Schrader’s background is described as a repressed Calvinist upbringing followed by film criticism and Los Angeles exploration of guns, sexuality, fashion and self-development.
Bret Easton Ellis’s White is cited for the film’s bright, ominous Los Angeles and influence on men’s magazines, fashion advertising and Armani; athletes imitating Gere are recalled.
Schrader’s explanation credits Italian collaborators Moroder, Armani and Scarfiotti with refreshing Los Angeles; sleek synthesizer scores are compared with Thief, Risky Business and Blade Runner.
Travolta reportedly kept the Armani suits after withdrawing two weeks before filming.
Travolta also reportedly declined An Officer and a Gentleman, giving Gere another defining role.
The score reportedly received a Golden Globe nomination, Blondie’s song became a major number-one hit, and the film grossed 52 million dollars on a 5 million budget.
John Bailey is identified as cinematographer and later Academy president; this early major assignment was followed by Ordinary People.
The prominent male-star nudity is said to have been unscripted according to Gere and then used in marketing.
A reported perk supposedly lets Gere take clothes from any Armani store because of the film’s impact.
An Air Mail oral history describes Sunset Plaza residents including Teri Garr, Robert Forster and George Hamilton, with its pool and beige carpet emblematic of the era.
Debbie Harry reportedly wrote Call Me after seeing the opening footage; the song stayed number one for six weeks.
Schrader liked Julian being called Julie because it reinforced the character’s gender ambiguity and traditionally female narrative role.
The final window scene is a direct Pickpocket homage, an ending Schrader later reused in The Card Counter.
Stevie Nicks reportedly declined the song because her record contract barred the side project, leading Moroder to Blondie.
Nina van Pallandt’s past connection to Clifford Irving is linked to Gere later portraying him in The Hoax, where Julie Delpy portrayed her.
Schrader’s unverified account says he forced Diller’s hand by offering Gere the role and framing continued production as a better public story than collapse after Travolta’s exit.
Schrader is said to have conceived the title and premise while listing jobs to a classroom, including gigolo; the anecdote fits the film’s emphasis on mood over plot.
A replacement for Altobello would need an Italian-American actor of the era with Sinatra-like charisma; Paul Sorvino is unavailable because of Goodfellas.
Casting Wallach may echo the Lee Strasberg gamble, but it telegraphs the villain because he has played so many heavies.
Kay Corleone's hair is mocked as a poodle perm and more a 1990 haircut than a 1979 one.
The pushback defends Keaton and Kay: the Italy conversation is one of the great scenes and "I don't fear you, Michael, I dread you" lands.
The gnocchi scene is said to have aged just as badly as the incest.
The incest plot is the second worst thing: why not a third cousin, with Game of Thrones and Vincent's uncertain paternity raised.
Cousin prom dates and the Wolf of Wall Street cousin line come up; the kitchen seduction scene is its own awkwardness.
The two-hour, 50-minute running time ages worst, and George Hamilton gets another "why, why, why".
The film has a bad-guy problem: Altobello is no match for the first film's villain or Hyman Roth, and once Zasa is gone Michael faces ineffectual old men.
Lucchesi is introduced too late despite the "finance is a gun, politics is knowing when to pull the trigger" line and the message that the Vatican, the deal and the mafia are all connected.
The secret-society plot stays in the background and the characters are hard to keep apart even after several viewings, unlike the first film's cleanly set-up villain.
Eli Wallach as Don Altobello is a miscast moved here from casting what-ifs; Sinatra almost took the part and would have brought the needed charisma.
