Product Details

• Actors: Ben Gazzara, Denholm Elliott, James Villiers, Joss Ackland, Rodney Bewes
• Directors: Peter Bogdanovich
• Writers: Peter Bogdanovich, Howard Sackler, Paul Theroux
• Producers: Blaine Novak, Edward L. Rissien, George Morfogen, Hugh M. Hefner
• Format: Color, DVD, Special Edition, Widescreen, NTSC
• Language: English
• Region: Region 1 (U.S. and Canada only. Read more about DVD formats.)
  
• Number of discs: 1
• Rated: R (Restricted)
• Studio: New Concorde
• DVD Release Date: January 23, 2001
• Run Time: 112 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (12 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B00004Y3WF
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #82,885 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)
• For more information about "Saint Jack" visit the Internet Movie Database (IMDb)

Editorial Reviews

Absorbing character study of an amiable, ambitious pimp who thrives in Singapore during the early 1970s. Directed by Peter Bogdanovich ("Targets") , based on Paul Theroux's novel. Format: Color, DVD, Special Edition, Widescreen, NTSC Language: English Region: Region 1 (U.S. and Canada only. Read more about DVD formats.) Number of discs: 1 Rated: R (Restricted) Studio: New Concorde Running Time: 114 min

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Casablanca in the Far East (Time capsule of Singapore), December 29, 2004

By 

Yishen Kuik - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Saint Jack (DVD)

"Saint Jack" is a character movie, revolving around Jack Flowers (Ben Gazzara), an American hustler trying to make his fortune in 1970s Singapore in small time pimping. He dreams of building a fortune by running a brothel himself and returning to the States to lead a life of luxury. Savvy but not unsavory he strikes up a friendship with the character played by Denholm Elliot, a genial and decent auditor who travels to Singapore every year. (Elliot's character is not unlike his role in the Indy Jones movies, except less bumbling)

Bogdanovich does a wonderful job of weaving the web of relationships around Jack - the girls, the hotel owners, the madam and the expatriate Americans and English who form Jack's clientele. Through their interactions with Jack, we get a rich character sketch of a fundamentally decent and loyal man beneath the worldly and pragmatic exterior. Not unlike Bogart in Casablanca.

The setting of Singapore in the 1970s deserves a mention because it is as much a star of the film as Gazzara. This film was shot without the permission of the Singapore government and is still banned in Singapore for it's not necessarily flattering portrayal of the country. But it is a surprisingly successful attempt to capture the look and feel of Singapore in that lost era - in that transition stage after its days as an exotic colonial outpost visited by the likes of Somerset Maugham but before it cleaned up and catapulted into wealth. For this alone the movie is something of a rare gem, both in craft and content. Singaporeans who lived through the 70s will recognize the remarkable authenticity. "Casablanca", which merely offers a caricature of Casablanca, doesn't even come close in this regard.

Ultimately, the background of the Vietnam War comes into the picture as Jack is offered the opportunity by the CIA to run a brothel for the R&R activities of US soldiers on leave in Singapore. The movie weaves in deeper issues here which are not as clearly communicated as in the book (are they ever?). The soldiers are not altogether themselves - psychologically damaged as it were. In a scene where a CIA operative and Jack survey the frolicking soldiers and comment that they are leading the happy lambs to the slaughter, the more sinister nature of the R&R operation is made clear.

The anti-war theme continues as Jack is offered wealth, and the opportunity to leave Singapore to return to the States that it confers, if he assists in photographing an anti-war US congressman (played by George Lazenby - incidentally an early striptease scene in the movie plays to Shirley Bassey's "Goldfinger" as a tongue in cheek reference to Lazenby's role as Bond 10 years prior) in a compromising situation. The moral dilemma of going against the greater good by hobbling the anti-war effort versus obtaining one's personal desire to leave Singapore is again, redolent of "Casablanca".

There is no Ingrid Bergman to provide glamour and no French police chief to provide comic relief, but "Saint Jack" offers a more satisfying Bogart in Gazzara - a "Casablanca" for the real world and all it's complexities.

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Character study with a great character actor, October 18, 2004

By 

LGwriter "SharpWitGuy" (Astoria, N.Y. United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Saint Jack (DVD)

Saint Jack is unique among Peter Bogdanovich's films in that it is more than any other focused on a single character, Jack Flowers, played by the great character actor Ben Gazzara. What comes out in the film is that living in Singapore, Flowers gets to strut his stuff as an American, taking advantage of the totally loose environment of Singapore in the 70s to run a fancy whorehouse. He knows and calls many native residents by their first name, wears Hawaiian shirts most of the time, looks relaxed and doesn't even flinch much when his place is ruined.

Befriending William Leigh, one of the several Brits who hangs out in this strange metropolis, Flowers is both amused and touched by Leigh's conventional stiff upper lip "Brit-ness". As Flowers encounters Singaporean thugs, young, horny American soldiers (the setting is the early 70s during the VietNam conflict when Yanks were given a respite in Sin City aka Singapore), dissolute Brits (it seems all they do is drink, sing, and complain), and his beloved hookers, he keeps his calm--one thing Gazzara is great at portraying--and banters with the best of them.

The question really is, Why? It's never actually answered, but we do have a lot of fun encountering these various people and seeing what Singapore looked like back then (it's changed so much, says Bogdanovich in an intriguing interview included with the DVD, that you wouldn't recognize it now if you knew it from back then). Flowers makes his way through it all unruffled, joking, shrugging off tragedy when it occurs, until, near the end, it hits home and he sobers up--for a short time. And then it's back to being Saint Jack, the go-to guy for all high rollers, gotta-have-fun people, and those who just want to drift through life.

This is a lot more than a travelogue; it's a way of life that has sadly passed us by in our current terrorism-wired world, and for that--combined with the fascinating portrait of a bygone era in a city that no longer exists as it did--it's definitely worth seeing.

7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Overlooked marvelous movie, October 2, 2001

By 

Vadim - See all my reviews

This review is from: Saint Jack [VHS] (VHS Tape)

In fact at some moment after veiwing the film for the 15-th time one starts to notice that Gazarra is in effect playing a role, one notes with critique that "this could have been done differently" and "that could have certainly been done better". But tell me what movie will pass this "perfection" test after 15 reviews? In fact there are too few films that are worth numerous re-veiwing and Saint Jack is one of the few.

The movie is balanced, slow-pace and absolutely nostalgic for the 60-s and the old world order. Especially for those who were in South-East Asia in the 60-s and early 70-s.

DVD sound seemed a bit strange - as if from a different source. Pic quality is O.K.

This is truly a once a rare stuff that was absolutely impossible to get 3 years ago (I had been actually looking for it and the best I could get was a second-hand 13 years-old VHS tape on an e-auction - untill they made a DVD earlier this year)