paris. But why couldn't Bowie go to Paris, to turn this thing into an actual meeting, into something memorable? Getting us to see some interaction between Bowie and Marlene was after all the big promise of "Gigolo". The real job interview would have been a chance for Bowie to show that his character Paul was worthy of being a gigolo. David Bowie could have tried to charm, to seduce Marlene Dietrich. Marlene - 77 at that time and with her legs already failing her - looks great, but this scene, that could have been the film's saving grace, is its biggest disappointment. Marlene has only one other scene, singing the title song "Just a Gigolo". All in all, she's got about four minutes of screen time.

When something is really bad, people start calling it a parody. A parody of what, exactly, should "Gigolo" be? "Gigolo" is not funny, but it is definitely not a serious movie. It is rife with insane ideas.

Paul (Bowie) arrives at the front at the very end of World War I. After more than four years of war and with him having a military background, he still doesn't have the faintest clue about the brutal reality of the trench war. That's a ridiculous idea. The scene feels nearly Pythonesque, the whole WWI-prelude is alarmingly absurd.

Hermann Kraft (played by the director David Hemmings) lives in the underground, literally. He lives in a parked subway wagon down in the subway system. Is this supposed to be funny? Yes.

The story is told over a period of 10 years, and time flies by: "Winter 1921", "Winter 1923", "Winter 1925", "Winter 1928". Still everything and everyone stays exactly the same. Paul's father, a colonel, is - or pretends to be - in a state of shock since the end of the war. He just sits in his chair, motionsless, his eyes wide open, he doesn't even blink. That's a slapstick idea.

Paul is a complete nobody, just a gigolo. In all those years he didn't manage to get himself a more honorable job. He doesn't do anything of importance. Still Hermann Kraft insists on calling him "one in a million". The movie can't decide if it is about some random guy or about someone secretly very special.

Everything is nonsensical, everything is a joke. But nothing is actually funny. David Hemmings admitted that he directed the movie with his tongue firmly planted in his cheek. "Just a Gigolo" is a failed comedy. Maybe nobody laughed while watching it in a cinema, but later that evening, while talking about it in a pub, it became hilarious. The original ideas might have been funny, the movie itself is a paramount example of the incompetence of the writers and the director. Hemmings didn't know how to tell a joke, he tried it anyway and he failed miserably. Now the joke is on him: "Just a Gigolo" is a legendary bad movie.

With all that out of the way, there are a few things to enjoy. There are some nice scenes from 1920s Berlin. Bowie carrying a small pig. All the actors that had been persuaded by the name Marlene Dietrich to join the cast: Sydne Rome, Kim Novak, Curd Jürgens, Maria Schell ... Most of the time, Bowie looks pleasantly enough, he is a doll, slender frame, nice face - though at that time he still had unphotogenic teeth. Thankfully, he doesn't show them too often, playing the silent, brooding type. And he is a great walker. Watched with the appropriate mindset, "Just a Gigolo" isn't a total waste of time.

Very interesting and odd movie

[keshby3636 · 8/10 · 2 July 2014]

I saw this movie when I was 19 at a theater in Seattle. I actually stole the movie poster out of the wall display as they did not have it locked down and it was too good of an opportunity for the more adventurous girl I was back then. I no longer have the poster( I tossed it after a while as it was damaged from too many moves). I still have 2 soundtracks from it that I bought at the time(thank God). One I've left sealed because, yeah I'm one of those types. Anyways, I loved the movie. It had a great cast(I was a HUGE Bowie fan, still am). I've always liked the director David Hemmings. Such a hottie when he was a young actor. Charming soundtrack by the way. It's definitely worth seeing. Storyline roughly is down on his luck soldier who becomes a gigolo but is a little too sensitive for his new career and the politics of the time. Wish I had a copy of the movie....

Salon Bowie...

[ptb-8 · 1 March 2005]

It is March 2005 and this extraordinary German production has just been released on DVD in Australia. The transfer is pretty good considering the problems with the original materials. In its first release it was quite successful here and is considered a Cabaret /Salon Kitty derivative. Lushly produced and with an astonishing cast fortunately for us allowing some genuine movie greats to perform and sing, JUST A GIGOLO is almost a parallel universe to the lives of Sally Bowles and Michael from Cabaret with an equally convincing and sleazy world. Bowie at times even looks like Michael York. Viewers need to be patient and let the story unfold in its awkwardly edited way. Often it seems dubbed and post produced with echoing sound effects. The musical numbers alone are worth the rental on this Gigolo. I hope it is released in your country soon. Otherwise Umbrella Entertainment from Melbourne Australia might help you. They got it from somewhere. There is a KINOWELT logo on the box too. Regarding the soundtrack, it was produced at the time and I have it on vinyl, so a vintage (!) LP store will help you. The soundtrack record is excellent as well.

