By Dennis Hartley

Robert J. Kaplan’s long-“lost” 1972 cult indie starring the legendary Holly Woodlawn (immortalized in Lou Reed’s “Walk on the Wild Side”) has been restored in all of its…glory, by the Academy Film Archive. This was Warhol Factory alum Woodlawn’s third film (she had previously appeared in two of Paul Morrissey’s features).

Woodlawn plays “Eve Harrington” (first in a series of references), a naive Kansas farm gal who hits the Big Apple with ambitions of becoming a huge, huge star. She encounters a bevy of fellow wannabes and low-rung show-biz hustlers. While this suggests a dark and depressing tale (there’s a nod to Midnight Cowboy with a character named “Joe Buck”), no worries-because this is a musical (sort of).

This campy wallow in some of NYC’s seediest neighborhoods is pretty over-the-top (reminiscent of Ralph Bakshi’s 1973 animated feature Heavy Traffic) and anyone looking for a cohesive narrative need not apply, but there are some genuine laughs and a couple of decent songs (one sung by Bette Midler). Not for all tastes; I’d wager that fans of directors John Waters and/or Paul Bartel will fare best.