Directed and written by John Hayes (End of the World, Dream No Evil, Garden of the Dead, Grave of the Vampire, Jailbait Babysitter, and so many more; he also made adult films like Baby Rosemary, Hot Lunch and Pleasure Zone as Harold J. Perkins), The Hang-Up is all about vice cop Sgt. Robert Walsh (Tony Vorno), who the force uses as an undercover transvestite despite him looking nothing like a woman. He spends his nights dressed as the very degenerates he spends his days arresting with a vitriolic, borderline obsessive hatred. And even when he has his landlady throw herself at him, he can’t get it up. Other than that, his life is horrible as he just sits at home, alone, drinking Coors Light in bed. 

Then he meets sex worker Angel (Sharon Matt) and falls in love. And that’s when things get worse for him. He falls in love with her, and we get the idea by the end that she’s just playing with him, luring him into the underworld that he was so intent on destroying. 

I was pretty much astounded by this. Sure, it’s exploitation and has so much rawness in the way people talk and act toward one another, but it somehow aspires to be so much more. The Hang-Up is a fascinating relic of the roughie era. It’s a film that exists at the intersection of hard-boiled detective noir and the raw, unwashed spirit of the sexual revolution.