Breathless

This movie is definitely dated, but holds it’s own as a fun and adventurous movie with plenty of pop-culture mythology mixed in. Jesse Lujack (Richard Gere, Pretty Woman) is the man. He begins his quest for Mexico by running back to LA to pick up French architecture student Monica (Valery Kaprisky, ?). Lujack, aka Jesse Burns, aka Jack Burns, is a rebel, definitely a James Dean echo in his character, particularly when he ditches his old outfit for a fifty’s greaer look, with the most atrocious pants known to man.

Jesse is also a die-hard Silver Surfer fan, and much of the films inspiration and parallels to culture come through Jesse’s periodic consumption of a graphic novel featuring the surfer. It’s the classic set-up, a guy who can leave, he’s got everything telling him to leave, but, he’s got to stay, and he’s not even sure himself why.

Gere does a great job, and is reminiscient of Marlon Brando’s Wild One Johnny, and the dialogue is pretty engaging, as Gere goes about town trying to allocate his money, and keep monica in his life. 

Jim McBride directed it, and it provided some inspiration for Tarantino, so I checked it out, and Richard Gere has a lot of fun in this adventurous romantic comedy. There re two completely pointless sex scenes, but otherwise, it’s a good flick. 2.