Heat ( Andy Warhol's Heat )

Heat (DVD) (*)

~~$21.99~~ $15.97

Alternate Title: Andy Warhol's Heat
Screened, competed or awarded at:
Cannes Film Festival

Language Selections:
English ( Mono )

Product Origin/Format:
Australia ( PAL/NTSC/Region 0 )

Running Time:
102 min

Aspect Ratio:
Fullscreen

Special Features:
Commentary
Deleted Scenes
Interactive Menu
Photo Gallery
Scene Access
Short Film

Movie filmed in 1972 and produced in:
United States ( USA, Canada )

Directed By:
Paul Morrissey

Written By:
Paul Morrissey (story)

Actors:
Joe Dallesandro ..... Joey Davis
Sylvia Miles ..... Sally Todd
Andrea Feldman ..... Jessica Todd
Pat Ast ..... Lydia
Ray Vestal ..... Ray
Lester Persky ..... Sidney (as P. J. Lester)
Eric Emerson ..... Eric
Harold Childe ..... Harold
John Hallowell ..... John
Gary Koznocha ..... Gary
Pat Parlemon ..... Girl at pool
Walder ..... Bonnie

Synopsis:

Heat is a parody of 'Sunset Boulevard.' Joey Davis, an unemployed ex-child actor, uses sex to get his landlady, Lydia, to reduce his rent, and then tries to exert his influence on Sally Todd, who is now washed-up and wasn't even more than slightly important at the height of her career. Sally tries to help Joey, until he realizes that she just isn't well-connected enough to be of any service to him. The affair is complicated by Sally's psychotic, maybe-lesbian-or-maybe-not daughter Jessica, who tries to muscle in on her mother's relationship with Joey.

In Heat, Paul Morrissey provides a backdrop of faded Hollywood for his cast to satirize. While some attention is paid to the faded glamour of old Hollywood and the finale is an obvious parody, Heat is less a tribute to Sunset Boulevard than yet another ode to Joe Dallesandro. Like in Flesh, Trash, and Flesh for Frankenstein, Morrissey's camera worships the frequently undressed Dallesandro, who is besieged by the sexual attentions of desperate women, but couldn't care less. He's on the make, and while sex is all around him, it never seems to touch him. Or does it? One could say that Dallesandro's character in these films is a mirror of Warhol -- cold, distant, asexual -- but that would miss the point. Dallesandro's eyes gave him away, and while he may not have responded sexually to all of the adulation that came his way, one look at his eyes revealed that he was hurting inside. This was a hustler with a heart rubbed raw by life's harsh reality. When one looked in Warhol's eyes, there was nothing there. This is also the paradox of Morrissey's films for Warhol. They're supposed to be jokes, but when considering the fates of many Factory Superstars (including Andrea Feldman), there's not much to laugh about. Heat does have some truly funny moments -- Eric Emerson's poolside self-abuse, Ast's massage scene with Dallesandro, and Sylvia Miles' wonderfully schizoid turn as Sally Todd. But it's also a difficult film to watch at times -- overlong, shrill, frequently boring, and it could be argued that Morrissey and company exploited the conditions that ultimately led to Feldman's suicide. Still, although it isn't the best of Morrissey's films for Warhol (that would be Trash), Heat is probably the most palatable introduction to his unusual body of work.

Spoof of the casual sexual adventures of a one-time child actor in Hollywood. Also involves a bratty on-again, off-again lesbian character.

This product was added to our catalog on Tuesday 15 November, 2005.

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