60 | SEPTEMBER 8 • 2022
AN INNOCENT GIGOLO,
THE HERO OF BOHEMIA,
JEWISH SHRINK MEETS
KILLER
American Gigolo premieres
on Showtime on Sept. 11, and
new episodes are released
on subsequent Fridays. It’s
based on the hit 1980 film of
the same name. In the film,
Richard Gere played Julian
Kaye, a Hollywood gigolo
who fell in love with a client,
a wealthy married woman.
Kaye is framed for a murder,
but at the end of the film the
wealthy woman gives the
police alibi information that
clears Kaye.
The series alters the film’s
ending. As the series opens,
Kaye (who is played by Jon
Bernthal, 45) has just been
released from jail after serv-
ing 15 years for a murder he
didn’t commit. The series
follows him as he makes con-
tact with the wealthy woman
(played by Gretchen Mol) and
tries to cope with the present.
Meanwhile, a police detective
(played by Rosie O’Donnell),
decides to take a fresh look
at the murder and uncovers a
large conspiracy.
Medieval, which opens in
theaters on Sept. 11, is the
most expensive ($25 million)
Czech film ever made. The
filmmakers obviously want
to re-coup this cost. So, they
made (probably) wise deci-
sions. The whole film is spo-
ken in English, and the inter-
national cast includes many
well-known actors (stars
include Ben Foster, Michael
Caine and Matthew Goode)
I know very little about pol-
itics and battles in historical
Bohemia (now the Czech
Republic) in the 1400s. After
reading about the film and
its historical hero, I am still
far from being an expert. But
now I can see how this action
film, with some romance, has
a good chance of attracting
international audiences.
Foster, 41, stars as Jan
Zizka (1360-1424), now a
national Czech hero. The
film covers the early years
of Zizka’s life before he did
the things that made him a
national hero.
Later in life, the “half-
blind” Zizka famously never
lost a battle. He led troops
that defeated the German
Teutonic Knights. After that,
he stopped the armed allies
of the Catholic Church from
destroying the Hussites,
a large “proto-Protestant”
Czech sect the Church
labeled heretics. (After read-
ing this, you can understand
why the first Czech anti-Nazi
guerilla group was named
after Zizka).
The film focuses on Zizka’s
first battles. His enemy was
Henry of Rosenberg (no, he
wasn’t Jewish), the most pow-
erful noble in Bohemia. Henry
systemically undermined
the king of Bohemia. Zizka,
who came from a minor
noble family, supported the
king and Henry retaliated by
killing most of Ziska’s family.
While seeking revenge, Jan
happens to meet Katherine,
Henry’s fiancée. She falls in
love with him and gives him
inside info on Henry’s “evil”
plotting.
Due to an error in my
notes, I didn’t let you know
in advance that The Patient,
a 10-episode series that
features a Jewish psychia-
trist character, was about to
premiere. It began streaming
on Aug. 29 (exclusively on
Hulu). The first two episodes
streamed on the 29th, with
the remaining episodes
premiering on subsequent
Mondays. Episodes are only
23 minutes long.
The plot of this comedy/
drama is unusual: Alan
Strauss (Steve Carell) is
a Jewish psychiatrist who is
kidnapped by Sam Fortner, a
serial killer (Domhall Gleason)
and imprisoned in the killer’s
home. Fortner wants Strauss
to cure him of his desire to kill
people.
Strauss is taken hostage
while he’s still mourning
the recent death of his wife
(Laura Niemi), a cantor. While
faith is important to him, he
is not happy that his son,
Ezra (Andrew Leeds), has
embraced Orthodox Judaism.
His wife and son appear
now-and-again in flashback
scenes.
The benefit of not telling
you about a series in advance
is that the reviews are all in
as I write this. Four out of five
“top outlet” reviews I read
were good — ranging from
a rave to a modest approval.
Variety, however, just didn’t
like the series. It’s hard to
briefly convey what they had
to say in a few words. Simply
“Google” The Hollywood
Reporter and Variety and the
title and you’ll get two very
well-written different perspec-
tives.
There was a little blow-back
that none of the three Jewish
characters were played by
Jewish actors. I trust that the
series’ creators and writers,
Joel Fields, 57ish, and Joe
Weisberg, 57, honestly felt
that the actors they cast were
right for the part, and if they
felt a Jewish actor would
have been better for the part,
they would have cast that
person.
Fields and Weisberg (The
creators of The Americans)
are absolutely not “stealth”
Jews. In a recent NY Times
interview, they said that their
writing process began with
the decision that the psy-
chiatrist would be “openly”
Jewish, and he would be
married to a cantor.
CELEBRITY NEWS
NATE BLOOM COLUMNIST
ARTS&LIFE
BLANKA BOROVÁ
Ben Foster
WIKIPEDIA
Joel Fields
GAGE SKIDMORE
Jon Bernthal
WIKIPEDIA
Joe Weisberg