''Breathless'' is a 1983 American

neo-noir Neo-noir is a revival of film noir, a genre that had originally flourished during the post-World War II era in the United Statesroughly from 1940 to 1960. The French term, ''film noir'', translates literally to English as "black film", indicating ...

romantic thriller A romantic thriller is a narrative that involves elements of the romance and thriller genres. A good thriller provides entertainment by making viewers uncomfortable with moments of suspense, the heightened feeling of anxiety and fright. A thril ...

film directed by

Jim McBride Jim or JIM may refer to: * Jim (given name), a given name * Jim, a diminutive form of the given name James * Jim, a short form of the given name Jimmy * OPCW-UN Joint Investigative Mechanism * ''Jim'' (comics), a series by Jim Woodring * ''Jim' ...

, written by McBride and

L. M. Kit Carson Lewis Minor Carson (August 12, 1941 – October 20, 2014) was an American actor, screenwriter, director and film producer. Career Carson first gained the notice of the film world when he starred in Jim McBride's mockumentary '' David Holzman's ...

, and starring

Richard Gere Richard Tiffany Gere ( ; born August 31, 1949) is an American actor. He began in films in the 1970s, playing a supporting role in '' Looking for Mr. Goodbar'' (1977) and a starring role in ''Days of Heaven'' (1978). He came to prominence with ...

and

Valérie Kaprisky Valérie Kaprisky ( Chérès; born 19 August 1962) is a French actress. Life and career She was born Valerie Chérès on 19 August 1962 in Neuilly-sur-Seine. Kaprisky is her Polish mother's maiden name. She is of Greek-Ottoman and Argentine de ...

. It is a remake of the 1960 French film of the same name directed by

Jean-Luc Godard Jean-Luc Godard ( , ; ; 3 December 193013 September 2022) was a French-Swiss film director, screenwriter, and film critic. He rose to prominence as a pioneer of the French New Wave film movement of the 1960s, alongside such filmmakers as Fran� ...

and written by Godard and

François Truffaut François Roland Truffaut ( , ; ; 6 February 1932 – 21 October 1984) was a French film director, screenwriter, producer, actor, and film critic. He is widely regarded as one of the founders of the French New Wave. After a career of more tha ...

. The original film is about an American woman and a French criminal in Paris, while the remake is vice versa in Los Angeles.

Plot

Jesse Lujack (

) is a cocky, hedonistic drifter, and small time car thief, in

Las Vegas Las Vegas (; Spanish for "The Meadows"), often known simply as Vegas, is the 25th-most populous city in the United States, the most populous city in the state of Nevada, and the county seat of Clark County. The city anchors the Las Vegas ...

. He’s obsessed with ''

Silver Surfer The Silver Surfer is a fictional character appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. The character also appears in a number of movies, television, and video game adaptations. The character was created by Jack Kirby and first a ...

comic book A comic book, also called comicbook, comic magazine or (in the United Kingdom and Ireland) simply comic, is a publication that consists of comics art in the form of sequential juxtaposed panels that represent individual scenes. Panels are of ...

s, the

rock and roll Rock and roll (often written as rock & roll, rock 'n' roll, or rock 'n roll) is a Genre (music), genre of popular music that evolved in the United States during the late 1940s and early 1950s. It Origins of rock and roll, originated from Africa ...

music of

Jerry Lee Lewis Jerry Lee Lewis (September 29, 1935October 28, 2022) was an American singer, songwriter and pianist. Nicknamed "The Killer", he was described as "rock & roll's first great wild man". A pioneer of rock and roll and rockabilly music, Lewis made ...

, and Monica Poiccard (

), a UCLA architecture undergraduate whom he knows only from a weekend fling while she visited Vegas. Leaving Las Vegas, Lujack steals a

Porsche Dr. Ing. h.c. F. Porsche AG, usually shortened to Porsche (; see #Pronunciation, below), is a German automobile manufacturer specializing in high-performance sports cars, SUVs and sedans, headquartered in Stuttgart, Baden-Württemberg, Germany ...

