In this installment of the Joe-Pourri Page we’re going to take a detailed look at the 5 hours and 16 minutes of extras included on the beautiful and MUST-HAVE Collector’s Edition of Paul Morrissey’s La Trilogie issued on DVD in France by Carlotta Films and Allerton Films. It’s a 4-pack DVD set that includes Flesh (1968), Trash (1970), and Heat (1972), as well as an additional disk of extras to compliment the supplements already included with each film.

Note: The DVD set is Region 2 PAL format, so if you live outside of Europe and Japan, you will need a DVD player able to play REGION 2 or ALL REGIONS. If your TV system is NTSC (e.g., United States), you will also need a player with a built-in or external PAL converter.

SAMPLE CLIP

Introduction to the Set:
This is a Flesh-Trash-Heat lover’s dream come nearly true. Why nearly? Because it would have benefited tremendously from the participation of the films’ star. This is clearly Paul Morrissey’s show, however, and this handsomely produced collection is a most welcome and essential addition to your DVD library. In fact, as it’s a numbered edition release, I strongly encourage you to buy it now even if you currently haven’t the technology to play it. The DVDs come in a liberally illustrated fold-out inner case depicting an array of black-and-white images of Joe Dallesandro, Paul Morrissey, Trilogy poster art, premiere stills, and tour photographs. There’s no printed program guide or “liner notes.” All the features and extras save one, the “Fashion Factory” on Disk 4, are English-language with the easy option of turning off the French subtitles.

Special thanks to the Extras segments’ director Amaury Voslion, producer Vincent Paul Boncour, editor Jean-Luc Thomas, Pierre Kalfon, Allerton Films, and Paul Morrissey for making this set a reality.

Running times provided are approximate.

Disk 1 – Flesh
Cut Scene – 11:40
The longest of any of the rediscovered footage cut from The Trilogy, this scene between Joe and Geraldine Smith, as his wife, was to take place before Joe hits the streets at the beginning of the film. It opens with Geri cutting Joe’s hair. He’s shirtless. He tells her he wants a steak for supper and for her to iron him a clean shirt. He’s got all sorts of things he wants her to do. “I’ll make a list for ya.” He talks about wanting a new job, something “easy money,” where “I don’t have to work hard.” Geri ignores him. When she does speak, it’s to tell a story about being felt up by a dirty old man. She and Joe then have a weird and somehow funny exchange about rape. Joe says he saw an ad in the paper about making $100 as a nude model. Geri gets excited and orders him to hop up on a marble counter and pose for her while she takes pictures. She has him out of his clothes in no time, having all sorts of fun arranging him. Joe smiles a lot. After the session, Joe talks about her awful friends. When she rails back about his, he answers, “I don’t have any friends.” The scene ends after an exchange in which Joe asks her where the baby is and why she doesn’t watch it.

Though beautifully played by both actors and with lots of good lines and thematic ties to Joe’s flesh in the rest of the film, the discovery of this material is challenging. We’ve known Joe and Geri and their relationship for over three decades, so there’s an uncomfortable, even while absolutely fascinating, intrusion going on here. The scene definitely alters our perception of Joe’s character in the original film, even something as trivial as how often he smiles. Still, what an absolute joy to see this material, to see more of Joe talking to and relating to Geraldine, working pretty much all by himself the whole first half of the scene to keep it alive and interesting. A treasure unto itself.

The inclusion of this scene would bring the running time closer to the original 105 minutes listed for Flesh in many 1968 sources, though Paul Morrissey told me that the running times reported back then were simply guesses on his part.

Cut Scene with Remarks by Paul Morrissey – 9:45
Morrissey talks about finding the lost scene described above and liking it a great deal. He had completely forgotten about it. “I could even imagine putting it back in the movie.” He rationalizes that it was probably cut to get Joe out on the streets sooner, but appreciates its depiction of “family life” and its underscoring his theme of the degradation and trivialization of flesh.

