Paul Morrissey Movies

Longtime Andy Warhol associate Paul Morrissey wrote and directed this drama in which a handsome stranger makes his way into a small American community. Ed (Demian Gabriel) arrives from overseas in a town on the Atlantic Coast, looking to make good in the United States. Ed is a hard working man but also has a way with the ladies, and after seducing the woman (Olga Liriano) who arranged for his passage, he lands a job as a handyman at a trailer court. Before long, Ed finds himself caught in a tangled web of romantic affairs, becoming involved with attractive but damaged Lola (Nicole La Liberte), her teenaged daughter Janet (Justine Crawford), and an older woman with a sharp tongue but a healthy bank balance (Viva Hoffman). The first dramatic feature from Morrissey since 1988's Spike Of Bensonhurst, News From Nowhere was an official selection at the 2010 Venice Film Festival. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

Documentary filmmaker Ric Burns explores the life and legacy of pop art's most beloved icon with this film that seeks to illuminate the public persona and creative complexity of painter, photographer, and filmmaker Andy Warhol. Host Laurie Anderson narrates as an erudite collection of curators, critics, and biographers dispel Warhol's own self-created image as a haute couture heavyweight to offer a more intellectually minded portrait of the man who forever changed the way the world views Campbell's Soup cans. From Warhol's boyhood experiences in a Czechoslovakian community in Pittsburgh to a disheartening stint at art school and initial work as a commercial illustrator in New York, Burns' film explores every aspect of Warhol's life to offer a detailed look at the artist whose short-circuited class-jumping gave him a most unique view on contemporary culture. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi

This is a documentary chronicling the life of Charles Henri Ford (now in his nineties and still as alert as ever), a pivotal figure in the European and American avant-garde scene from the late '20s through the present. Born to a Southern family that owned a hotel and included sister Ruth Ford, an actress who is best known for the U.S. debut of Jean-Paul Sartre's No Exit, Charles moved to New York City in 1930, where his unmistakable male beauty sparked interest in the city's burgeoning gay scene. In the 1940s, he founded the literary journal Blues and the later View, which provided space for future notables such as Jean Genet and Vladimir Nabokov. The filmmakers made this motion picture over the course of ten years, lining up -- in the process -- a number of legendary avant-garde figures to discuss Ford, several of whom died by the time directors James Dowell and John Kolomvakis finished the picture. These include: William S. Burroughs, Allen Ginsberg, Philip Johnson, Paul Cadmus, Paul Morrissey, Ned Rorem, Paul Bowles and Gerard Malanga. Ford relates several anecdotes about them as well. The filmmakers spent over a decade creating this picture, tapping various historians, critics, and curators for additional details. ~ Jason Clark, Rovi

A documentary profile of filmmaker John Waters, Divine Trash focuses on the bad-taste pioneer's early years, especially his 1972 breakthrough Pink Flamingos, which turned the director of Mondo Trasho and Multiple Maniacs into the king of midnight movies thanks to word of mouth about the film's gleeful taboo-bashing -- and a distribution deal with the fledgling New Line Cinema. Interviews with filmmakers who both influenced Waters (Paul Morrissey, Herschell Gordon Lewis, Mike Kuchar, George Kuchar) and were influenced by him (Steve Buscemi, Jim Jarmusch, David O. Russell, Hal Hartley) are interspersed with copious behind-the-scenes footage from the making of Pink Flamingos, including the infamous doggy-doo scene. Through it all, the witty Waters provides commentary, recollections, and one-line quips. Pete Garey, owner of the film lab where Waters learned the technical side of moviemaking, recalls his first meetings with the youthful auteur. Mink Stole and other Dreamland Studios superstars reminisce about growing up in suburban Baltimore with Waters, who as a youngster loved car crashes, puppets, and clowns. The director's strait-laced parents reminisce about the financial support they provided for Pink Flamingos, which they have never seen. Neither has Frances Milstead, who looks back on the career of her late son, drag terrorist and Waters muse Divine. Divine and late "egg lady" Edith Massey crop up in various archival interviews and film clips. The man who played the "talking asshole" in Pink Flamingos also appears, albeit anonymously and disguised. Various film theorists and critics debate the merits and meaning of the Waters oeuvre, while Baltimore critic Don Walls and former Maryland film censor Mary Avara express their incredulity about the director's success. Divine Trash won the Filmmakers Trophy for Best Documentary at the 1998 Sundance Film Festival. Director Steve Yeager, a longtime friend of Waters, would go on to direct In Bad Taste: The John Waters Story and help Milstead write a book about her son. ~ Brian J. Dillard, Rovi

Fascinating documentary of artist and filmmaker Andy Warhol, combining rare footage with interviews with his friends and colleagues, including Dennis Hopper, David Hockney, Taylor Mead, and Sylvia Miles. ~ Nicole Gagne, Rovi

