Heat (1972)

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Movie
German title Heat
Original title Heat
Country of production United States
original language English
Publishing year 1972
length 102 minutes
Rod
Director Paul Morrissey
script Paul Morrissey
production Jed Johnson ,
Andy Warhol
music John Cale (original music)
camera Paul Morrissey
cut Joel Johnson ,
Lana Jokel
occupation

Heat (alternative title Hollywood or Andy Warhol's Hollywood ) is an American feature film from 1972. In the film Heat , director Paul Morrissey tries for the first time to position a Hollywood feeling in one of his films. In the lead role, Joe Dallesandro plays a young handsome man who tries to use his sexual attraction to reactivate his early faded career. In a motel, he meets an aging film diva (Sylvia Miles) and uses her contacts for his own purposes. The film lives mainly from the characters and the dialogues.

action

Joe Davis, a has-been, but dazzlingly handsome child star who, after the army his luck as a singer-songwriter had tried but was unable to repeat his earlier successes, moves into a hotel in Santa Monica that of a corpulent transvestite is passed a . Besides him, Ray and his mentally handicapped brother also live there , who earn their money through a sex show in a strip club, and Jessica with her lesbian friend Bonnie and her little son. Jessica is the daughter of aging actress Sally Todd. She recognizes Joe immediately because her mother previously had a guest role on the popular series "The Big Ranch," in which Joe played a leading role. She really wants to introduce him to her mother because she hopes that she will make more money for her. The first encounter between Joe and Sally is quite cool.

When Jessica later takes Joe to her mother's house, she has to leave at short notice because her friend Bonnie wants to kill herself. Joe remains perplexed. Sally finally shows him her huge villa and the two get closer. After spending a night together, she tries to bind the much younger Joe to her and promises him to promote his career. A first meeting with a gossip reporter and a film producer is unsatisfactory.

After Sally is made jealous of the transvestite who briefly had something with Joe while visiting the hotel, she decides to take Joe to her home. When Jessica gets wind of it, she and her son decide to move back to the mother too. She reveals Joe no longer to be a lesbian and tries to seduce him, but fails. Joe only pleases her with his boot. At some point Sally's ex-husband and former agent Sydney comes to visit, as Sally has money problems. The two argue in front of Jessica and Joe, but then retreat to another room, where the argument continues. Meanwhile, Harold, Sydney's funky partner, joins Jessica and Joe. He shows them photos and frankly turns Joe on. When Sally and Sydney return, Harold pleases Joe orally . Sally makes a scene that later ends in an argument with Joe. He is fed up and leaves Sally, who is devastated. He moves back to the hotel, where one day Sally shows up and tries to shoot him. However, since the revolver does not work, she throws the gun into the water.

background

The final part of the Morrissey / Dallesandro trilogy , which began in 1968 with Flesh and continued in 1970 with Trash , is by far the most professional looking. The characteristics of the other two films, such as shaky cameras, sound and image jumps, have been omitted. In addition, in contrast to the snapshots of Flesh and Trash , the film tells a continuous story with a beginning, a climax and an end.

The film is linked to the trilogy through the actor Joe Dallesandro and the actress Andrea Feldman, who have already worked on Trash . With Sylvia Miles , the star of the film Asphalt Cowboy could be won for the role of Sally Todd. The participation of some Factory members on Asphalt Cowboy was the starting signal for the Morrissey / Dallesandro trilogy . As with the other two films, Heat also contains some taboo-breaking soft- porn- style scenes and a number of absurd characters, such as the transvestite who runs the hotel, the incestuous brother couple and the funky Harold.

The film is similar to Billy Wilder's Boulevard of Dawn . As Morrissey noted, however, he saw all of his films as remakes of Twilight Boulevard .

As with the previous films, Warhol himself did not appear on the set, but was informed of the process by Morrissey. Warhol also spoke to the actresses. In contrast to the other two parts of the trilogy, Heat is set in Holywood . The property where Sally Todd lives in the film was Boris Karloff's former villa . The scenes in the hotel, however, were filmed in New York. Most of the dialogues are improvised. The score is from John Cale (ex- Velvet Underground and a friend of Warhol). The budget was about $ 50,000 to $ 100,000.

Andrea Feldman, both at Trash and Heat played a constantly chattering, naive teenager who committed suicide shortly after the end of filming suicide . Warhol, director Paul Morrissey and Factory member Fred Hughes therefore decided to keep the premiere of the film on October 5, 1972 at the Lincoln Center Film Festival as small as possible.

The film grossed around two million dollars in the United States and was a huge hit with film critics.

criticism

The film received critical acclaim. In particular, the performance of Andrea Feldman and Sylvia Miles was mentioned by the criticism.

“The main thing that makes the film compelling is that Morrissey put a hideous cast together, put them in an impossible situation, and then watched them get out of there. It's unbelievable how Sylvia Miles does it. She does it the only way possible: she takes it seriously. If she's supposed to be a near-retired actress who's having an affair with an androgynous robot, then be it. The robot has never met someone like YOU. "

literature

  • Enno Patalas (ed.): Andy Warhol and his films: A documentary . Heyne, Munich 1971, ISBN 0-200-41991-9 .
  • Stephen Koch: Stargazer. The Life, World and Films of Andy Warhol . London 1974; Updated reissue by Marion Boyars, New York 2002, ISBN 0-7145-2920-6 .
  • Bernard Blistène (Ed.): Andy Warhol, Cinema: à l'occasion de l'Exposition Andy Warhol Rétrospective (21 juin - 10 septembre 1990) organized à Paris par le Musée National d'Art Moderne au Center Georges Pompidou . Ed. du Center Georges Pompidou, Paris 1990, ISBN 2-908393-30-1 .
  • Debra Miller: Billy Name: Stills from the Warhol films . Prestel, Munich 1994, ISBN 3-7913-1367-3 .
  • Astrid Johanna Ofner (Ed.): Andy Warhol - Filmmaker. A retrospective of the Viennale and the Austrian Film Museum October 1 to 31, 2005 . Vienna 2005, ISBN 3-85266-282-6 .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ A b c Roger Ebert : Review. Roger Ebert's official website, November 20, 1972, accessed August 27, 2010 .
  2. ^ Dennis Schwartz: Review. Ozus' WorldsMovie Reviews, accessed August 27, 2010 .
  3. Program preview . (No longer available online.) Arte , February 24, 2006, formerly in the original ; Retrieved August 28, 2010 .  ( Page no longer available , search in web archivesInfo: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.@1@ 2Template: Dead Link / www.arte.tv  
  4. a b c d Heat. Warholstars.org, accessed August 27, 2010 .