Little Joe

Lou Reed sang about him in his song Walk On The Wild Side, and Andy Warhol remarked that "Joe Dallesandro was the epitome of male sexuality." In the late '60's and early '70's, Dallesandro was the staple of a number of trashy, avant-garde soft core porn films produced by Warhol in his now legendary Factory (Trash, Heat, Flesh, etc). But he wants to be remembered more for his body of work than just his body, and this fascinating documentary from director Nicole Haeusser (making her feature debut) allows him an opportunity to tell his story. Dallesandro talks candidly about his career and reveals himself to be quite charismatic and articulate, and aware of his place in 20th century pop cultural history. He talks about his personal life, his early years as a teenage delinquent, and the suicide of his younger brother. He also drops a few wonderful anecdotes about working with Warhol and regular director Paul Morrissey in the heyday of the Factory. Dallesandro also talks about his post-Warhol career, when he was based in Europe and made a number of films that were, to his disappointment, never released in America. He had hoped that those films may have opened up a new career for him in much the same way as the spaghetti western trilogy did for Clint Eastwood. Dallesandro eventually returned to the States and gained small character roles in a range of films, including John Waters' Cry-baby and Steven Soderbergh's The Limey. A must for film buffs, Little Joe contains lots of clips from Dallesandro's films, as well as some rare archival footage and photographs.