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Review

One imagines that Matthew Swan, the writer of Mr. Smith Gets a Hustler, was thinking that his film would harken back to Frank Capra's Mr. Smith Goes to Washington, but he doesn't succeed on quite that level. This somewhat aimless, but highly atmospheric, film is set largely in a male hustler bar somewhere in the meat-packing district of Manhattan. At this strangely deserted bar, a nasty pimp fields calls from hotel salesmen and sends his boys out on the road. His favorite boy is Bobby Blue (Feldman) who works to support his drunken deluded mother. Enter a john known as "Mr. Smith" who takes an immediate and unusual interest in Bobby.

This suitably seedy trip to the NYC underworld of gay hustlers is perfect fodder for lovers of the films Johns and Speedway Junky. There's male flesh, cute guys, older johns and a wholly appropriate air of gloom.

Scott Cranin