The original film is about an American woman and a French criminal in Paris, while the remake is vice versa in Los Angeles.

Jesse Lujack (Richard Gere) is a cocky, hedonistic drifter and small-time car thief in Las Vegas.

He’s obsessed with Silver Surfer comic books, the music of Jerry Lee Lewis, and Monica Poiccard (Valérie Kaprisky), a UCLA architecture student whom he knows only from a weekend fling while she visited Vegas.

On the run, but unable to immediately leave the city while arranging to get paid for a previous car theft, Lujack breaks into Monica's apartment and waits for her to return home.

Lujack then runs up the road to meet an accomplice he has arranged to bring his payment for the previous car theft, who throws a gun to him as well, which he refuses and allows to drop to the street.

Along with the incidental music for the movie, provided by Jack Nitzsche, these are the songs that are featured in the film: It was released in the United States on May 13, 1983 by Orion Pictures.

[5] In the U.S. and Canada, Shout Factory released the film in April 2015 on Blu-ray with one extra feature; a theatrical trailer.

"[11][better source needed] British critic Mark Kermode is a fan of the film,[12] and prefers it over the French original.