Dusty and Sweets McGee (1971)

Such a frustrating disappointment

In truth, there is barely enough story here to make a film.

This is one of the best movies I’ve seen in a very long time. You have to go and see this on the big screen.

The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.

The bleak and mundane plights of several heroin addicts, a smooth drug dealer (superbly played with exceptional naturalism by Billy Gray), and a male street hustler who are all struggling to get by in Los Angeles. Writer/director Floyd Mutrux brings a nonjudgmental perspective to the grimly fascinating subject matter; he merely presents these individuals as they are and manages to not only effectively capture the sad humanity of their situation, but also accurately nails a sense of deluded romanticism in a few spot-on scenes with a bickering junkie couple. The brilliant and inspired use of mostly real addicts and street people as themselves gives this picture a special bracing authenticity: Unapologetic male hustler Kit Ryder and seasoned ex-con junkie Clifton Tip Fredell in particular both make startling impressions. Better still, Mutrux thankfully avoids lurid sensationalism and heavy-handed moralizing of any kind; instead he just shows these folks going about their everyday business and leaves it at that. The bouncy soundtrack of choice golden oldies provides a striking ironic contrast to the wrenching despair and raw desperation of the lives presented herein. Gorgeously shot by ace cinematographer William A. Fraker, done in a rambling episodic fashion, and reaching a heartbreaking conclusion in which things don't work out well for several people, it's an unsung gem of early 70's low-budget indie cinema.

Dusty and Sweets McGee is a plotless, episodic look at the days and nights of Los Angeles junkies circa 1971. This mournful, elegiac film is a truly unique entry in its genre, its cast of real life hopheads lending it a bittersweet tinge offset by a marvelous soundtrack of jaunty oldies. Blue Moon, Duke of Earl, The Loco-Motion...these were the songs these young people grew up listening to in happier, simpler times, and now they're the soundtrack of their rapidly disintegrating lives. There's even a perfectly selected Van Morrison tune, Into the Mystic, and a magnificent composition by the unfairly neglected Jake Holmes. The first and best film of director Floyd Mutrux's on again off again Hollywood career, Dusty and Sweets McGee is an amazing time capsule that all serious film fans should try to see.