There have been a lot of docu mentaries on Andy Warhol and the “Superstars” he created at his Union Square movie/art studio, The Factory. James Rasin’s documentary is surprisingly the first to focus on one of Warhol’s biggest attractions, the attractive male-to-female transsexual Candy Darling, best known for inspiring Lou Reed’s song “A Walk on the Wild Side.”
The former James Slattery of Long Island was photographed by Robert Mapplethorpe and cast at the insistence of Tennessee Williams in a revival of one of his plays. She starred with fellow transsexual Superstars Holly Woodlawn and Jackie Curtis in Warhol’s “Flesh” and his first the mainstream-ish opus, “Women in Revolt.”
“Beautiful Darling” makes extensive use of photos, sketches and Darling’s diaries belonging to Jeremiah Newton, a gay pal she lived with on and off until her death from cancer in 1974. Newton denies rumors she prostituted herself to supplement the minimal salary she received from Warhol, who eventually dumped her. Newton also provides an archival recording in which he provides the sad, sordid details of his friend’s life as an outsider.