Clip Joe Dallesandro – 2:32
Montage of film clips and stills of Joe, including rare extra footage from Trash, scored by a song played over the images. (SEE THIS CLIP ONLINE COURTESY OF COMMEAUCINEMA.COM.)

All Aboard the Dreamland Choo-Choo (1965) – 13:10
A Paul Morrissey color silent film depicting a dope-smoking young man capping his futile escape with willful self-mutilation.

Flesh in 1968 – 1:33
News headlines, pictures, and movie poster montage placing Flesh in its cultural context.

Disk 2 – Trash
Cut Scenes – 9:32
In the first of the cut sequences presented here, Joe is seen pacing the streets with his dog Caesar on a leash. A dead deer hangs upside down outside the butcher shop where no dogs are allowed. Joe is restless, jumpy, and mean to his dog. Later he has a brief conversation with a woman on the street, asking her if she knows the whereabouts of a girl named Terry, who ran out on him. Joe’s real-life brother Bob comes along and sits down next to him on the curb. They argue about the dog in a funny exchange, as Bob asks Joe if he had the mutt painted white. Joe says he stole the dog and plans to sell it for $10. The boys also argue over money. Joe wants Bob to help him out.

Next, we have an alternate take of Andrea Feldman’s silhouetted meeting with Joe on the street. “I need some acid.” Joe asks her where she lives but she says they can’t go there, so he agrees she can come to his place. This exchange wasn’t used, no doubt, because in the final film they do in fact go to Andrea’s apartment.

Another cut scene has Bob Dallesandro and one more young actor (identified by Morrissey elsewhere as going on to become a known director, but he fails to provide a name) waking Joe up from a sleep on the streets. Joe and the other actor talk about his hoping to sell the dog for $10. He fears, however, that his appearance complicates the plan. “You see, if I was cleaned up, people wouldn’t know the dog was stolen,” he says, “and I could sell him.” Ends with Joe and the other actor (sans Bob) sitting on a park bench together.

Two Scene Alternates – 8:17
The first of these scenes is actually additional footage from an existing scene, not an alternate take. It’s more dialogue between Joe and Johnny as they wait for Holly to come back with the drugs. Joe asks Johnny about his family and they talk about getting high. Joe says he’s “always high. I’m never straight,” and that he only takes one thing: “good dope.”

The second scene is an alternate take of the finale interview between Michael Sklar’s Welfare investigator and Joe and Holly. Holly talks about once being a drugstore salesperson, selling “cosmetics,” while Joe concedes his last job was a 2-day stint as a pizza trainee when he was fifteen. Joe reinforces his desire to clean up his act, but is humorously forthcoming about his career as a burglar and a cattle rustler. Cattle rustling? “That’s when junkies steal meat from supermarkets and sell it to women in beauty parlors,” Joe explains matter-of-factly. When Sklar is fascinated by this because he admittedly doesn’t think about stealing, Holly answers, “I think about it all the time.”

Two Scene Alternates with Paul Morrissey Remarks – 9:51
Morrissey talks while watching footage on an editing screen, then discusses the alternate scenes over the clips. He says of the 1960s: “People were irresponsible and just doing silly things.” He also explains how he chooses performers, insisting on personalities over acting school grads.

Factory Icons – 1:54
An audio and visual montage of Factory footage and a wide assortment of players played beneath a mix of sound bites, including a child’s voice saying, “This is not Andy Warhol” followed by Andy’s voice expressing, “Uh, no,” and, alternately, the child’s voice intoning, “This is Andy Warhol” followed by an “Uh, yeah” from Andy.

Like Sleep (1964) – 11:40
A Paul Morrissey silent black-and-white film depicting an Hispanic man and a black woman shooting up and nodding off. Portrays the ugly, pointless, and depressing reality of drug use years before Trash.

Trash in 1970 – 1:33
News headlines, pictures, and movie poster montage placing Trash in its cultural context.

