55 years ago Andy Warhol and Paul Morrissey‘s Lonesome Cowboys goofed on the idea of Manhattan gay guys pretending be buckskin buckaroos. It was a silly, sloppy mess but amusing here and there. Or so I thought when I caught it in Los Angeles way back when.

To go by SXSW reviews Luke Gilford’s
National Anthem is a sincere love story about Charlie Plummer‘s Dylan, a straight young guy, falling in love with a trans rodeo performer named Sky, played by Eve Lindley.

I haven’t seen the newbie, and I’m not sure that I need to.

One of Warhol’s “lost” ’60s films, Lonesome Cowboys was a 100% improvised gay spoof of classic western machismo. (Hitching posts used as ballet barres, etc.) Paul Morrissey directed, wrote, shot most of it, edited. Warhol was indisposed in post-production, having been shot by Valerie Solanas on 6.3.68.

Lonesome Cowboys is a whimsical cluster of splotchy bits and ends. No story, digressive, sophomoric, non-rhythmic cutting, cruddy sound. Warhol factory players Viva, Taylor Mead, Louis Waldon, Tom Hompertz, Eric Emerson and Joe Dallesandro costarred. Shot in January 1968 in Old Tucson and the Rancho Linda Vista Dude Ranch in Oracle, Arizona on a budget of $3,000.

The film opened at the Andy Warhol Garrick on Bleecker and the 55th Street Playhouse on 5.5.69.