Produced by Andy
Warhol and directed by the great Paul Morrissey, Trash pushed
cinematic bounds like few other movies in the seventies. Starring
pimply heroin addict Joe Dallesandro and female impersonator Holly
Woodlawn along with a cast of assorted oddballs and lunatics,
watching Trash is both fascinating and repulsive.
Trash is a voyeuristic
peek into New York's seedy lower east side complete with on screen
heroin shoot ups and blunt sexual acts which Morrisseys' camera
shows in excruciating detail. It's the incredible performance
by Holly Woodlawn that keeps Trash from becoming too painful to
watch, her/his performance is both hilarious and heartbreaking.
Holly's quest for sexual satisfaction (Joe's addiction has left
him impotent) and welfare (Holly explains, "I want to get back
on welfare, be respectable, and have a decent place") earns the
viewers compassion and has you cheering for this spunky misfit.
Worth the price
of admission alone is the hilarious scene in which Holly stuffs
a pillow under her sweater to fake pregnancy in order to fool
a welfare agent who is completely enthralled by Holly's shoes.
Her refusal to sell her shoes to the agent for welfare (they reminded
him of the shoes Joan Crawford wore in "those marvelous pictures"),
leads to one of the truly great scenes in modern American film.
