In the Flesh (1998 film)

In the Flesh
Cover of video release
Directed by	Ben Taylor
Produced by	Joe Ansley and Ben Taylor (executive producers) Julie R. Lee
Written by	Ben Taylor
Starring	Dane Ritter Ed Corbin Alex Dawson
Music by	Eddie Horst
Cinematography	Brian Gurley
Edited by	Bazyl Dripps
Distributed by	Wolfe Video
Release date	1998 (1998)
Running time	102 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English

In the Flesh is a 1998 independent gay-themed murder mystery film, produced, written, and directed by Ben Taylor. It is set in Atlanta, Georgia 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.

When police detective Philip Kirsch (Ed Corbin) and college business student Oliver Beck (Dane Ritter), closeted gay men, are brought together, they end up outed at the same time. Detective Kirsch is working undercover to bust a drug ring that operates out of "The Blue Boy," a back street, gay bar and brothel, at which Oliver works as the head hustler—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 (Adele Phares), who is suffering from drug addiction, and befriending a mentally challenged adolescent, Mickey (Michael A. Newcomer), he cannot get over the guilt and self-loathing brought on by his causing the death of his close boyhood friend, Christopher Wingate (Erik Wingate), in a car crash 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, selecting the song "Breathe" (written by Wes Yoakam and performed by him and his band PopCycle, also known as Catfish Jenkins), 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.