An alcoholic longshoreman, deep in debt to the mob, is forced into an increasingly debauched nightmare as he tries to avoid the thugs out to get him. Along the way, he meets local oddballs, violent criminals, and lusty women. With a mysterious computer controlling everyone’s actions this grimy artistic film with almost science fiction-esque fear of future mind control was made well before it’s time.
Sweet Trash is a 1970 American crime drama directed by John Hayes about an alcoholic longshoreman in debt to the mob who navigates a debauched nightmare filled with oddballs, criminals, and manipulative control.
Synopsis
A nasty, homophobic cop named Bob Walsh, who rescues a foxy young girl named Angel from a massage parlor just before a raid. He lets her stay in his crummy apartment, and before too long they're having sex in the shower. But Angel is actually only 17, and it's all a set-up. Angel's pimp (who is first seen wearing clown makeup and has a hilltop mansion full of half-naked maids) is working for a rich, powerful man named Kelljan, who was caught in a vice raid by Bob and his partner (both in drag). He has Angel lure Bob to a hippie commune, where a girl rides naked on horseback and a guy with an eyepatch makes out with two women. As soon as Bob and Angel join the fun, the rest of the hipsters snap incriminating photos and Bob is in big trouble. Kelljan blackmails him, but the worst part for Bob is that he feels betrayed by Angel, whom he thought really loved him. He gets drunk and rapes her on an open window-ledge in retaliation, then sets about turning the tables on the pimp, even though he accidentally kills Angel in the process. She absolves him of any wrongdoing before she dies, telling him that she really loved him after all.
Sweet Trash follows an alcoholic longshoreman in debt to the mob as he faces violent criminals, lusty women, and a mysterious computer controlling everyone’s actions in a grimy, debauched landscape.