''Dusty and Sweets McGee'' is a 1971 American

drama film In film and television, drama is a category or genre of narrative fiction (or semi-fiction) intended to be more serious than humorous in tone. Drama of this kind is usually qualified with additional terms that specify its particular super-g ...

written and directed by

Floyd Mutrux Floyd Mutrux (born June 21, 1941) is an American stage director, stage and film director, writer, producer, and screenwriter. Career He began his work in Hollywood as an uncredited writer for ''Two-Lane Blacktop'' (1971). His career continue ...

. The film stars Clifton Tip Fredell, Kit Ryder, Billy Gray, Bob Graham, Nancy Wheeler and Russ Knight. The film was released by

Warner Bros. Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. (commonly known as Warner Bros. or abbreviated as WB) is an American film and entertainment studio headquartered at the Warner Bros. Studios complex in Burbank, California, and a subsidiary of Warner Bros. Di ...

on July 14, 1971.

Production

In the alternative Hollywood of the 1970s, director Floyd Mutrux got the green light to produce a film about young drug addicts. Eager to tap into the youth market, and without a clue of how to do it, studio heads signed off on the film despite it having no viable script. It was instead based on some interviews with actual drug addicts.

Plot

''Dusty and Sweets McGee'' follows the two young addicts of the title as they idly spend their days in early 1970s Los Angeles. The camera rolls as the addicts roam the streets of LA from downtown to the beach. Car radios play the hits of the day as they aimlessly go about their drug-addicted lives. Eating hot dogs at

Pink's Pink's Hot Dogs is a landmark hot dog restaurant in the Fairfax District of the city of Los Angeles. It is on North La Brea Avenue, across the street from the Hollywood district on the east. History Pink's was founded by Paul and Betty Pin ...

, committing petty crime, scoring drugs and cruising the sunset strip are lovingly documented by Mutrux. There is no plot, but what evolves is a portrait of lost, young souls adrift in a failed

consumer society Consumerism is a social and economic order that encourages the acquisition of goods and services in ever-increasing amounts. With the Industrial Revolution, but particularly in the 20th century, mass production led to overproduction—the supp ...

. Affluent America is all around them, shiny and sun-drenched like a beautiful California orange, but there is something rotten at the core of this fruit.

Vietnam Vietnam or Viet Nam ( vi, Việt Nam, ), officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam,., group="n" is a country in Southeast Asia, at the eastern edge of mainland Southeast Asia, with an area of and population of 96 million, making i ...

rages on, the Watts riots were still smoldering in people's minds to the South as the big, shiny convertibles rolled majestically down the endless freeways. Many neo-realist films, including this one, indict society for failing to provide for its citizens economically; ''Dusty and Sweets McGee'' seems to point a finger at spiritual deficit.

Cast

*Clifton Tip Fredell as Tip *Kit Ryder as Male Hustler * Billy Gray as City Life *Bob Graham as Little Boy *Nancy Wheeler as Nancy *Russ Knight as Weird Beard *

William A. Fraker William Ashman Fraker, American Society of Cinematographers, A.S.C., B.S.C. (September 29, 1923 – May 31, 2010) was an American cinematographer, film director and film producer, producer. He was nominated five times for the Academy Award for B ...

as The Cellist

Reception

Experimental filmmaker

Thom Andersen Thom Andersen (born 1943 in Chicago) is an American filmmaker, film critic, and teacher best known for his works of experimental film, including his 1975 film ''Eadweard Muybridge, Zoopraxographer'' and the 2003 essay film ''Los Angeles Plays Itse ...

praised the film for its "lyricism, sense of wonder and humor".

Controversy

In 1998, film critic

Leonard Maltin Leonard Michael Maltin (born December 18, 1950) is an American film critic and film historian, as well as an author of several mainstream books on cinema, focusing on nostalgic, celebratory narratives. He is perhaps best known for his book of fil ...

settled a libel suit brought by cast member Billy Gray, whom Maltin had identified in his review of the film as a real-life drug addict and dealer. The statement had appeared in print for nearly 25 years in Maltin's annual movie guide before Maltin publicly apologized for the error.

References

External links

* {{IMDb title, 0067029, Dusty and Sweets McGee
DVD Savant ReviewExcerpt
1971 films 1970s English-language films Warner Bros. films American drama films 1971 drama films Films produced by Michael Laughlin Films directed by Floyd Mutrux Films produced by Floyd Mutrux Films with screenplays by Floyd Mutrux 1970s American films