Andy Warhol’s Flesh – Review

Andy Warhol’s Flesh

with Joe Dallesandro
Directed by Paul Morrissey
(Mystic Fire Video, 1969)
by Reggie Kray

Adorning the cover of the Smiths’ first album is Joe Dallesandro draping his chesty artifacts for every lovelorn boy in the world to see. Many love that album, and its cover to boot, yet many go blithely about ignorant of its source. In the late sixties, Andy Warhol began his experiments in celluloid, pumping out cult classics like Chelsea Girls (1967), Frankenstein (1971), and Dracula (1972), all directed by trash/art auteur Paul Morrissey. Flesh, the first of a trilogy that included Trash and Heat (1969 and 1970 respectively), is likely the best-known (and most enjoyable, continuity-wise) of them all. The whole thing with the Warhol experiments is that they were just that. Some were long-winded art puffballs while some, as in this case, actually hold your interest for more than three minutes. Dallesandro, now living in the ruins with every other Warhol contemporary that hung onto the pop-culture tugstrings of the Factory, stars as your typical Times Square hustler trying to make sense of what the world has in store for him on the mean streets of New York City. I don’t mind Warhol’s films – in fact, I rather enjoy the task of trying to suss out what he’s trying to get at in all his cover-ups. Roll up your sleeves and rub the Flesh.