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Gigolo

Original title: Schöner Gigolo, armer Gigolo
  • 1978
  • Tous publics
  • 2h 27m
IMDb RATING
5.5/10
1.2K
YOUR RATING
David Bowie and Kim Novak in Gigolo (1978)
BERLIN IN THE 1920s ... A time of change, a time of upheaval. Paul von Pryzgodski (David Bowie, Labyrinth) was a young man whose life had led him to expect heroism, but instead, he found failure - failure in the Great War, failure at trying to find a career, failure at nearly every relationship that comes his way until he meets the Baroness and discovers there is one profession at which he can excel.

This offbeat German melodrama directed by David Hemmings stars David Bowie as Paul, a young Prussian War veteran who returns home to Berlin after World War I. After drifting from job to job, Paul eventually finds his niche renting himself out as a dancer for war widows who long to forget their sadness. Kim Novak (Vertigo) sizzles as a sad widow, with German bombshell Maria Schell as Paul's mother and Sydne Rome as his old sweetheart-turned-cabaret singer. Marlene Dietrich makes a poignant cameo (it was her last film role) as an aging baroness, singing the title song, aka Schoner Gigolo, armer Gigolo.
Play trailer4:38
1 Video
34 Photos
Drama

After World War I, a war hero returns to Berlin to find that there's no place for him--he has no skills other than what he learned in the army, and can only find menial, low-paying jobs. He ... Read allAfter World War I, a war hero returns to Berlin to find that there's no place for him--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 rich women.After World War I, a war hero returns to Berlin to find that there's no place for him--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 rich women.

  • Director
    • David Hemmings
  • Writers
    • Ennio De Concini
    • Joshua Sinclair
    • Ted Rose
  • Stars
    • David Bowie
    • Sydne Rome
    • Kim Novak
  • See production info at IMDbPro
  • IMDb RATING
    5.5/10
    1.2K
    YOUR RATING
    • Director
      • David Hemmings
    • Writers
      • Ennio De Concini
      • Joshua Sinclair
      • Ted Rose
    • Stars
      • David Bowie
      • Sydne Rome
      • Kim Novak
    • 19User reviews
    • 29Critic reviews
  • See production info at IMDbPro
  • Videos1

    Official Trailer
    Trailer 4:38
    Official Trailer

    Photos34

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    Top cast33

    Edit
    David Bowie
    David Bowie
    • Paul Ambrosius von Przygodski
    Sydne Rome
    Sydne Rome
    • Cilly
    Kim Novak
    Kim Novak
    • Helga von Kaiserling
    David Hemmings
    David Hemmings
    • Captain Hermann Kraft
    Maria Schell
    Maria Schell
    • Pauls Mutti Frau von Przygodski
    Curd Jürgens
    Curd Jürgens
    • Prince
    Marlene Dietrich
    Marlene Dietrich
    • Baroness von Semering
    Erika Pluhar
    Erika Pluhar
    • Eva
    Hilde Weissner
    Hilde Weissner
    • Aunt Hilda
    Werner Pochath
    Werner Pochath
    • Otto
    Rudolf Schündler
    Rudolf Schündler
    • Oberst Gustav von Przygodski
    Evelyn Künneke
    Evelyn Künneke
    • Frau Aeckerle
    • (as Evelyn Künnecke)
    Friedhelm Lehmann
    • Major Alexander von Müller
    Karin Hardt
    Karin Hardt
    • Frau Uexkull
    Bela Ernyey
    • Von Lipzig
    • (as Bela Erny)
    Gudrun Genest
    • Frau Von Putzdorf
    Rainer Hunold
    Rainer Hunold
    • Lothar
    Christiane Maybach
    Christiane Maybach
    • Gilda
    • Director
      • David Hemmings
    • Writers
      • Ennio De Concini
      • Joshua Sinclair
      • Ted Rose
    • All cast & crew
    • Production, box office & more at IMDbPro

    User reviews19

    5.51.2K
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    Featured reviews

    7AbuAhzan

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

    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!
    arsportsltd

    Starring Kim Novak

    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
    8keshby3636

    Very interesting and odd movie

    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....
    6CinemaSerf

    Just a Gigolo

    When the fastidious "Lt. Paul Przygodski" (David Bowie) returns to Berlin society after the end of the Great War, he finds that things have profoundly changed and that his skills - such as they are - are not going to help him make much of a living. What he does have, though, is looks. He can easily turn an head or two when he walks into a room and so quickly realises that he can make some money "entertaining" the wealthier class of lady - already married or not, or even the occasion gentleman. As the Weimar Republic starts to give way to embryonic Naziism, the story also attempts to take a more serious track attempting to illustrate the profound societal changes in the city and the country whilst he and his clientele attempt to stay aloof and immune from the increasing anger and intolerance on the streets. It's really that attempt at the political that spoils this. Had it been left as a seedy story of a man using his beauty and, to an extent, his brains to get on in life then it have made for a decent watch. It doesn't though, it meanders all over the place mixing it's themes and delivering something that doesn't quite seem to know where it wants to go or who it's for. There's a decent enough effort from Sydne Rome as maybe the only honest woman in his life "Cilly" and there's a charming cameo from Marlene Dietrich who just about manages to, almost breathlessly, sing the title song but the rest of the cast seem underused and their characterisations undercooked to the point where I began to wonder if the likes of Kim Novak and Curd Jürgens just owed director David Hemmings a favour. It has it's moments, but just not quite enough of them and it does show up Bowie as rather wooden.
    5derek-duerden

    Tonally All Over the Place

    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.

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    Storyline

    Edit

    Did you know

    Edit
    • Trivia
      The last on-screen appearance by Marlene Dietrich. German press reports claimed she was paid $250,000 for two days' work.
    • Crazy credits
      "And featuring, with great pride, MARLENE DIETRICH"
    • Alternate versions
      The original European version ran a full 147 minutes. The U.S. version was cut to 105 minutes. Only this version is available on video (Water Bearer Films Video) in the United States.
    • Connections
      Featured in Marlene (1984)
    • Soundtracks
      Just a Gigolo
      (Schöner Gigolo, armer Gigolo)

      Music by Leonello Casucci

      German lyrics by Julius Brammer

      English lyrics by Irving Caesar

      Sung by Marlene Dietrich

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    Details

    Edit
    • Release date
      • May 29, 1985 (France)
    • Country of origin
      • West Germany
    • Languages
      • English
      • German
    • Also known as
      • C'est mon gigolo
    • Filming locations
      • Berlin, Germany
    • Production companies
      • Bayerischer Rundfunk (BR)
      • Leguan Film Berlin
      • Sender Freies Berlin (SFB)
    • See more company credits at IMDbPro

    Tech specs

    Edit
    • Runtime
      2 hours 27 minutes
    • Sound mix
      • Mono
    • Aspect ratio
      • 1.66 : 1

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