Flesh (1968)

A man desperate for money and no income, turns prostitute and interplays with a variety of clients and hustlers.

Director:

Paul Morrissey

Writer:

Paul Morrissey

Stars:

Joe Dallesandro, Geraldine Smith, Patti D'Arbanville

1 win.

Cast

Complete credited cast:
Joe Dallesandro	...	Joe, the Hustler
Geraldine Smith	...	Geri, Joe's Wife
Patti D'Arbanville	...	Patti, Geri's Lover
Candy Darling	...	Candy, a Transvestite
Jackie Curtis	...	Jackie, a Transvestite
John Christian	...	Joe's Customer
Maurice Braddell	...	The Artist
Geri Miller	...	Terry
Louis Waldon	...	David, the Gymnast
Rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Barry Brown	...	Boy in street

Storyline

Geri (Geraldine Smith) ejects her husband Joe (Joe Dalessandro) from bed, and insists he go out on the streets to make some money for her girlfriend's abortion. This leads to Joe's various encounters with clients on the streets of New York City: an Artist (Maurice Bradell) who wishes to draw Joe, a Gymnast (Louis Waldon), and another 'John' (John Christian). Joe spends time with other hustlers, one of whom is played by his real life brother, and teaches the tricks of the trade to the New Hustler (Barry Brown). Back home, Joe interacts with his real life one-year-old son. Joe gets back home, presumably at the end of his duty work, and is in bed with Geri and her girlfriend Patti (Patti D'Arbanville). The women strip Joe and begin to get intimate with each other; Joe gets bored and falls asleep. (Source: Wikipedia)

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Plot Keywords:

hustler | street | new york | testicles | male nudity | 

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Genres:

Drama

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Certificate:

R

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

27 May 1970 (West Germany)

Also Known As:

Andy Warhol's Flesh

Filming Locations:

New York City, New York, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$4,000 (estimated)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Factory Films (I)

Technical Specs

Runtime:

105 min

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Color (Eastmancolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

UK censor John Trevelyan was wary of issuing the film a cinema certificate and suggested to the distributors that the film be shown on a club basis. When it was initially shown at the Open Space Theatre in London in February 1970 the cinema was raided by police who attempted to seize the film, leading Trevelyan himself to hastily rush to the cinema and vigorously defend the movie against possible prosecution, calling the police action 'unjustified and preposterous'. In the light of this incident Trevelyan was able to grant the film an uncut 'X' certificate.

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Goofs

During a scene with the go-go dancer, Candy and Jackie alternately call her by the character's first name (Terry) and that of the actress playing her (Geri Miller).

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Quotes

Joe, the Hustler: How am I supposed to make any money without clean underwear?

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Crazy Credits

The opening credits run sideways and list Warhol's name, the title, the main cast members, and that it was written, photographed and directed by Paul Morissey.

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Connections

Followed by Heat (1972)

User Reviews

75% brilliant, 25% tedious

In a lot of ways this film defines the essence of everything I love about cinema, in terms of capturing those strange, elusive moments of unguarded truth. In other ways, it is undeniably an amateurish, unfocused result of junkies self-indulgently fooling around with a camera. Ultimately it comes out somewhere between pure brilliance and unwatchability (thankfully much more so the former than the latter). Part of me wants to reward it solely for it's absolute innovativeness and moments of pure sublimity, but at the same time I can't completely ignore the occasionally downright awful "acting" and overtly bad production values. At first the editing seems overwhelmingly sloppy and needlessly distracting (or maybe just wrongheadedly "innovative"), but after a while I got used to it, which is, in the end, the true sign of whether a film succeeds on it's own terms or not. I guess that answer basically sums up my all-around feelings for the film. That is, despite it's in-ignorable flaws, on a whole it does work very well. And, if nothing else, a film like this really shows how false and contrived the faux-documentary, shaky-cam style can sometimes be when it so obviously applied purely for effect (such as in films like the otherwise admirable Roger Dodger). Here the aesthetics are plainly derived from the necessities of the filming situation, and are not just used arbitrarily to make it look "cool".