For other uses, see In the Flesh (disambiguation)

In the Flesh (disambiguation)

- Music :* "In the Flesh?", the first track of the Pink Floyd album The Wall* "In the Flesh" , the twenty-first track of the Pink Floyd album The Wall* In the Flesh Tour, 1977 tour by Pink Floyd...

In the Flesh is a 1998 independent

Independent film

An independent film, or indie film, is a professional film production resulting in a feature film that is produced mostly or completely outside of the major film studio system. In addition to being produced and distributed by independent entertainment companies, independent films are also produced...

 gay-themed murder mystery film

Mystery film

Mystery film is a sub-genre of the more general category of crime film and at times the thriller genre. It focuses on the efforts of the detective, private investigator or amateur sleuth to solve the mysterious circumstances of a crime by means of clues, investigation, and clever deduction.The...

, produced, written, and directed by Ben Taylor. It is set in Atlanta, Georgia

Atlanta, Georgia

Atlanta is the capital and most populous city in the U.S. state of Georgia. According to the 2010 census, Atlanta's population is 420,003. Atlanta is the cultural and economic center of the Atlanta metropolitan area, which is home to 5,268,860 people and is the ninth largest metropolitan area in...

 where it was filmed on a very low budget, according to the writer-director. It tells how two gay men on both sides of the law are brought together as intimate friends amid the dark events and circumstances that surround them.

Plot

When police detective Philip Kirsch and college business student Oliver Beck, closeted

Closeted

Closeted and in the closet are metaphors used to describe lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer/questioning and intersex people who have not disclosed their sexual orientation or gender identity and aspects thereof, including sexual identity and sexual behavior.-Background:In late 20th...

 gay men, are brought together, they end up outed

Outing

Outing is the act of disclosing a gay, lesbian, bisexual or transgender person's true sexual orientation or gender identity without that person's consent. Outing gives rise to issues of privacy, choice, hypocrisy, and harm in addition to sparking debate on what constitutes common good in efforts...

 at the same time. Detective Kirsch is working undercover

Undercover

Being undercover is disguising one's own identity or using an assumed identity for the purposes of gaining the trust of an individual or organization to learn secret information or to gain the trust of targeted individuals in order to gain information or evidence...

 to bust a drug ring that operates out of "The Blue Boy," a back street, gay bar

Gay bar

A gay bar is a drinking establishment that caters to an exclusively or predominantly gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender clientele; the term gay is used as a broadly inclusive concept for LGBT and queer communities...

 and brothel

Brothel

Brothels are business establishments where patrons can engage in sexual activities with prostitutes. Brothels are known under a variety of names, including bordello, cathouse, knocking shop, whorehouse, strumpet house, sporting house, house of ill repute, house of prostitution, and bawdy house...

, at which Oliver works as the head hustler

Male prostitution

Male prostitution is the practice of engaging in sexual acts for money. Compared to female sex workers, male sex workers have been far less studied by researchers, and while studies suggest that there are differences between the ways these two groups look at their work, more research is needed.Male...

—his calling card being his wearing red trousers.

Oliver succeeds in hustling Philip, who subsequently falls in love with him. Philip uses his resources as a policeman to find out more about Oliver and his past, which he discovers to be dark and tragic. Philip runs into Oliver at his day job in a music store, and Oliver is grateful to him for his discretion in not letting on that he knows him. This friendliness quickly disappears when Oliver catches Philip following him. When he finds out that Philip is a police detective, that makes him even more undesirable to him. All this drastically changes when Oliver needs help later on.

Although Oliver has the redeeming quality of caring for dependent people like his sister Lisa, who is suffering from drug addiction, and a mentally challenged

Mental retardation

Mental retardation is a generalized disorder appearing before adulthood, characterized by significantly impaired cognitive functioning and deficits in two or more adaptive behaviors...

 adolescent, named Mickey, he cannot get over the guilt and self-loathing brought on by his causing the death of his close boyhood friend, Christopher Wingate, in a car accident| brought on by his own drunken driving. He especially hates himself for avoiding drunk driving charges by moving his friend's dead body into the driver's seat of the wrecked car. He expresses his sorrow each night he begins work at The Blue Boy by going to the jukebox

Jukebox

A jukebox is a partially automated music-playing device, usually a coin-operated machine, that will play a patron's selection from self-contained media...

, selecting the song "Breathe" by Pop Cycle (written by Wes Yoakam), and dancing to it with tears in his eyes. It is when he is doing this that Philip Kirsch sees him the first night of his stakeout.

It is Oliver's self-hatred and his fear of trusting anyone with his secrets that move him to control his sexual and emotional life by hustling. He is as successful at it as Philip is successful at being a police detective. Unfortunately, this causes them both to be surrounded by jealous rivals. Philip's associate detectives Grupe and Meyer are such rivals. Meyer is secretly involved in The Blue Boy drug ring from which Oliver gets heroin for his sister, and Oliver's knowledge of the drug ring, coupled with his growing connection to the investigating Kirsch, is a motive for Meyer to get rid of him by framing him with the murder of Mac, one of Oliver's best customers. Meyer poses as a mugger, who stabs Mac to death while he is getting money at an ATM

Automated teller machine

An automated teller machine or automatic teller machine, also known as a Cashpoint , cash machine or sometimes a hole in the wall in British English, is a computerised telecommunications device that provides the clients of a financial institution with access to financial transactions in a public...

