When I attended the premiere of "Le Beau Mec" at the old Adonis Cinema in Manhattan back in the late 70s, the theater was packed. No one there ever forgot the bigger-than-life images of the fabulous Karl Forest as we followed his evolution from over-sexed boy into the over-sexed male prostitute of Paris. No wonder he was the "It" boy in France of that era. Forest came across as someone impossibly gorgeous, tough, sensuous and totally into his electrifying narcissism. The movie was beautifully photographed, with a great musical accompaniment, and Forest instantly became a bigger-than-life icon of movie sexuality. You see him in all his unclothed glory as the camera slowly traveled across his torso, investigating every nook and cranny. LE BEAU MEC was sold in America as just another gay erotic movie but it's much more than that. Anyone--male or female--who wants to lose themselves in nearly two hours of body worshipping should definitely try to check this movie out--if you can find it. My VHS copy is nearly worn out from repeated viewings. Whatever happened to Karl Forest is a tantalizing mystery since he would probably be in his fifties by now.