Breathless

Usually I detest remakes, but occasionally one comes along that is even better than the original. One such instance is the 1983 remake of the 1960 Jean Luc Goddard French classic Breathless.

In this American remake, Richard Gere stars as Jesse, a small time thief obsessed with Jerry Lee Lewis, Silver Surfer comics, and Monica, Valerie Kaprisky, a French architect student at UCLA. After meeting her in Las Vegas and having a passionate weekend, Jesse steals a Porsche and decides to follow her back to Las Angeles. En route he finds a pistol in the stolen ride and accidentally shoots a cop. Once in LA, and knowing that he is wanted, he tries to persuade Monica to go to Mexico with him. At first she is reluctant because she just thought of their weekend in Vegas as a fling. But soon she falls for him and the two plan their escape.

This is a very Americanized version of the French classic, and it totally works. Director Jim McBride is the perfect choice to helm it. He is someone who, with the exception of The Big Easy, has never really found success in the director's chair. I love his work. He has a real rockabilly sensibility and he makes that work in this film. And the screenplay by L.M. Kit Carson and McBride is great. Carson also wrote the great, and under appreciated Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2. The two kind of made this a mirrored version of the original. The story is the same, but they flip flopped a lot of the aspects. Instead of a French man and American woman, it's the opposite. Plus the inclusion of rock music and comic books just screams, "This isn't France...it's America baby!" Coincidentally McBride would go on to direct another film that uses a lot of Jerry Lee Lewis music, the biopic Great Balls Of Fire. Michael Mann was originally set to write the script. Don't get me wrong, I love Mann's work, but I think it would have been a more serious affair. McBride and Carson inject some much needed fun into the script.

In my opinion, this is Gere's best work. There is no vanity in it and Gere isn't afraid to show Jesse as a total buffoon. Robert DeNiro, Al Pacino, and John Travolta were all considered for the lead, but I'm glad Gere got it. He totally nails it. The beautiful Kaprisky is good as well in her first American film. She reminds me a lot of Nastassja Kinski, who oddly enough was the first choice. Kaprisky was Gere's first choice, and the two are very sexy together and have great chemistry.

I love Breathless. It's a fun, sexy, and fast paced movie that really deserves more recognition.

It's available on dvd and blu ray.