Just a Gigolo

1978

2h 27m

IMDb RATING

4.8/10

YOUR RATING

Rate

POPULARITY

Play trailer

4 Videos

7 Images

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 decides to become a gigolo to lonely rich women.

Directors

David Hemmings

Writers

Julius Brammer(writer by)

Irving Caesar(writer by)

Ennio De Concini(writer by)

Stars

David Bowie

Kim Novak

Marlene Dietrich

See production, box office & company info

Videos4

Photos7

Top cast

David Bowie

Paul Ambrosius von Przygodski

Kim Novak

Helga von Kaiserling

Marlene Dietrich

Baroness von Semering

Maria Schell

Pauls Mutti Frau von Przygodski

Curd Jürgens

Prince

Erika Pluhar

Eva

David Hemmings

Captain Hermann Kraft

Sydne Rome

Cilly

Werner Pochath

Otto

Rudolf Schündler

Oberst Gustav von Przygodski

Frau Aeckerle

Frau Uexkull

Lothar

Gilda

Max, Cillys Agent

Frau Von Putzdorf

Directors

David Hemmings

Writers

Julius Brammer(writer by)

Irving Caesar(writer by)

Ennio De Concini(writer by)

All cast & crew

Production, box office & more at IMDbPro

User reviews1

Review

Featured review

6/10

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.

Geronimo196728 Nov, 2024