Heat (1972 film)

1972 film by Paul Morrissey, produced by Andy Warhol

This article is about the 1972 film. For the 1995 crime drama, see Heat (1995 film).

Heat

Theatrical release poster

Directed by| Paul Morrissey
Written by| Paul Morrissey
Produced by| Andy Warhol
Starring| Joe Dallessandro
Sylvia Miles
Andrea Feldman
Cinematography| Paul Morrissey
Edited by| Jed Johnson[1]
Lana Jokel[1]
Music by| John Cale
Distributed by| Levitt-Pickman

Release dates

* May 1972 (1972-05) (Cannes Film Festiva)
* October 6, 1972 (1972-10-06) (New York)

Running time

| 102 minutes
Country| United States
Language| English
Budget| $15,000[2]–$100,000[3]
Box office| $2,000,000[2]

Heat is a 1972 American comedy drama film written and directed by Paul Morrissey, produced by Andy Warhol, and scored by John Cale. The film stars Warhol superstars Joe Dallesandro, Sylvia Miles and Andrea Feldman. It was conceived by Warhol as a parody of the 1950 film Sunset Boulevard. It is the final installment of the "Paul Morrissey Trilogy" produced by Warhol, following Flesh (1968) and Trash (1970).

## Plot

[edit]

Joey Davis is an unemployed former child star who supports himself as a hustler in Los Angeles. Joey uses sex to get his landlady to reduce his rent, then seduces Sally Todd, a former Hollywood starlet.

Sally tries to help Joey revive his career but her status as a mediocre ex-actress proves to be quite useless. Sally's psychotic daughter, Jessica, further complicates the relationship between Sally and the cynical, emotionally numb Joey.

## Cast

[edit]

* Joe Dallesandro as Joey Davis
* Sylvia Miles as Sally Todd
* Andrea Feldman as Jessica
* Pat Ast as Lydia, The Motel Owner
* Ray Vestal as Ray, The Producer
* Lester Persky as Sidney
* Eric Emerson as Eric
* Gary Kaznocha as Gary
* Harold Stevenson as Harold (credited as Harold Childe)
* John Hallowell as Gossip Columnist
* Pat Parlemon as Girl By The Pool
* Bonnie Walder as Bonnie

## Production

[edit]

Heat was based on an idea by writer John Hallowell.[4][5] The film was shot in Los Angeles in 1971. Without a written plot, it was produced for less than $100,000 in two weeks.[6][3]

## Release

[edit]

In May 1972, Heat was screened at the Cannes Film Festival.[7] In August 1972, the film was screened at the 33rd Venice International Film Festival. It was the first Andy Warhol production permitted to be shown in Italy.[8]

Heat was screened at the New York Film Festival on October 5, 1972, before opening the following day at New York's Festival Theatre and then expanding to the Waverly Theatre in Greenwich Village and the Rialto Theatre in Times Square on October 11.[9][10]

On October 16, 1972, there was a screening and reception for the film at the Directors Guild on Sunset Boulevard in Hollywood.[11] Celebrities like Joni Mitchell, Jack Nicholson, Ross Hunter, and George Cukor attended the viewing.[12]

Before opening at San Francisco's Music Hall venue in October 1972, the film was screened at the San Francisco International Film Festival.[13]

The film grossed $28,000 in its first week.[10]

## Reception

[edit]

The film was well received at Cannes Film Festival and the New York Film Festival screening was standing-room only and was received by a generally enthusiastic crowd however three people walked out, with one lady claiming "It's the most disgusting thing I have ever seen" and referring to the films of the era "Make them, make them, just don't show them to anybody."[9][7] At a panel discussion following the New York Film Festival screening, Otto Preminger called it "depressingly entertaining".[7]

After previously ignoring most Warhol films, the New York Daily News reviewed the film, with Kathleen Carroll awarding it three stars.[14] The advert for the film was censored in the Daily News with a t-shirt painted on Dallesandro and a bra strap on Miles.[14]

Andrea Feldman, who had a much larger role than in previous Warhol films, committed suicide shortly before the film was released.[15] Her performance garnered positive reviews, with Judith Crist, writing in New York magazine, "The most striking performance, in large part non-performance, comes from the late Andrea Feldman, as the flat-voiced, freaked-out daughter, a mass of psychotic confusion, infantile and heart-breaking."[16]

