Flesh (1968), Trash (1970) and Heat (1972), prime examples of the New York underground film making during the late 1960's and early 1970's, were made under the auspices of Andy Wahol and all star Joe Dallesandro, who went on to feature in films by such directors as Louis Malle and Serg Gainsbourg in Europe before returning to the USA in the 1980's. The films are all free form comments on 'alternative' life style and outsider life. In Flesh, partly inspired by Midnight Cowboy released in 1969, on hearing about director John Schlesinger's version of the book by James Leo Herlihy being filmed, Morrissey and Wahol decided to make their own (very loose) version and release it first. Joe plays a young hustler out on the streets to raise $200 for his girlfriend and in numerous ways, mostly involving the removal of his clothes, demonstrates how a human being (the flesh) can be bought, sold and used without much compunction by other human beings.
Trash (named as such because a New York critic's review of Flesh called it "trash") follows Joe, his girl friend, one of Wahol's Factory stars, Holly Woodlawn, and assorted other drug addicts around the streets of New York. Some funny scenes including a young college student trying to score and a welfare officer investigating Joe and Holly's living and 'working ' arrangements to see if they entitled to any sort of welfare.
A very early idea behind Heat was Blue Angel (1930) with Marlene Dietrich, about the fall of a young woman under the influence of an older man, however Sunset Boulevard quickly took over as the main influence with Joe in the William Holden role and Sylvia Miles in the Gloria Swanson role. Needless to say every element is twisted and very funny.
There are four discs in the collection. While each film disc includes out takes , alternative takes and short films by Morrisey, the fourth disc includes nine documentaries of various lengths plus a bonus cache. These extras make the whole collection a must, have even if you have the individual films on disc
This signed limited edition collection of Paul Morrissey's trilogy, Flesh, Trash and Heat is only available in France Apart from one documentary on disc 4, all dialogue in the discs is in English with French sub-title , the latter can easily be switched off. This edition can be ordered via the web, although it can be a bit tricky if you cannot understand French or how to translate each page. Note: The DVD is Region 2, so you will need an all region player.
Max Dingle 24 February 2014
Trash (named as such because a New York critic's review of Flesh called it "trash") follows Joe, his girl friend, one of Wahol's Factory stars, Holly Woodlawn, and assorted other drug addicts around the streets of New York. Some funny scenes including a young college student trying to score and a welfare officer investigating Joe and Holly's living and 'working ' arrangements to see if they entitled to any sort of welfare.
A very early idea behind Heat was Blue Angel (1930) with Marlene Dietrich, about the fall of a young woman under the influence of an older man, however Sunset Boulevard quickly took over as the main influence with Joe in the William Holden role and Sylvia Miles in the Gloria Swanson role. Needless to say every element is twisted and very funny.
There are four discs in the collection. While each film disc includes out takes , alternative takes and short films by Morrisey, the fourth disc includes nine documentaries of various lengths plus a bonus cache. These extras make the whole collection a must, have even if you have the individual films on disc
This signed limited edition collection of Paul Morrissey's trilogy, Flesh, Trash and Heat is only available in France Apart from one documentary on disc 4, all dialogue in the discs is in English with French sub-title , the latter can easily be switched off. This edition can be ordered via the web, although it can be a bit tricky if you cannot understand French or how to translate each page. Note: The DVD is Region 2, so you will need an all region player.
Max Dingle 24 February 2014
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