Andy Warhol "graduate" Paul Morrissey surprised his followers with his sensitive direction of the 1985 costume drama Beethoven's Nephew (Le Neveu de Beethoven) The eponymous character, Karl Beethoven (Dietmar Prinz), is snatched from his mother's home by egomaniacal composer Ludwig Van Beethoven (Wolfgang Reichmann). It is Beethoven's contention that nephew Karl is in the clutches of a "demon" (his mother!), and that only by taking charge of Karl himself can the composer tap the boy's inherent musical genius. Ultimately Karl rebels against Beethoven's obsessiveness by developing a relationship with a beautiful actress (Nathalie Baye). As Karl's independence grows, Beethoven's health declines, possibly because of the psychological ramifications of watching his surrogate son grow away from him. Adapted by Morrissey and Mathieu Carriere from a novel by Luigi Magnani, Beethoven's Nephew was released in the US nearly two years after its French premiere. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

In this unusual documentary based on a series of identical questions addressed to world-famous directors such as Werner Herzog, Steven Spielberg, and Jean-Luc Godard, director Wim Wenders placed each of his colleagues one-by-one in a single room, gave them one reel (11 minutes) of time to look into the stationary camera if they chose, and answer set questions. The juxtaposition of so many individualistic, experienced, and innovative filmmakers commenting on topics like television's effect on cinema, the influence of ad techniques, the tendency toward miniseries, and other relevant subjects offers worthwhile moments that are unlikely to be found elsewhere. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, Rovi

The seamy underworld of Manhattan's 42nd street provides the background for this gritty drama that centers around a sleazy male prostitute, addicted to heroin, who tries to get drug money by selling a tender runaway boy to a homosexual. The kid soon over-doses on heroin and dies. The prostitute then begins framing the homosexual. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi

Lutz (Patrick Schoene), is a self-proclaimed East German sailor-spy who has jumped ship while in Long Beach harbor so he can prepare the way for a planned Soviet invasion. Lutz is a handsome, musclebound type who attracts a following as diverse as a mixed salad: a rotund mother and son whose affection for hamburgers, fries, and ice-cream is self-evident, a gay pimp cum door-knob collector, an attractive call-girl from the Temple of Dance Arts, and other flotsam and jetsam of the human condition. The antics of this troupe enliven the film as they head to Madame Wang's punk show, where Lutz shows off an eccentricity of his own. Finally, Lutz has to return to his ship before his "spying" episode is discovered. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, Rovi

Incest, necrophilia, and Joe Dallesandro? It must be Andy Warhol. Warhol did indeed co-produce this 1973 schlock spectacular -- originally presented in 3D -- that was directed by Factory fave Paul Morrissey. Starring Udo Kier in the role of "Ze Baron," Flesh for Frankenstein is a horror story for a new 'n' lewd generation. This time around, the mad scientist has created the nymphomaniacally-inclined Adam and Eve, whose mission it is to spawn a new race. Along for the ride --somewhat literally -- is a lusty stable boy (Dallesandro) who main duty it is to entertain the Baron's equally lusty wife/sister. Sex, gore, unconvincing bat attacks, and the highest camp this side of the Appalachian Trail combine for a dizzyingly outrageous midnight movie. Flesh for Frankenstein got a second chance at life when it was screened at the 2002 Philadelphia Gay and Lesbian International Film Festival. ~ Rebecca Flint Marx, Rovi

Heat is one of the more mainstream films produced by Andy Warhol's "Factory" and directed by Paul Morrissey. It is something of a send-up of Sunset Boulevard, with male beauty Joe Dallesandro in the William Holden part. In the film, Dallessandro seeks to advance his career by bedding anyone who is able to help him, from corpulent lady motel owners, to the gay boyfriend of a movie star's ex-husband. His career moves land him in bed with a fading but still-influential movie star (Sylvia Miles), and they enjoy a brief relationship. This ends, however, when Dallessandro decides that he wants to handle his career on his own. ~ Clarke Fountain, Rovi

Andy Warhol produced this mordant satire of the women's movement, directed by Paul Morrissey and staring a trio of female impersonators. Candy (Candy Darling) is an aloof heiress caught in an unhappy relationship with her brother. Jackie (Jackie Curtis) is a virginal intellectual who believes that women are oppressed in contemporary American society. And Holly (Holly Woodlawn) is a nymphomaniac who has come to loathe men, despite her attraction to them. Together, they join a militant feminist group, P.I.G. (Politically Involved Girls), but their newfound liberation doesn't make them any happier; Jackie gets mixed up with a male hustler and winds up as an unwed mother, Holly becomes a homeless alcoholic, and Candy tries to make a go of show business via the casting couch. Several other Warhol/Morrissey "superstars" appear in supporting roles, including Jane Forth, Geri Miller, and Maurice Braddell. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

This pornographic film is of historical interest as it marks the first film produced in Holland with full frontal nudity for both sexes. While it has its share of graphically depicted sexual scenes, it also has a story. Released from prison for sex offences, a young man moves into an apartment house with very thin walls, and the sounds he hears make him believe his neighbors are having sex all the time. He has a married neighbor, a professor. The professor arranges things so that his wife can meet and seduce the sex offender, possibly so that the humiliating revenge of impotence can be visited upon him. ~ Clarke Fountain, Rovi