The contrast between the 8 mm home -
movie footage that opens the film and the
subsequent scene
showing Murray's bookstore in its final throes sets the thematic stage: Fading Gigolo is intended to be as much about aging as it is about love and sex.
First he's gimped - up to satisfy the didacticism of the time (with the trucking industry presenting limited opportunity for a moral, the
movie settles on putting the fear of God in us over falling asleep at the wheel), then his role is reduced to reaction shots: When Paul finally takes the stand in the courtroom climax, all Bogart manages to squeeze out is «Wull yeah, but...» This is Raft's
show, despite the film's studio - sanctioned absorption into the Bogey canon, though Bogart would have his revenge by stealing the lead in High Sierra — and in theory, every one of his Midas - touched career opportunities
subsequent to High Sierra — out from under him.