X
- 1979
- R
- New World Pictures
- 1 h 52 m
- 1979
- R
- New World Pictures
- 1 h 52 m
Summary Jack Flowers, an American hustler in early-1970s Singapore, dreams of building a fortune by running a brothel and returning to the States to live a life of luxury.
Directed By: Peter Bogdanovich
Written By: Howard Sackler, Paul Theroux, Peter Bogdanovich
- 1979
- R
- New World Pictures
- 1 h 52 m
- 1979
- R
- New World Pictures
- 1 h 52 m
Saint Jack
57
User Score
Available after 4 ratings
tbd
Where to Watch
Summary Jack Flowers, an American hustler in early-1970s Singapore, dreams of building a fortune by running a brothel and returning to the States to live a life of luxury.
Directed By: Peter Bogdanovich
Written By: Howard Sackler, Paul Theroux, Peter Bogdanovich
Where to Watch
Top Cast
Metascore
Mixed or Average
Based on 7 Critic Reviews
57
57% Positive
4 Reviews
4 Reviews
29% Mixed
2 Reviews
2 Reviews
14% Negative
1 Review
1 Review
Metascore
Mixed or Average
Based on 7 Critic Reviews
57
57% Positive
4 Reviews
4 Reviews
29% Mixed
2 Reviews
2 Reviews
14% Negative
1 Review
1 Review
Bogdanovich's best film since his fall from grace in the mid-Seventies, and produced by Roger Corman who gave him his first jobs on low-budget drive-in movies. [18 Aug 2002, p.8]
Saint Jack should clear away all irrelevancies, reminding us that Bogdanovich is a gifted and distinctive director who should be making movies, not enemies. [07 May 1979, p.88]
Shot entirely on location in Singapore, the film (produced by Roger Corman, who gave Bogdanovich his start of The Wild Angels in 1964) is extremely well crafted, finely acted, and conjures up a positively intriguing milieu.
Saint Jack is probably Bogdanovich’s loosest film, the one that feels most Cassavetian in execution, in which classical plotting, let alone the kind of manic screwballishness that characterizes the director’s comedies, is entirely absent in favor of a low-key, episodic character portrait embedded in a gritty, exotic, and relatively little-filmed locale.
The film uses the locations well and Gazzara's performance is an actor's dream. But SAINT JACK never quite becomes the "important" film it seems to aspire to be. The story is told in too meandering a style and the many well-acted characterizations never mesh together.
There are some pleasant things in Saint Jack, but there are few surprises, except for the fact that either the movie's editor or Mr. Bogdanovich, who directed the film and wrote the screenplay with Howard Sackler and Paul Theroux (based on the novel by Mr. Theroux), hasn't found a simple way to indicate the passage of time.
The director's smugness effortlessly trumps Robby Müller's camera-work and the good performances (notably from Denholm Elliott). Hard to imagine how anyone could make less of such a promising subject.
User Reviews
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Production Company
New World Pictures,
Playboy Productions,
Shoals Creek,
Copa del Oro
Release Date Apr 27, 1979
Duration 1 h 52 m
Rating R
Genres
Tagline "People make love for so many crazy reasons-- why shouldn't money be one of them?" - The Gospel According To Saint Jack
Awards
Venice Film Festival
• 1 Win & 1 Nomination
BAFTA Awards
• 1 Nomination
