Flesh = Andy Warhol presents Flesh

Flesh, the first collaboration between Paul Morrissey, Joe Dallesandro and Andy Warhol, charts a day in the life of Joe (Dallesandro), a street hustler and married man who needs to raise $200 to pay for his wife’s lover’s abortion. Shot in cinema verite style, the audience witness Joe with an array of sexual partners as the narrative tracks his encounters with Johns, artists, prostitutes, transvestites and drug addicts. Using numerous jump-cuts and seemingly improvised dialogue, the film has an inventive style that bears out the lifestyle embraced by the characters that populated Warhols’ “Factory” scene, responding to the counterculture revolution that was sweeping America. “Flesh” was ground-breaking for its frank depiction of the penis and for its objectifying of the male figure in a manner that was previously limited to the female form.