In a review for the Los Angeles Times, Kevin Thomas described Heat as a "captivating but too drawnout parody of 'Sunset Boulevard' crossed with 'Where Love Has Gone.' He added, that the film "rings true at its core; it's around the edges that indulges in self-defeating spoofery and sexploitation."[5]

Peter Schjeldahl of The New York Times wrote that Heat is "by far the slickest and most coherent specimen of Warholian cinema to date; it is also, for me, the least interesting. If it lacks the harshness and distraction of previous Warhol Factory productions, it also lacks their sense of serendipity and thorny life. Without being boring, it's a bore."[17]

Jerry Stein of The Cincinnati Post described the film as "an unexpectedly cold, harsh comedy in its lack of compassion."[1]

## See also

[edit]

* List of American films of 1972
* List of cult films
* Andy Warhol filmography

## References

[edit]

1. ^ a b c Stein, Jerry (August 24, 1973). "Cinema: The Failures Gather in Hollywood". The Cincinnati Post. p. 16.
2. ^ a b Eichelbaum, Stanley (1974-06-07). "'Frankenstein' in 3-D--bigger than 'Trash'". The San Francisco Examiner. p. 28. Retrieved 2024-08-26.
3. ^ a b Eichelbaum, Stanley (October 24, 1972). "A Star is Born in Warhol Factory". San Francisco Examiner. p. 24.
4. ^ "Heat movie review & film summary (1972)". Roger Ebert. Retrieved 2024-11-04.
5. ^ a b Thomas, Kevin (October 20, 1972). "'Heat' Lean on Warhol Ambience". Los Angeles Times. pp. Part lV Page 17.
6. ^ Gardner, Paul (November 14, 1972). "Morrissey Gives the Director's View". The New York Times.
7. ^ a b c Verrill, Addison (October 11, 1972). "Morrisey's Ad-Libbed 'Heat' Whams N.Y. Fest; Could Have B.O. Wattage Too". Variety. p. 7.
8. ^ Quinn Curtiss, Thomas (September 4, 1974). "Venice Festival Honors Chaplin". The New York Times. Archived from the original on July 17, 2020. Retrieved November 4, 2024.
9. ^ a b "Don't Go Into Film Fest If You Can't Stand 'Heat'". Variety. October 11, 1972. p. 3.
10. ^ a b "'Heat'-ed Up At The B.O.". Variety. October 11, 1972. p. 7.
11. ^ Van Ness, Chris (October 20–29, 1972). "Warhol in Wonderland" (PDF). Los Angeles Free Press. 9 (42): 1, 9.
12. ^ Lee Browning, Norma (1972-10-19). "Hollywood Today". Chicago Tribune. pp. 14 - Section 1A. Retrieved 2025-04-10.
13. ^ "GREAT MOMENTS | San Francisco Film Festival". history.sffs.org. Retrieved 2024-11-04.
14. ^ a b "Daily News Decides To Recognise Warhol". Variety. October 11, 1972. p. 7.
15. ^ Killen, Andreas (2008-12-10). 1973 Nervous Breakdown: Watergate, Warhol, and the Birth of Post-Sixties America. Bloomsbury Publishing USA. p. 147\. ISBN 978-1-59691-999-0.
16. ^ Crist, Judith (October 9, 1972). "Some For The Cachet, Others For The Cash". New York Magazine. 5 (41).
17. ^ Schjeldahl, Peter (November 26, 1972). "What's So Hot About 'Heat'?". The New York Times.

## External links

[edit]

* Heat at IMDb

* v
* t
* e

Andy Warhol

Artworks|

* 129 Die in Jet! (1962)
* Campbell's Soup Cans (1962)
* Coca-Cola (3) (1962)
* Coca-Cola (4) (1962)
* Marilyn Diptych (1962)
* Men in Her Life (1962)
* 3 Coke Bottles (1962)
* Gold Marilyn Monroe (1962)
* Green Coca-Cola Bottles (1962)
* Eight Elvises (1963)
* Colored Mona Lisa (1963)
* Ethel Scull 36 Times (1963)
* Silver Car Crash (Double Disaster) (1963)
* Green Car Crash (1963)
* Triple Elvis (1963)
* Suicide (Purple Jumping Man) (1963)
* Thirteen Most Wanted Men (1964)
* Shot Marilyns (1964)
* Race Riot (1964)
* Exploding Plastic Inevitable (1966)
* Cow Wallpaper (1966)
* Big Electric Chair (1967)
* Marilyn Monroe portfolio (1967)
* Campbell's Soup I (1968)
* Campbell's Soup Cans II (1969)
* Vote McGovern (1972)
* Ladies and Gentlemen (1975)
* Athletes (1977)
* Shadows (1978–79)
* Ten Portraits of Jews of the Twentieth Century (1980)
* Crosses (1981)
* Jean-Michel Basquiat  (1982)
* Magazine and History (1983)
* Speed Skater (1983)
* Orange Prince (1984)
* Olympics (1984)
* Taxi, 45th/Broadway (1984–85)
* The Last Supper (1984–86)
* Zenith (1985)
* Portrait of Seymour H. Knox (1985)
* Reigning Queens (1985)
* Camouflage Self-Portrait (1986)
* Cars (1986)