, intending to drive to Los Angeles. As he speeds down the highway and looks through the owner's possessions, Lujack discovers a handgun in the vehicle's glovebox, which he briefly toys with. He comes upon a highway construction roadblock and evades it. Seeing his reckless driving, a Patrolman gives chase and the fleeing Lujack runs off the road and becomes stuck. When the Officer spotlights him and orders him to step away from the car, Lujack impulsively grabs the gun, and blindly shoots through the back window of the car, inadvertently mortally wounding the Patrolman. The remorseful Lujack pads the dying Officers head with his coat, and flees on foot. Arriving in Los Angeles, Lujack finds his picture splashed all over the newspaper and TV news as the "cop killer." On the run, but unable to immediately leave LA while arranging to get paid for a previous car theft, under the alias of Jack Burns, Lujack breaks into Monica's apartment and waits for her to return home. Monica discovers him naked in her bed and initially declines his advances but later has

sex Sex is the trait that determines whether a sexually reproducing animal or plant produces male or female gametes. Male plants and animals produce smaller mobile gametes (spermatozoa, sperm, pollen), while females produce larger ones ( ova, of ...

with him in the shower. Lujack attempts to convince Monica to abscond to Mexico with him. However, Monica is a star architectural student with big plans and reluctant. Lujack shows up at her college and intrudes on her presentation of a project to her professors, initially exasperating her, but he continues to pursue her, showing up in various stolen cars to offer her rides. He eventually wears down her defenses and she succumbs to his charms once again, although still ambivalent to his insistence on accompanying him to Mexico. After Lujack's photograph appears in the newspaper, he is recognized on the street right after dropping Monica off at a groundbreaking ceremony downtown. The police find Monica and question her on the street but Monica, once again under Jesse’s spell, refuses to turn him in. When the police start following her right before Lujack comes back to pick her up, she finally accepts his offer to flee to Mexico together. On the way out of LA, Lujack and Monica stop in order for Jesse to repair his latest stolen car. Monica walks to a nearby store and finds that her picture is on the front page of the national newspaper alongside Lujack's. Realizing the impossibility of her romantic fantasy, Monica phones the police, but then returns to tell Lujack she did so. Jesse asks her if she loves him, and she says no. He laughs and says “liar”. He then runs up the road to meet an accomplice he has arranged to bring his payment for the previous car theft, who throws a gun to him as well, which Lujack refuses and allows to drop to the street. The police corner him in the road where Lujack sings " Breathless" to Monica while dancing around the gun at his feet. The film ends in a freeze-frame of Jesse scooping up the gun and turning to face the police.

Cast

as Jesse Lujack *

as Monica Poiccard *

Art Metrano Arthur Metrano (September 22, 1936 – September 8, 2021) was an American actor. He was noted for his role as Lt./Capt./Cmdt. Mauser in '' Police Academy 2: Their First Assignment'' and '' Police Academy 3: Back in Training''. Career Metrano's ...

as Birnbaum *

John P. Ryan John Patrick Ryan (July 30, 1936 – March 20, 2007) was an American actor, best known for his role as Warden Ranken in the 1985 film ''Runaway Train''. Biography The son of Irish immigrant parents, Ryan graduated from Rice High School and st ...

as Lieutenant Parmental * Robert Dunn as Sergeant Enright * Lisa Persky as Salesgirl *

James Hong James Hong (; born February 22, 1929) is an American actor, producer and director. He has worked in numerous productions in American media since the 1950s, portraying a variety of roles. With more than 650 film and television credits as of 20 ...

as Grocer * Georg Olden as Skateboarding Kid *

Miguel Pinero --> Miguel is a given name and surname, the Portuguese and Spanish form of the Hebrew name Michael. It may refer to: Places *Pedro Miguel, a parish in the municipality of Horta and the island of Faial in the Azores Islands * São Miguel (disamb ...

as Carlito * Sunny Ade as Sunny

Soundtrack

There is no official soundtrack released. Along with the incidental music for the movie, provided by

Jack Nitzsche Bernard Alfred "Jack" Nitzsche ( '; April 22, 1937 – August 25, 2000) was an American musician, arranger, songwriter, composer, and record producer. He first came to prominence in the early 1960s as the right-hand-man of producer Phil Spec ...

, these are the songs that are featured in the film: # "Bad Boy" -

Mink DeVille Mink DeVille was a rock band founded in 1974, known for its association with early punk rock bands at New York's CBGB nightclub and for being a showcase for the music of Willy DeVille. The band recorded six albums in the years 1977 to 1985, after ...

