Post by pimpinainteasy on Dec 24, 2018 12:23:24 GMT
"The whites will disappear! Defeated by avarice, selfishness and alcohol, and they deserve it!" - Louis Ferdinand Celine
saint jack is set in the singapore of the 70s (i think). jack flowers (ben gazzara), an american, just wants to be a pimp over there and run his own brothel. the local gangsters are always breathing down his neck. but jack keeps his cool, having a drink or two, providing women to british expatriates and an accountant (denholm elliot). it seems like a good life. jack knows his way around. he hangs out all day in bars with fans and rattan chairs. he has an affair with a sri lankan prostitute who takes off her sari like draupadi being undressed. but when the local gangsters move in on his brothel, jack has to find other more disrespectful ways to make ends meet - providing entertinment to american soliders from vietnam and spying on a gay senator and maybe gather shit on him. it is the post world war 2 world. british control over the world is on the vane. probably represented by the meek and shy accountant played by elliot. jack the pimp is streetsmart and takes the accountant under his wing. but even jack's position is under threat.
it is the kind of film where you feel like you can smell the cigarettes and alcohol. another film that had the same effect on me was MICKEY AND NICKY. you want to be part of this sleazy world. the dialogs are sharp and funny. towards the end, the film reminded me of THE CONVERSATION with jack spying on the senator in a very long, quiet, suspenseful and hitchcockian scene. GAZZARA is smooth like unaffordable vodka, in his portrayal of a lowlife philip marlowe. elliot's meek accountant could be a supporting character in a GRAHAM GREENE novel. the portrayal of the non-white characters maybe considered as "problematic" in this day and age. this is not surprising, because the film is based on a novel by PAUL THEROUX, who was V.S.NAIPAUL's acolyte. the film was directed by PETER BOGDANOVICH. i loved his THE LAST PICTURE show. this man really knows how to capture the spirit of a place, whether it is an american small town or an exotic land like singapore.
(10/10) - probably the best film i've seen all year.
