Joe Dallesandro Movies

This portrait of the man who brought nude male flesh into the American mainstream combines present-day interviews, archival footage, and semi-fictionalized dramatization into a cinematic hybrid. Photographer and filmmaker Bob Mizer (Daniel MacIvor) founded the Athletic Model Guild, or AMG, in Los Angeles in 1945, hoping to turn his fascination with the male physique into a successful business that used nude and semi-nude photographs to sell the services of models to painters and the like. When the photos themselves proved more lucrative than the non-existent modeling contracts, Mizer launched Physique Pictorial. The magazine ostensibly offered bodybuilding tips and moral guidance to young men the world over, but in reality its clientèle included legions of gay men eager for eye candy. With the help of his mother and business partner, Delilah (Carroll Godsman), Mizer parlayed his magazine, short films, and other work into a palatial residence/studio where young men fresh off the bus from Nowheresville could frolic, crash, and earn a little cash in front of the camera (or on the casting couch). Occasional run-ins with the law and stints in prison couldn't deter Mizer from continuing his photography until his death in the early '90s. His models, contemporaries, and associates included bodybuilding proponent Jack LaLane and future Warhol superstar Joe Dallesandro, who are among the many men interviewed by filmmaker Thom Fitzgerald. The writer/director/producer intersperses his dramatic and documentary sequences with plenty of actual AMG and Physique Pictorial images. The film's narrative arc, however, focuses on the fictionalized character of novice model Neil E. O'Hara (Joshua Peace), who serves as a stand-in for the audience as he acclimates himself to Mizer's campy, flesh-filled compound and witnesses the photographer's betrayal by another model, Red (Jack Griffin Mazeika). Beefcake was inspired by F. Valentine Hooven III's book Beefcake: The Muscle Magazines of America, 1950-1970. The scenes of Mizer's trial for pandering were based on transcripts of the real-life Red's courtroom testimony. The character name Neil E. O'Hara, of course, is a joking reference to Neely O'Hara, the ingénue character from Valley of the Dolls. ~ Brian J. Dillard, All Movie Guide

Telly Savalas stars as the washed-up star of a Kojak-like TV series who agrees to investigate a real-life kidnapping case. ~ Jason Ankeny, All Movie Guide

Giulio Berruti's unusual cult horror film casts former sex symbol Anita Ekberg as Sister Gertrude, a nun working in a mental institution. Gertrude is clearly insane, and takes a great deal of morphine for her self-diagnosed cancer. She goes to town and picks up men, seduces a younger nun (Paola Morra) who was abused by her grandfather, and supposedly murders patients until the Mother Superior (Alida Valli) has her poisoned. Luigi Casellato appears as a crippled painter who gets kicked to death, and genre favorite Joe Dallesandro leads the supporting cast as a handsome doctor. Antonio Maccoppi's skillful cinematography gives the film a harsh, intimidating look and Ekberg creates a sympathetic character, although certain scenes -- such as her stepping on a patient's dentures -- cross the line into unintentional humor. ~ Robert Firsching, All Movie Guide

Sigismond (Joe Dallesandro) is a man lost in an erotic haze which clouds his judgment. Early in the film, it is evident that the man has a physically passionate relationship with his wife, with whom he has a son. While on a business trip to Paris, he comes under the spell of a famous, beautiful prostitute (Sylvia Kristel) who resembles his wife. However, his efforts to monopolize her attention are not appreciated by her pimp, and he is severely beaten. When he gets a letter informing him of the death of his wife and son, he is totally devastated. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide

Two men are driving a refuse truck to a dump site and stop for a hamburger. Krassky (Joe Dallesandro), one of the two, strikes an acquaintance with Johnny (Jane Birkin), the girl who works in the restaurant. They swiftly become lovers. However, Krassky is basically a homosexual, and must consummate their lovemaking in a slightly unusual way. His fellow truck-driver, Padovan (Hugues Quester), is also his lover. Padovan is intensely jealous, and attempts to kill Johnny. When Krassky fails to defend her, Johnny berates him, and he and Padovan resume their journey together. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide

