Parents' Guide to American Gigolo

AMERICAN GIGOLO tells the story of Julian (Richard Gere), a former hotel pool boy who now dresses in Armani, drives a Mercedes, and services a stable of wealthy older women with enough disposable income to shower him with expensive gifts. His main procurer, Anne (Nina van Pallandt), is growing weary of his lack of gratitude. He won't take certain kinds of work, he wants a bigger piece of the take, and he seems to have forgotten that she's the one who taught him his deft manners and gave him his polished look. Although he says he won't do "kink" -- anything outside the sexual "norms" -- he accepts a last-minute job from a former pimp, Anne's professional rival. A wealthy man pays him to have rough sex with his wife while he watches. When that woman is murdered a few nights later, Julian becomes the prime suspect. Julian's lack of graciousness toward those who had helped him comes to haunt him as former allies abandon him in his time of need. On the run from the police, he finds himself friendless and desperate. His world slips from one of privilege and mastery to another in which he's treated as worthless trash, underscoring exactly how superficial his seeming success had been. He pushes away the one person with whom he has a legitimate bond, the wife of a politician (Lauren Hutton), but she declares her love and offers a fake alibi to save him.