Saint Jack (1979)

After a three-year absence following the release of Nickelodeon, Bogdanovich returned with this dark tale of an American expatriate pimp, based on a novel by Paul Theroux and shot entirely on location in Singapore. Ben Gazzara is simply mesmerizing as Jack Flowers, the perennial operator determined to set up a business of his own gradually realizing that his territory and way of life are being challenged. An unexpectedly touching and revealing character study, Saint Jack contrasts its tale of redemption and morality against the lurid backdrop of the Singapore underworld. Bogdanovich himself appears as a seedy American government official who offers Flowers a way out of his old life – for a price.