# " High School Confidential" -

# " Breathless" -

# "Final Sunset" -

Brian Eno Brian Peter George St John le Baptiste de la Salle Eno (; born Brian Peter George Eno, 15 May 1948) is a British musician, composer, record producer and visual artist best known for his contributions to ambient music and work in rock, pop an ...

# " Wonderful World" -

Sam Cooke Samuel Cook (January 22, 1931 – December 11, 1964), known professionally as Sam Cooke, was an American singer and songwriter. Considered to be a pioneer and one of the most influential soul artists of all time, Cooke is commonly referred ...

# "

Opening Opening may refer to: * Al-Fatiha, "The Opening", the first chapter of the Qur'an * The Opening (album), live album by Mal Waldron * Backgammon opening * Chess opening * A title sequence or opening credits * , a term from contract bridge * , ...

" -

Philip Glass Philip Glass (born January 31, 1937) is an American composer and pianist. He is widely regarded as one of the most influential composers of the late 20th century. Glass's work has been associated with minimal music, minimalism, being built up fr ...

# "No Me Hagas Sufrir" -

Ismael Quintana Ismael Quintana (June 3, 1937 – April 16, 2016) was a Puerto Rican singer and composer of salsa music. Early years Quintana was born in Ponce, Puerto Rico. His family moved to The Bronx sector of New York when he was only two weeks old; there ...

Eddie Palmieri Eddie Palmieri (born December 15, 1936) is an American Grammy Award-winning pianist, bandleader, musician, and composer of Puerto Rican ancestry. He is the founder of the bands La Perfecta, La Perfecta II, and Harlem River Drive. Early life Pal ...

# "

Suspicious Minds "Suspicious Minds" is a 1968 song written and first recorded by American songwriter Mark James. After this recording failed commercially, it was cut by Elvis Presley with producer Chips Moman, becoming a No. 1 song in 1969, and one of the most ...

" -

Elvis Presley Elvis Aaron Presley (January 8, 1935 – August 16, 1977), or simply Elvis, was an American singer and actor. Dubbed the "Honorific nicknames in popular music, King of Rock and Roll", he is regarded as Cultural impact of Elvis Presley, one ...

# "Wind on Wind" -

# "Wind on Water" -

and

Robert Fripp Robert Fripp (born 16 May 1946) is a British musician, songwriter, record producer, and author, best known as the guitarist, founder and longest-lasting member of the progressive rock band King Crimson. He has worked extensively as a session ...

# "Jack the Ripper" -

Link Wray Fred Lincoln "Link" Wray Jr. (May 2, 1929 – November 5, 2005) was an American guitarist, songwriter, and vocalist who became popular in the late 1950s. ''Rolling Stone'' placed Wray at No. 45 of the 100 greatest guitarists of all time. In 2013 ...

# "365 Is My Number / The Message" -

King Sunny Adé Chief Sunday Adeniyi Adegeye (born 22 September 1946), known professionally as King Sunny Adé, is a Nigerian jùjú singer, songwriter and multi-instrumentalist. He is regarded as one of the first African pop musicians to gain international ...

# " Celtic Soul Brothers" -

Dexy's Midnight Runners Dexys Midnight Runners (currently officially Dexys, their former nickname, styled without an apostrophe) are an English pop rock band from Birmingham, with soul influences, who achieved major commercial success in the early to mid-1980s. They a ...

# "

Message of Love "Message of Love" is a song written by Chrissie Hynde and performed by the Pretenders. Released first as a single and then on the Pretenders' 1981 EP ''Extended Play'', it was later re-released on the band's 1981 album '' Pretenders II''. A band ...

" -

The Pretenders Pretenders are an English–American rock band formed in March 1978. The original band consisted of founder and main songwriter Chrissie Hynde (lead vocals, rhythm guitar), James Honeyman-Scott (lead guitar, backing vocals, keyboards), Pete Fa ...

# "Caca de Vaca" - Joe "King" Carrasco # "Breathless" - X

Release

It was released in the United States on May 13, 1983 by

Orion Pictures Orion Pictures (legal name Orion Releasing, LLC) is an American film production and distribution company owned by Amazon through its Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM) subsidiary. In its original operating period, the company produced and released films ...

