There are certain Richard Gere films that are remembered immediately. Others seem to have slipped quietly into the background, even though they contain performances that deserve to be rediscovered.
For me, Power (1986) belongs to the second category.
Directed by the great Sidney Lumet, the filmmaker behind 12 Angry Men, Serpico, Dog Day Afternoon and Network, Power is a political drama about image-making, ambition, money and the machinery behind electoral campaigns. But what fascinates me most is Richard Gere himself.
Because this is not the elegant romantic hero we usually associate with him. This Richard Gere has a moustache, slightly graying temples, an arrogant smile and the attitude of a man who knows exactly how much he is worth.
And I love him this way.
Pete St. John: a charming political shark
Gere plays Pete St. John, a highly successful media consultant who creates political campaigns and knows how to sell candidates to the public. Pete is clever, cynical and completely unscrupulous. Ideology doesn’t seem to matter much to him. He is interested in winning — and in getting paid.
He moves from one campaign to another, manipulating images, television appearances and public emotions with extraordinary skill. He is, in many ways, a professional illusionist. He doesn’t necessarily care whether the politician is good or bad. He knows how to make people look good.
And Richard Gere plays him with precisely the right amount of arrogance. There is something almost mischievous about Pete. He is a beautiful rogue, a man who knows that his intelligence, charm and appearance give him an advantage and is perfectly happy to use all three.
The Washington Post’s contemporary review specifically noted how effective Gere was in these early scenes, describing him as sleek and self-satisfied, while also drawing attention to his distinctive moustache.
Sidney Lumet and an extraordinary cast
What makes Power particularly interesting is the quality of the people surrounding Gere.
This isn’t simply a Richard Gere movie, it is a film directed by Sidney Lumet and featuring an extraordinary cast: Gene Hackman, Denzel Washington, Julie Christie, Kate Capshaw, E.G. Marshall, Beatrice Straight, Fritz Weaver and J.T. Walsh, among others.
And that gives Gere a fascinating challenge. He isn’t surrounded by actors who disappear when he enters the frame. Quite the opposite. He has to hold his own against some enormous personalities.
Gene Hackman
Gene Hackman plays Wilfred Buckley, Pete’s former partner and mentor. Their relationship is complicated. There is history, rivalry and a certain affection beneath the competition. Hackman’s Wilfred understands Pete because he helped shape him. He also recognizes the moral emptiness that has gradually taken over his former protégé.
Their scenes have the feeling of two professionals who know exactly how the other one operates. And Hackman is magnificent he brings warmth, irony and a slightly dangerous looseness to the character, creating a fascinating contrast with Gere’s controlled, polished Pete.
Denzel Washington: another force of nature
Then there is a young Denzel Washington, playing Arnold Billings, a powerful public-relations operative working for businessman Jerome Cade. Billings is not simply another man in Pete’s professional world.
He becomes an adversary. Pete is brought into a campaign involving Cade, but his investigation begins to uncover disturbing secrets. Billings responds aggressively, and the conflict between the two men escalates. Washington was already demonstrating the screen presence that would become one of his trademarks.
And watching him opposite Gere is fascinating. Gere’s Pete is smooth and sophisticated. Washington’s Billings is harder, more direct and potentially dangerous. Their confrontation adds another layer of tension to the story. Interestingly, Washington won the NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Motion Picture for his performance in Power.
Julie Christie: the woman who knows the man behind the image
And then there is Julie Christie, who plays Ellen Freeman, Pete’s former wife and a Washington journalist. Their relationship is another important element of the film because Ellen knows Pete in a way his clients never can.
She knows the man behind the professional image, she understands his ambition and recognizes his flaws. Their conversations are not simply romantic encounters between two attractive people. There is history between them, frustration and the knowledge that they once shared a life.
Contemporary critics were not particularly kind to Christie’s performance, but for me the most interesting aspect of her role is precisely the contrast she creates with Gere: she is one of the few people who can look beyond Pete St. John’s perfectly constructed public persona.
And then comes that airplane scene
One of my favorite details in Power comes very early in the film. Pete is traveling on his private plane, listening to Gene Krupa’s legendary drum solo from “Sing, Sing, Sing” through his headphones.
And suddenly Richard Gere starts playing along. With two drumsticks in his hands, he pounds out the rhythm, trying to keep up with the recording.
It is such an unexpected moment, and it is wonderful because it tells us something about Pete without any dialogue. He is restless. Energetic. Self-confident. He needs stimulation, he seems almost addicted to the rhythm of his own life.
The Washington Post and Los Angeles Times both specifically highlighted this scene, noting Gere’s drumming along to Krupa while flying between political assignments.
And there is another reason I love it. Richard Gere really knows how to use his hands. We have already seen his connection with music in other films, particularly at the piano. But here we see something completely different: rhythm, percussion and physical energy. It is a tiny scene, but it gives the character life.
When the rogue begins to change
The real story of Power, however, begins when Pete’s professional world starts collapsing around him. He is approached to work on the campaign of wealthy businessman Jerome Cade, who wants to win a U.S. Senate seat, but Pete begins to discover that there is something deeply wrong beneath the campaign.
His former friend Sam Hastings is involved, his new client has secrets. Billings is becoming increasingly aggressive, someone bugs Pete’s phones, interferes with his business and even tampers with his private jet. Suddenly the man who has always manipulated everyone else finds himself being manipulated, and that forces Pete to look at his own life.
The question becomes increasingly uncomfortable: how different is he from the people he has spent his career manipulating? This is where Richard’s performance becomes more interesting. The arrogant, charming political shark slowly begins to discover that he may have gone too far. The film eventually moves toward Pete’s moral awakening, as he begins to question the values that have defined his entire career.
My tought: Richard Gere outside the beautiful-boy stereotype
This is perhaps what I appreciate most about Power. Richard Gere was already becoming one of Hollywood’s most recognizable leading men. Only a few years earlier, American Gigolo had established his image as one of cinema’s great male beauties.
But in Power, he deliberately gives us something else. The moustache changes his face.The arrogance changes his expression. The character’s cynical personality strips away much of the romantic softness associated with him. And yet the charisma remains. Qctually, it becomes part of the character.
Pete St. John knows he is attractive, he knows how to charm people, he knows how to sell an image. And Gere uses his own screen persona almost as a weapon. That is clever.
Power gives us something I find much more interesting than a conventional success. It gives us Richard Gere taking a risk: he isn’t simply there to be beautiful, he isn’t playing the perfect romantic hero, he is playing a man who is selfish, manipulative, vain and sometimes thoroughly unpleasant. And somehow, he remains fascinating.
Power prove that there was much more underneath. Here he stands alongside Gene Hackman, Denzel Washington, Julie Christie and the extraordinary Sidney Lumet, and he doesn’t disappear for a second.
He holds his own. He creates a character who is charming precisely because he is not particularly admirable. And I especially love that unusual look — the moustache, the slightly rougher appearance, the arrogance of Pete St. John. It allows us to see another Richard.
Richard Gere in Power: when the beautiful leading man becomes a political rogue