The second of two horror films shot in a single production term and bearing the name of pop-art icon Andy Warhol (whose participation pretty much ended with the use of his name), this film is slightly superior to its higher-profile predecessor, Andy Warhol's Frankenstein. Direction is credited to Warhol factory filmmaker Paul Morrissey, though there still exists a very vocal camp who insist that the real credit should go to Italian director Antonio Margheriti. Euro-horror leading man Udo Kier assays the title role, playing the count as a pale, anemic-looking blood junkie with an overwrought accent. Finding the supply of "weer-gin" blood diminishing rapidly in Romania, Dracula is forced to seek a fix in a predominantly Catholic Italian province, where he is certain a few virgins still exist. He travels with his assistant (Arno Juerging) and his coffin-sealed sister to the decrepit, crumbling mansion of the financially-strapped Marquis DiFore (a tour-de-force performance from Bicycle Thief director Vittorio de Sica) who welcomes the affluent Count with open arms, hoping to marry off any one of his four daughters. Dracula clearly has other intentions for the girls... but his plans are rudely thwarted by beefy, socialist handyman Mario (Joe Dallesandro), who has been dutifully divesting the young maidens of their -- ahem -- virtue, thus tainting their blood and making it unsafe for vampiric consumption. Very unsafe, it turns out -- as we are treated to protracted scenes of the death-pale Count vomiting up gallons of blood. Rated "X" at the time of its release (and subsequently re-rated "R" ten years later), this outrageous catalogue of depravity features wildly campy performances, inane dialogue and an outrageous climax. ~ Cavett Binion, All Movie Guide

The lives of many are in the hands of Italian Police Commissioner Castroni, who is challenged by four young terrorists who are wreaking havoc upon the entire community. ~ All Movie Guide

This characteristically offbeat, but tedious, Andy Warhol film was finished just before Warhol was seriously wounded by a gunshot wound inflicted by one of his disgruntled followers. It was released soon after Warhol's recovery. Though the film tends to be a muddled, haphazard collection of seemingly unrelated scenes, it begins clearly enough by introducing the main character: the flamboyant, verbose Ondine, an infamous homosexual who makes a passing attempt to live life as a heterosexual. Ondine is also adventuresome enough to try and learn "college wrestling" from a young male prostitute. In the most memorable scene of the film, a nude boy standing over a motorcycle is buried in trash after he and other willing parties participate in a food-and-garbage orgy. The film is re-edited from his earlier 25-hour marathon Four Stars. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide

Flesh was filmmaker Paul Morrissey's first production for Andy Warhol. The story concerns a bisexual hustler (Joe Dallesandro) who does tricks so that he can pay for his wife's lover's abortion. The film made headlines when it was confiscated by the police during one of its earliest showings in 1970. Though this event is unlikely to repeat itself, Flesh is still explicit enough to elicit gasps from even the most jaded of underground-film enthusiasts. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Wesley Snipes and Michael Wright play druglord brothers who have a mob-like crime empire in the Sugar Hill section of Harlem. Through flashbacks, we see how Roemello Skuggs (Snipes) and Raynathan Skuggs (Wright) entered the drug culture, with Raynathan helping his mother inject heroin. She died when the boys were young, but their father A.R. Skuggs (Clarence Williams III) survived, remaining a hopeless and frightful heroin addict. Roemello has grown up to be an educated, culturally pretentious businessman who stays away from his own merchandise, wears expensive cashmere coats and other colorful clothes, and lives in a beautiful uptown apartment, while being plagued by guilt. Raynathan, however, is losing his battle with drug addiction and spiraling downward. Roemello runs the family drug business with the help of an old-fashioned mob boss, Gus Molino (Abe Vigoda), whose grocery is a front for the dealing. To fuel his doubts, Roemello becomes involved with a beautiful aspiring actress, Melissa (Theresa Randle), and she urges him to get out of the drug business. But a rival dealer, Lolly Jonas (Ernie Hudson), cuts into Roemello territory, there is a brutally violent turf war, and Roemello must decide whether to defend or abandon his livelihood. ~ Michael Betzold, All Movie Guide