. Oliver is with Mac at the time: he is driving Mac's car because Mac is intoxicated. Oliver, then, becomes a witness to the murder, noticing the curious luminous watch on the muffled mugger's wrist. In fear he drives away in Mac's car, but he realizes that he is in serious trouble. When Philip finds Oliver to talk with him, he warns him to go to the police so that he could be a witness rather than a suspect.

Oliver is arrested for Mac's murder, but Meyer's plan is thwarted by Philip Kirsch, who provides an alibi

Alibi

Alibi is a 1929 American crime film directed by Roland West. The screenplay was written by West and C. Gardner Sullivan, who adapted the 1927 Broadway stage play, Nightstick, written by Elaine Sterne Carrington, J.C...

 for Oliver after he determines his innocence. Philip stands by Oliver when he is deserted by his friends and associates. Oliver is spurned by his girlfriend and boss (Chloe), who is furious at him for being a gay hustler. At The Blue Boy he is barred and betrayed to the police; and, even though he is released on the alibi Philip provided for him, he is evicted from his apartment with a week's notice by his landlady. Oliver has no one to turn to but Philip, who invites him to stay at his apartment. This support for Oliver is socially and economically costly for Philip: he is outted at work and suspended by his boss, police Lieutenant Krane.

When Oliver moves in with Philip they only begin sleeping together when Oliver looks upon their intimacy as love freely given rather than as purchased sexual favors. Oliver is uncertain about what he is to do about his "night job" in view of his developing bond with Philip, but he must continue to make money to supply heroin to his sister.

The night that Oliver returns to his job at The Blue Boy, Philip follows him to get him to quit hustling and exotic dancing and come home with him. Oliver sadly refuses, so Philip knocks him unconscious in the dressing room and takes him back to the apartment. Oliver is out of harm's way for Philip to go back to his police lieutenant with the information needed to bust The Blue Boy drug ring.

When Oliver awakens he finds himself handcuffed to the weight bench. He succeeds in freeing himself, but he finds in a desk drawer a luminous watch identical with that worn by Mac's murderer. He angrily leaves the apartment supposing Philip guilty of Mac's murder, and he continues to suspect Philip until he finds that Detective Grupe, who stops and picks him up on the street, is wearing one of the suspicious watches as well. Thinking Grupe to be the murderer, Oliver escapes from his car and returns to Philip's apartment. The luminous watches provide the mystery plot with two red herrings, and moments later in the film it is revealed that the police lieutenant had given her whole department these watches.

At the apartment Philip is on the phone with his police lieutenant informing her of Oliver's disappearance when he is attacked from behind by Meyer, who knocks him unconscious and hangs up the phone. His plan is once again to frame Oliver with murder by killing Philip.

Oliver's return to the apartment stops Meyer from killing Philip, but Meyer succeeds in wounding both Philip and Oliver in the struggle that ensues. Meyer is about to kill them both when he is shot and killed from behind by Det. Grupe.

The last scene shows Oliver meeting Philip on the college campus some days later. Philip tests Oliver's reformation by asking him if he remembers his name. Oliver does and admits that he no longer considers Philip a john. They walk away up the sidewalk together.

Cast

• Dane Ritter as Oliver Beck
• Ed Corbin as Det. Philip Kirsch
• Philip Solomon
  Philip Solomon
  Dr. Philip Solomon was an American psychiatrist and researcher.A Phi Beta Kappa graduate of Harvard College and Harvard Medical School, Solomon served as a Commander in the U.S. Navy attached to the sixth Marine division during World War II as the Division Psychiatrist...
  
  as Det. Meyer
• Frank Roberts
  Frank Roberts
  Frank Roberts was a footballer who played for Manchester City between 1922 and 1928. He could play either as an inside forward or a centre forward.-Early life:...
  
  as Mac
• Brandon O'Dell as Bones
• Adele Phares as Lisa Beck
• Alex Dawson
  Alex Dawson
  Alexander Downie Dawson was a Scottish football player.Dawson started his career with Manchester United as a trainee. He helped the club win the league title in 1957. He left United for Preston North End in 1961 after scoring 54 career goals. At Preston, he became known as "The Black Prince of...
  
  as Chloe
• Roxzane T. Mims as Leut. Krane
• Michael A. Newcomer as Mickey
• Erik Wingate as Christopher Wingate
• Adrian Roberts as Det. Grupe
• Shimley Reynolds as Raven
• Rosemary Dixon as Miss Koschnick

Awards

Nominations

• Verzaubert – International Gay & Lesbian Film Festival Rosebud Best Film 1998