. ''Breathless'' was screened at the

Dallas International Film Festival The Dallas International Film Festival (DIFF), presented by Dallas Film, is an annual film festival that takes place in Dallas, Texas. About Dallas Film Dallas Film, established as Dallas Film Society, Inc., is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization ...

on April 18, 2015.

Home media

''Breathless'' was released on VHS in the United States and United Kingdom by Orion Pictures and

Rank Rank is the relative position, value, worth, complexity, power, importance, authority, level, etc. of a person or object within a ranking, such as: Level or position in a hierarchical organization * Academic rank * Diplomatic rank * Hierarchy * H ...

with a

LaserDisc The LaserDisc (LD) is a home video format and the first commercial optical disc storage medium, initially licensed, sold and marketed as DiscoVision, MCA DiscoVision (also known simply as "DiscoVision") in the United States in 1978. Its diam ...

available in 1983. It debuted on DVD in the U.S. in April 2000 by

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios Inc., also known as Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pictures and abbreviated as MGM, is an American film, television production, distribution and media company owned by amazon (company), Amazon through MGM Holdings, founded o ...

with the theatrical trailer and booklet. In the U.S. and Canada,

Shout Factory Shout! Factory is an American home video and music company founded in 2002 as Retropolis Entertainment. Its video releases include previously released feature films, classic and contemporary television series, animation, live music, and comedy ...

released the film in April 2015 on

Blu-ray The Blu-ray Disc (BD), often known simply as Blu-ray, is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 2005 and released on June 20, 2006 worldwide. It is designed to supersede the DVD format, and capable of sto ...

with one extra feature; a

theatrical trailer A trailer (also known as a preview, coming attraction or attraction video) is a commercial advertisement, originally for a feature film that is going to be exhibited in the future at a movie theater/cinema. It is a product of creative and tech ...

Reception

Box office

The film grossed $19,910,002 in the United States.

Critical response

Upon release, it received mixed reviews. On

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...

it has an approval rating of 60% based on reviews from 15 critics. On

Metacritic Metacritic is a website that review aggregator, aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted arithmetic mean, weighted average). M ...

it has a score of 52% based on reviews from 13 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews".

Roger Ebert Roger Joseph Ebert (; June 18, 1942 – April 4, 2013) was an American film critic, film historian, journalist, screenwriter, and author. He was a film critic for the ''Chicago Sun-Times'' from 1967 until his death in 2013. In 1975, Ebert beca ...

's contemporary review was a mixed 2.5 stars out of 4. He felt the film's mix of art-house and noir styles would not appeal to "average audiences" and believed Kaprisky was miscast and often seemed "lost", but praised Gere's performance: "I thought Gere was deliberately repugnant, but in an interesting way". The film has since gained minor cult status. American director

Quentin Tarantino Quentin Jerome Tarantino (; born March 27, 1963) is an American film director, writer, producer, and actor. His films are characterized by stylized violence, extended dialogue, profanity, Black comedy, dark humor, Nonlinear narrative, non-lin ...

cited it as one of the "coolest" movies, commenting: "Here's a movie that indulges completely all my obsessions - comic books, rockabilly music and movies." The

poster in Freddy Newandyke's apartment seen in ''

Reservoir Dogs ''Reservoir Dogs'' is a 1992 American crime film written and directed by Quentin Tarantino in his feature-length debut. It stars Harvey Keitel, Tim Roth, Chris Penn, Steve Buscemi, Lawrence Tierney, Michael Madsen, Tarantino, and Edward Bunke ...

'' is a homage to Jesse's Silver Surfer-obsession. British critic

Mark Kermode Mark James Patrick Kermode (, ; ; born 2 July 1963) is an English film critic, musician, radio presenter, television presenter and podcaster. He is the chief film critic for ''The Observer'', contributes to the magazine ''Sight & Sound'', prese ...

is a fan of the film, and prefers it over the French original.

References

External links

* * * * * {{Jim McBride 1983 films 1983 crime drama films 1983 romantic drama films 1980s romantic thriller films American crime drama films American neo-noir films American remakes of French films American romantic drama films 1980s English-language films Films directed by Jim McBride Films scored by Jack Nitzsche Orion Pictures films 1980s American films