As Bohemian Jürgen Anger flies in to LA, to conduct anthropological research for his memoirs, rent-boy Monti Ward steals some money and a car from one of his clients, only to run over fellow rent-boy Eigil Vesti, slicing off his foot. Monti commits hit-and-run, wiping the blood off the car with his T-shirt. Jürgen, who drives past at that moment, falls in love with Monty at first sight, keeping the used and thrown-away T-shirt, and, for the next two months, tries to track down the object of his desire. But Monti thinks Jürgen is trying to arrest him for the accident.

In between the action, the sexual escapades of the two rent-boys, their clients and actors in porn films are portrayed, until Monti and Jürgen seem to be coming closer at last...

This film needs to be seen several times. On first viewing, audiences will have their money's worth in the variety of sexual fetishes, which word-of-mouth would lead one to expect. Even, or particularly, heteros are especially convinced of this. Cowboy lover Stew Blake rides, literally, his stallion, tattooed leather queen Seymour Kasabian, by day a funeral director, tapes up a cute skinhead, and an amputation fetishist 'limbs' himself with Eigil's severed foot. Hustler White seamlessly joins the ranks of late sixties' underground films, which at the time caused a stir.

On subsequent viewing, when the effect of this kaleidoscope of sexual fantasy has worn off a little, audiences will have more time to admire the structure of the film. The apparent mish-mash of episodes makes sense, as the characters cross each other's paths knowingly or otherwise. Unlike Short Cuts or Pulp Fiction, Hustler White has no hard and fast rules. One character's story does not necessarily have to affect those of other characters, and if episodes run parallel, they are cut together, which also builds up tension. But not all characters are treated the same; Jürgen and Monti are the main characters, Eigil and Piglet are next in line.
With Hustler White the directors pay tribute to a whole range of films. While Bruce LaBruce's darling Andy Warhol crops up stylistically, direct allusions to individual works of other directors can sometimes come along two at a time, as in a beach scene when Whatever Happened to Baby Jane? is paired up with Death in Venice.
More than anything else, Hustler White is a comedy, sometimes macabre, often romantic. When, at the end, a somewhat mixed couple do find themselves, turning cartwheels into the sunset in the sea, the camp heart of any audience member open to this kind of thing leaps for joy. The romance between Eigil and Piglet has very melodramatic features.
At this point we should mention the cast, filled with many North American greats. Along with Tony Ward, a model on Madonna videos, and Bruce LaBruce in leading roles, there are many porno stars (e.g. Kevin Kramer and Alex Austin as themselves), queens famous from coast to coast (Vaginal Davis) and performance artists (Ron Athey) in amongst real LA rent-boys. Behind the character of Cowboy Stew Blake, yodelling Jesus Is My Friend, is a real Christian, gay, Country & Western singer, Canadian-born Glen Meadmore, who also contributed three songs to the soundtrack.
 

The treatment of our Afro-American friends is somewhat politically incorrect. For one thing only one scene is granted them (Hustler WHITE, OK), and what a scene! In an "Exercise in Black Power" a white bottom is given a thorough going-over by a dubious-looking black organisation, i.e., the men stand in a line which is so long, that the first ones have enough time to regain their energies before it's their turn again. There are clichés galore, very much overdone. The plastic wrapping from a batch of toilet paper is enough to make a condom for one of the tops, and politically sensitive subjects, like the O J Simpson case or the Million Men March are mocked, without anything similar being done to Anglo-Americans. Unless you take the whole film to be a farce on America's white trash, or the casting of Kevin Kramer, one of American porn's best-known bottoms, as satirical. This scene is really only suited to those who have a thick skin, and can overlook it, or laugh it off.
 

Deutsche Version

Prostitution in Hollywood, Part I: Johns
Prostitution in Hollywood, Part II: Quiet Days in Hollywood
Prostitution in Hollywood, Part III: Star Maps
Prostitution in Hollywood, Part IV: Skin & Bone

Filmdata:

Official link: None or not known.