SAINT JACK

Ben Gazzara (THE KILLING OF A CHINESE BOOKIE) gave one of his most happy-go-lucky turns in Peter Bogdanovich’s SAINT JACK, the tale of an American hustler whose chaotic business it is to “satisfy the needs” of visiting businessmen in Vietnam War-era Singapore.

“Saint Jack” Flowers’ philosophy: “people make love for so many crazy reasons, why shouldn’t money be one of them?” Gazzara plays Flowers as a breezy Fitzcarraldo type, a man preternaturally driven towards delivering the classiest brothel and the absolute best in carnal pleasures to GIs, ex-pats and other wayward souls lost amongst southeast Asia.  

Based upon the novel by Paul Theroux, SAINT JACK marked the first of several critical comebacks for Bogdanovich. In a humanist return to form matching THE LAST PICTURE SHOW, the filmmaker gives Gazzara room to ride the line between savvy, charismatic huckster and moralistic citizen of the world.