Flesh (1968)

Produced by pop art legend Andy Warhol, Paul Morrissey’s Flesh (1968) offers something a tad more salacious than a Mao silkscreen. Hunky Warhol regular Joe Dallesandro stars as Joe, a male hustler who uses his earnings to support his wife and infant child. When his spouse gets knocked up for a second time, Joe hits the streets to rustle up enough cash to pay for her $200 abortion. Morrissey lets his camera linger on the charismatic Dallesandro, who uses his personal experience as a hustler to lend the film a certain gritty, realistic appeal. It isn’t until Dallesandro and a cross-dressing friend get together with Geraldine Smith, however, that sparks really start to fly. Morrissey’s direction doesn’t hold back, and throughout the film we get to see several scenes of Dallesandro on the job, and in his work uniform -- which, most of the time, is nothing at all.