Disk 3 – Heat
Three Alternate Scenes – 15:16
First, an interesting variation on Sylvia Miles’ visit to daughter Andrea Feldman at the motel from early in the film. There are some very good exchanges here…and the word “lesbian” is employed no fewer than 24 times. Touches on issues of money, personal responsibility, and mental illness. A bizarre story related by Andrea about a shock therapy experience in a mental hospital puts the weird, truncated, seemingly out-of-nowhere reference to stolen baby pictures and another mother (other than Sylvia’s character) in the released version of the film into context. There are other unusual tales from Andrea, too, including a helicopter landing followed by “someone shot me in the head with a BB gun.” In addition, there’s a brief exchange with Andrea’s girlfriend Bonnie, as Sylvia discovers the baby is on a strict vegetarian diet. We also learn that the father of the child was an unknown white band member who was on tour.

A brief scene with Joe on the telephone trying to make his industry connections appears to be a cut scene and not an alternate of what we see in the final film.

Lastly, we get an alternate take of Pat Ast giving Joe a back rub on her bed, though still no explanation as to why Joe is wearing a jockstrap for the scene. There’s less interesting dialogue here at the outset, and plenty of bed squeaking picked up on the soundtrack, but the scene improves marvelously when Joe talks about how warm the pool was for his swim and Ast says “a lot of people have been pissing in it.” Very funny stuff. Even Joe seems slightly, almost imperceptibly, taken aback by the direction of the conversation. When Andrea comes into the scene, as she does in the final film, this time it’s because she claims one of Ast’s deck chairs broke and she hurt herself. When Andrea begins her sob routine, Ast asks sharply: “What’s wrong with you?”

Andrea (through her sobs): Somebody told me to go to hell out there. The hell I will. I’m not going to hell. I’m gonna eat a red apple. You think that I’m evil? Oh, fiddlesticks. I’m not evil.

Ast (off-camera): You’re crazy.

The only way to properly gauge how funny this exchange sounds is to hear these two ladies deliver those lines in their unique and irreplaceable vocal styles.

Three Alternate Scenes with Remarks by Paul Morrissey – 12:08
Morrissey discusses the importance of humorous dialogue and the advantages of directors who are also writers. He also talks about Joe’s wonderful facial expressiveness. Heat is, according to its director, about “the American family gone bananas.” He sums up Heat’s story as an anti-LA diatribe, with Eric Emerson’s deaf, dumb and masturbating-by-the-pool geek his metaphor for degraded Hollywood. Talks about the loss of family life. Concludes by admitting that he has great sympathy for his characters, but it’s the world they live in that’s such a “sorry place,” a theme of the Trilogy.

Clip Paul Morrissey – 2:55
Photos, clips, and footage of the director are shown scored by Geri Miller’s “Momma, Look at Me Now” from Trash. Contains a quick shot of Joe in a T-shirt and bathing trunks as Morrissey and others set up the camera on the beach during production of San Diego Surf. This black-and-white behind-the-scenes footage is from Aaron Sloan’s short documentary film Andy Makes A Movie.

The Origin of Captain America (1964) – 9:32
A Paul Morrissey color silent film showing a young man reading a comic book recounting how a skinny volunteer was turned into a bulky super-man, “a champion of freedom,” by a U.S. military experiment. Intercutting the comic book panels liberally throughout, Morrissey deftly examines codified masculine imagery and the cultural indoctrination of heroism and patriotism, the creation of the first of an “army of fighting men such as the world has never known,” in the very year that the United States began its bombing campaign against North Vietnam.

Heat in 1972 – 1:40
News headlines, pictures, and movie poster montage placing Heat in its cultural context.

Disk 4 – la trilogie extras
There are 16 playable areas on this disk of extras. All the “talking” segments include stills and/or film clips.

Trash Scene in Italian (Easter Egg) – 4:25
The menu will display 16 squares. The first one, marked “68NY72 Underground,” contains an “Easter egg” that is only playable after you have played one of the other selections. So, after having experienced a different extra, you may return here and push play (or enter), and then click on the Trash poster that appears on the lamppost. You will then watch a scene between Joe and Holly in their apartment that is dubbed into Italian. The dubbing was supervised and directed by none other than Pier Paolo Pasolini, who once considered remaking Trash. Joe told me he thought Pasolini’s choice of the kid to do his voice was perfect casting.