Star in German Film "Just A Gigolo"Kim Novak, Marlene Dietrich, Maria Schell and David Bowie

[adventure-21903 · 8/10 · 22 June 2020]

Kim Novak a great International Movie Star starred in a series of "lost films" at the end of her career, "Just A Gigilo" "The Children" and "Liebestraum" all were just either not released in the USA or tossed and forgotten. A shame because all 3 films deserve to be seen to evaluate Novak's acting. Kim Novak was a great star with Picnic, Vertigo, Bell Book And Candle etc. Novak's last major release was the great Mirror Crack'd with Rock Hudson, Anela Lansburg and trading wicked barbs with a true peer the great Elizabeth Taylor.

This film was shot in Germany and David Bowie is the star with Maria Schell who starred with Glenn Ford in "Cimmarron" and a small unforgettable cameo by Marlene Dietrich who sings the title song. This film as I said was shot in Germany but Dietrich's scenes were shot on a. Soundstage in Paris. That is called clout. Kim Novak is a always professional in a small role.

This film should be seen only to see real stars like Kim Novak and Marlene Dietrich.

One of a Kind

[Zen Bones · 27 February 2002]

Believe it or not, this was David Bowie's first acting role in a motion picture, despite the fact that this film was released a year after THE MAN WHO FELL TO EARTH. A large portion of this film was destroyed in a fire, so it took director Hemmings nearly three years to piece together a motion picture out of what remained. With that in mind, this is a remarkable film, and one can't help but wonder what the finished product might have been like had it not been for the fire. For what is most intriguing about this film is the use of real footage of the Weimar Republic Germany in all its glorious decadence and decay. Whether this footage was used to buffer the missing footage or planned from the beginning, I guess we'll never know, but it brings an invaluable air of absurdity and black humour to what is already a pretty outrageous film. All the performances are great, especially Bowie, who really is one of the most underrated film talents out there. And the music score, which features some of the glorious songs from that era, as well as the irresistible theme song from Miss Dietrich, is fantastic! If anyone knows where I can get a copy of the soundtrack, let me know!

Hilarious fun. A cute plot and Bowie.

[smiledaydream · 8/10 · 9 January 2022]

I must say that I love Bowie movies. I had not seen this one before. This one has particularly hilarious lines of it. I suppose if you're expecting them then you might be expecting too much but if you're just enjoying the movie it really has some very funny lines. It moves along had at a fine pace. Bowie is handsome and charming. I maybe it's a cross between Cabaret and The Party.

Starring Kim Novak

[arsportsltd · 31 July 2011]

Kim Novak's former husband Richard Johnson- whom Kim co starred in Moll Flanders- personally persuaded the great star to attach herself to Just A Gigolo which starred David Bowie and Marlene Dietrich and Maria Schell.

I recently saw this movie and I found Novak entrancing in the film, sexy, and gorgeous. Kim Novak in an interview in 2010 said Kim Novak wondered why She made this film. I can understand that, it got little US distribution even with a great cast. But film fans of German films and especially of Kim Novak -who looks gorgeous, alluring, and is very stylish as always in this film is worth a look.

There are also clips of this film on Youtube.com and I recommend all try and catch them as well.

PS Kim Novak's last films Just A Gigolo, The Children and Liebestraum all received scant distribution only The Mirror Crack'd got the distribution it deserved

David Barra Los Angeles

Divine!

[RainbowVic · 10/10 · 27 January 2022]

Believe it or not, this was David Bowie's first acting role in a movie, despite the fact that this movie came out a year after THE MAN WHO FELL TO EARTH. A large portion of this film was destroyed in a fire, so director David Hemmings (the same who played Marc Daly in Deep Red) took nearly three years to put together a film from what was left. With that in mind, this is an amazing film, and one can't help but wonder what the finished product would have been like had it not been for the fire. Because what is most intriguing about this film is the use of actual footage of Weimar Republic Germany in all its glorious decay and decay. Whether this footage was used to buffer the missing or planned footage from the start, I guess we'll never know, but it brings a priceless air of nonsense and black humor to what is already a pretty outrageous film. All the performances are fantastic, especially Bowie who was truly one of the most underrated cinematic talents around. And the soundtrack, which includes some of the glorious songs of that era, as well as the irresistible theme song sung by the ever divine Miss Dietrich, is fantastic!

An interesting film test from Profondo Rosso's Marc Daly, also an actor here, and above all a great treat for fans of the White Duke and Lilli Marlene. Divine!

Lead up to WW II, a little out of its time

[oaksong · 9/10 · 9 September 2022]

With Bowie leading and a stellar cast, this needs to be viewed as a period that would have made a huge splash in the late 50's but is not well understood by an audience born after 1970.

It's slow and elegaic which isn't a fit for the Marvel crowd. The man who wrote and produced it, Rolf Thiele, wrote Dietrich's part on Portuguese toilet paper at her former managers house to have something to attract her to the part.

Rolf mentions being a fan of Million Dollar movies, what was essentially a streaming service for black and white films from the 20's through the 40's. A veritable education in the art and industry. It takes the knowledge gained from watching that eclectic collection to have a fair understanding of this piece.