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Paul Morrissey's second installment of his groundbreaking lowlife trilogy--a nod to the "sex, drugs, and rock-and-roll" credo--stars Joe Dallesandro as Joe, a ragged heroin addict living in a filthy tenement on the Lower East Side of Manhattan with his girlfriend, Holly (Holly Woodlawn). Rendered impotent by his drug use, but driven by his addiction, Joe futilely tries to earn drug money as a hustler. While he scours the streets looking for junk, Holly searches the dumpsters, alleys, and garbage piles of the city looking for trashy treasures. Joe's quest precipitates a series of misadventures, alternately harrowing and humorous, including a single-shot intravenous drug session. There are also several sexual encounters featuring an eclectic cast of characters, including a vivacious Go-Go Dancer (Geri Miller), an LSD-crazed princess (Andrea Feldman), a bored housewife (Jane Forth) and her architect husband (Bruce Pecheur), and Holly's extremely pregnant sister (Diane Podlewski). Unfortunately, none of these episodes are able to reinvigorate Joe's dormant sex drive, and when their searches ultimately prove fruitless, Holly and Joe reconvene and scheme to improve their lot by adopting a baby in order to qualify for welfare. However, despite their dreams, the couple seems doomed to remain at the margins of society, burdened by junk and surrounded by trash. Sandwiched between 1968's FLESH and 1972's HEAT, TRASH is as frank a portrayal of junky life as the screen has ever seen. In addition to writing and directing the picture, Morrissey was also the cinematographer and editor.
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