Paul Morrissey's Trash (1970)

* * * (out of 4)

Poor Little Joe (Joe Dallesandro) has degenerated from a street hustling johnny to a heroin addict who continues his career as a male gigolo in order to pay for his addiction. Only trouble is, poor Joe has a problem right from the opening scene (and a startling close up of Dallesandro's pimply butt). He's impotent! He can't get it up, not even for a second! How's he gonna score?

Such is the dilemma facing our hero in this second installment of the trilogy of "Little Joe" films directed by Paul Morrissey and "produced" by Andy Warhol.

Enter Holly Woodlawn

Once again, we have a non-judgmental view of junkies, cross-dressers and street johnnys. This time, Joe shares center stage with the wonderful and charismatic Holly Woodlawn. No reference is made to Holly being a transvestite - we just accept that she's Joe's girlfriend and roommate. That's that.

Holly steals the movie (which isn't hard, considering how comatose Joe is half the time) because she's mouthy, doesn't take any cr*p from anyone, and knows who she is. She's got a nice racket going stealing trash from the streets to either sell off or use as furniture, and has a healthy sex life with Joe when he's not having peter problems.

Holly has other problems - she needs to get on welfare to support her sister's kid. Old sis is ready to burst with child any minute, so Joe needs to kick his drug habit and Holly needs to make herself respectable. As you can see, with these two subplots about impotence and the need for money, tension is high in this Warhol flick.

Joe's Journey

Similar in structure to Flesh, Joe has a series of adventures with various people he runs into during the couple of days Morrissey observes him. Unlike the previous film, however, Joe keeps running into so-called "normal" society who seem more dysfunctional and perverse than his rather affectionate relationship with Holly (on the bottom of the social ladder.)

He finds his way into the apartment of a grating middle class couple. The woman won't shut her yap while he's trying to shoot up, barraging him with questions and non-sequitors. It's her whining voice which drove me up the wall, and her brutish architect husband in the background wondering whether or not this junkie in his living room was gonna O.D. Even worse is the "in-the-closet" social worker who tries to negotiate a welfare deal with Joe and Holly, demanding that Holly give him her favorite pair of shoes in exchange for eligibility.

Go To Page: 1 2