Fun
Frisky
Nostalgic
Intense
Adventurous
Choked Up
Curious
Romantic
Weird
To be a movie star, you’ve gotta have that thing — that combination of charisma, charm, and, above all else, sexiness. Each week in this column, we’ll look back at an actor’s role when they were in their prime. When they were the hottest thing in Hollywood. When they were Peak Sexy. This week, we celebrate Richard Gere in the acclaimed drama Days of Heaven.
A few weeks ago, I watched Paul Schrader‘s crime drama American Gigolo, the 1980 film that made Richard Gere an full-fledged Hollywood star, for the very first time. In my piece about the film, I wrote that Richard Gere’s Julian, the Armani-wearing, high-class hustler who is framed for a woman’s murder, put its star at his sexual peak. I mean, just to remind you of what we’re talking about here:
Look, I was easily distracted by those muscles, those short shorts, that impressive flexibility. You’d forgive me, right? Because I was very wrong and very misguided, as everyone knows that Gere was at his sexual peak in Terrence Malick‘s 1978 film Days of Heaven, which is also arguably his best.
Starring as the mysterious Bill, who moves with his lover Abby and his sister Linda to the prairies of the Texas panhandle after murdering his steel mill boss in Chicago, Gere is perhaps one of the most handsome leading men of all time. His blank stares, chiseled jaw line, and cool and distant demeanor are heightened by Néstor Almendros and Haskell Wexler’s gorgeously sublime cinematography that take advantage of the “magic hour” right after sunrise and before sunset, which set the hazy, ethereal mood for the film. But there’s also Richard Gere’s perfect face.
In a film in which every frame looks like a piece of art, we should be grateful that Malick’s dedicated his cinematic canvas to that beautiful man.
I mean, honestly! Is there any other man who looks so glorious in the magic hour? He even cleans up well and maintains the sad puppy look.
And honestly, is there anyone you’d want to freeze in a bale of hay (#hayandchill) with? No. No one. This is it!
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Photos: Paramount Pictures
