“Little Joe never once gave it away,” go the song lyrics, but Joe gives it his all in this Andy Warhol production of Paul Morrissey’s Trash. Joe Dallesandro plays a junkie burglar whose druggy habits inhibit his sexual response. Joe lives with his junk-collecting, drag-queen girlfriend Holly Woodlawn in an abandoned basement. She tries to arouse him unsuccessfully, as do the yuppie couple he attempts to rob. Joe and Holly also concoct a plan to fake her pregnancy in order to collect welfare money. It’s all hysterically outlandish, yet real ñ an American parody and also a snapshot of Factory attitudes. This is a 30th-anniversary re-release of one of the early films Morrissey directed under the flagship of Andy Warhol’s art enterprises.
This article appears in May 19 • 2000.
