With his trademark Dutchboy haircut, Tom of Finland physique
and over-the-top-skin-tight fashion, Peter Berlin became the
poster boy for hedonistic gay male sex iconography in the
sexually liberated 1970s.
Director Jim Tushinski spent 18 months with Berlin, tracing
his life over the past 40-years with interviews, astonishing
archival footage and photos awash in eroticism, intrigue and
insight that paints a touching portrait of the elusive subject.
In person: Peter Berlin and director Jim Tushinski.
QUOTES FROM INTERVIEWEES
“[Peter] created an image that he lived,
as near as I could tell, twenty four hours
a day for the enjoyment of the rest of us.”
Armistead Maupin
“I give [Peter] great respect for living
that extreme a lifestyle...and in San Francisco it is possible
to live like that.”
John Waters
“I remember porn stars before Peter
Berlin, but there weren’t that many that you knew their
names. There weren’t that many that had a persona that
was so
extreme, and so really defined.”
John Waters
“As a filmmaker, I would say that Peter
is probably closer to my style of making films than anyone
else who made films in my period. That's why I liked his
films...”
Wakefield Poole
“I think I reflected what was going
on at the time and [Peter Berlin] was an extension of the
time. He pushed the envelope.”
Jack Wrangler
“That's the way he lived his life.
He just couldn't be bothered. He's like the Greta Garbo of
porn.”
Rick Castro
“Peter Berlin has endured all this
time, which is remarkable. Decades have passed and he's still
remembered.”
Robert W. Richards
“I think Peter Berlin's photographs
are more like paintings than they are photographs.”
Dan Nicoletta
“His whole body is a sexual thing.
He’s a full body genital.”
John F. Karr
“…One day on the stairs, there
he was. I mean it was Peter Berlin because he still looks
like Peter Berlin--the same hair and the same pants, nearly.”
Robert Boulange
“I didn't know who Peter Berlin was
at the time. I just thought, 'He's somebody. He's one of a
kind.”
Guy Clark
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