Paul Morrissey: The Warhol Years – 15:37
Morrissey talks about Warhol, underground and experimental films, My Hustler, Jonas Mekas, The Chelsea Girls, Lonesome Cowboys, and San Diego Surf, the last of which is augmented by more black-and-white production footage from Aaron Sloan’s documentary Andy Makes A Movie.

About Flesh – 19:29
Morrissey talks about Flesh: Midnight Cowboy, Mauro Bolognini’s La Giornata Balorda, discovering Joe (including fleeting Loves of Ondine snippet), choosing actors, jump cuts and editing, distribution, and censorship. We also see unused footage from the film being screened on a Steenbeck editor, find out that the opening shot was an homage to Sleep, and learn that the rug beneath naked Joe and the baby was a tax write-off for Andy Warhol.

About Trash – 20:03
Morrissey talks about Trash: opening scene shot last, “sex has no meaning whatsoever,” shooting schedule, Holly Woodlawn, directing actors by not directing, needle in the arm, Jane Forth, Patti D’Arbanville, working with Jane, editing, and success of Trash. Also see unused footage from the film on a Steenbeck editor. Ends with montage of stills featuring Joe and company.

About Heat – 14:27
Morrissey talks about Heat: inspired by Der Blau Engel (The Blue Angel), shooting schedule, casting, Rita Hayworth considered for lead, Sylvia Miles, George Cukor takes Morrissey to meet Ms. Hayworth, scoring and John Cale, designing an album cover, how the Trilogy came to be identified as such, evolving thematic connections, sex, drugs and rock and roll, “emptiness of modern life.”

The Godfather of Underground Cinema – 11:33
Jonas Mekas discusses the history of the underground cinema, Film Culture magazine, becoming the Village Voice’s first film critic, origin of “underground” term, meeting Paul Morrissey, Morrissey and Warhol, the Trilogy, Morrissey’s uniqueness as filmmaker.

One Minute Tour – 12:31
Morrissey visits Jonas Mekas and takes a tour of Anthology Film Archives.

Filmographies
Page through a list of filmographies for Paul Morrissey, Joe Dallesandro (incomplete and occasionally incorrect), and Jonas Mekas.

About Face (1964) – 7:04
A Paul Morrissey silent color film shows a wandering Karen Holzer.

Scenes From the Life of Andy Warhol (1990) – 35:00
Jonas Mekas’ film diary of “Friendships and Intersections,” from the Velvet Underground performing in 1966 to Andy in his studio in 1981. Lots of stops along the way, including three glimpses of Joe at Montauk.

Music Factory – 5:57
Morrissey talks about the creation of The Velvet Underground.

Andy Warhol’s Exploding Plastic Inevitable (1967) – 14:02
Ronald Nameth’s multidimensional evocation (and sole film document) of the EPI experience.
Also includes an Interview with the Filmmaker – 9:34

Fashion Factory – 15:45
French language only, with a few English-speaking interviewees, this segment examines Warhol and his Superstars and their connection to and influence on a fashion of “decadent glamour.” Includes shots of Joe in Flesh and Trash, as well as a visual paralleling of Avedon’s triptych of the Warhol Superstars with 1990’s CK Klein ads (Joe and Kate Moss, etc.). Talking heads include Marc Jacobs (of Louis Vuitton), Anna Sui, Jean Touitou (of APC), and Olivier Soillard.

Reviews
Page through French-language film reviews of La Trilogie.

Internet Links
Page through lists of selected French and English-language website addresses for Andy Warhol, Warhol Stars, Paul Morrissey, Joe Dallesandro, The Trilogy, Anthology Film Archives, The Velvet Underground, Jonas Mekas, and Fashion. Followed by a selected list of books on Warhol, The Velvet Underground, and Morrissey.

The End – 1:31
Leads with a nice photomontage of Joe into credits for all extras.