Films|

* Sleep (1964)
* Kiss (1964)
* Eat (1964)
* Blow Job (1964)
* Batman Dracula (1964)
* Soap Opera (1964)
* Couch (1964)
* Taylor Mead's Ass (1964)
* Henry Geldzahler (1964)
* Harlot (1964)
* Screen Tests (1964–66)
* Empire (1965)
* Vinyl (1965)
* Horse (1965)
* Space (1965)
* Camp (1965)
* Poor Little Rich Girl (1965)
* Beauty No. 1 (1965)
* Beauty No. 2 (1965)
* More Milk, Yvette (1965)
* The Life of Juanita Castro (1965)
* My Hustler (1965)
* Kitchen (1966)
* Eating Too Fast (1966)
* The Velvet Underground and Nico: A Symphony of Sound (1966)
* Salvador Dalí (1966)
* Chelsea Girls (1966)
* Since (1966)
* The Andy Warhol Story (1966)
* I, a Man (1967)
* Bike Boy (1967)
* Four Stars**** (1967)
* Imitation of Christ (1967)
* Tub Girls (1967)
* The Nude Restaurant (1967)
* Lonesome Cowboys (1968)
* San Diego Surf (1968)
* Flesh (1968)
* Blue Movie (1969)
* Trash (1970)
* Women in Revolt (1971)
* Heat (1972)
* L'Amour (1972)
* Flesh for Frankenstein (1973)
* Blood for Dracula (1974)
* Bad (1977)

Books|

* 25 Cats Name Sam and One Blue Pussy (1954)
* a, A Novel (1968)
* Blue Movie (1970)
* The Philosophy of Andy Warhol (1975)
* Exposures (1979)
* POPism: The Warhol '60s (1980)
* The Andy Warhol Diaries (1989)

Media|

* Andy Warhol's Pork (1971)
* Interview
* You Are the One (1985)
* Andy Warhol's Fifteen Minutes (1985–87)
* "Misfit" (1986)

Museums|

* The Andy Warhol Museum (Pittsburgh)
* Andy Warhol Museum of Modern Art (Medzilaborce)

Depictions|

* "Andy Warhol" (1971)
* Dos Cabezas (1982)
* Andy Mouse (1986)
* Songs for Drella (1990)
* Basquiat (1996)
* I Shot Andy Warhol (1996)
* Factory Girl (2006)
* Andy Warhol: A Documentary Film (2006)
* Warhol (2020)
* The Andy Warhol Diaries (2022)

Family|

* Julia Warhola (mother)
* John Warhola (brother)
* James Warhola (nephew)
* Jed Johnson (partner)
* Archie (pet dog)

Related|

* The Factory
* Factory Additions
* The Druds
* The Velvet Underground
* Warhol Superstars
* New Andy Warhol Garrick Theatre
* 55th Street Playhouse
* Eothen
* Andy Warhol Art Authentication Board
* The Autobiography and Sex Life of Andy Warhol (1971)
* Absolut Warhola  (2001)
* Brillo Box (3 ¢ Off) (2016)
* Andy Warhol Bridge
* "15 minutes of fame"

* Category

* v
* t
* e

Films directed by Paul Morrissey

* The Velvet Underground and Nico: A Symphony of Sound (1966)
* Chelsea Girls (1966)
* Flesh (1968)
* Trash (1970)
* Women in Revolt (1971)
* L'Amour (1973)
* Heat (1973)
* Flesh for Frankenstein (1973)
* Blood for Dracula (1974)
* The Hound of the Baskervilles (1978)
* Madame Wang's (1981)
* Forty Deuce (1982)
* Mixed Blood (1984)
* Beethoven's Nephew (1985)
* Spike of Bensonhurst (1988)

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