In 1972, John Waters shot a ultra-low budget film called Pink Flamingoes. It became his "best" work, a cult classic that was banned for many years after its release, but released in 1997 in a 25th anniversary edition complete with commentary and cut outs by John Waters. Interestingly enough, the trailer for the film, John Waters mentions, doesn't show any footage from the film, the distributors, New Line Films, probably too afraid of controversary which may result if even one still was shown.

I recently saw a screening of Pink Flamingoes at the Museum of Modern Art in New York, too bad John Waters wasn't there to give commentary, anyway, this is one of those audience participation films that you need to view in a theater, rather than on video -- its the audience which sets the ambience of the movie. If you watch it on video, be sure to invite a lot of people over to substitute for audience.

Pink Flamingoes stars Divine, a transvestite who plays Divine a.k.a. Babs Johnson, self-billed as the "Filthiest Person in the World". She is hiding out from the FBI in a run down trailer in the backwoods of Phoenix, Maryland. Divine lives with Edie, her mentally-ill obese mother with an egg fetish played by Edith Massey; her son Crackers, played by Danny Mills; and Cookie, played by Cookie Mueller.

Divine and her gang are criminially opposed by Connie and Raymond Marble, played by Mink Stole and David Lochary, a married foot-fetish loving urban white trash couple jealous of Divine's notority. The Marbles feel they deserve the Filthiest title because of what they do for a living basically an illegal baby adoption ring replete with kidnapped women chained in their basement. The two sides touch off a family feud, the Marbles coming to burn down Divine's trailor; Divine and Crackers defiling the Marble's house by licking down everything with saliva.

Along the way, there are plenty of perverse moments, like Raymond flashing people in the park with assorted sausages and a turkey head attached to exaggerate his size. He gets outdone himself when he tangles with a woman in a park who first flashes her breasts, then scares him off with her penis, the woman really a transvestite. There is a lot of full male nudity in this movie, but that shouldn't be too much of a shocker, it is par the course.

Shot with hand-held cameras, and live dialog, the film has a raw, edgy, first-person feel with plenty of intimacy. The movie was constantly moving and intense -- there is no rest in the dialog -- everyone was constantly talking as though voicing their thoughts, and the opinions were to the point, and contentious. There were no idle moments, nor fluff in the movie.

Because of the real world feel of the movie, I was a bit puzzled in the beginning of the film. I tried to comprehend the nature of what I was witnessing on screen. I was wondering if the white trash were for real, or just too trashy and outrageous to be believeable. After a while, I got used to the movie, and enjoyed it for what it was.

Topics run the gamut from bestiality to coprophagy, and everything else inbetween. There is murder, incest, lynching, arson, rape, cannabilism, transvestites, lesbians, nudity, graphic sex, lewdness, incest, fellatio, window peeping, humilation, obesity, mental illness, egg fetishism, foot fetishism, late term abortion, emasculation, defecation, vomiting, masturbation, flashing, perversion, kidnapping, nazis, white trailer trash, bad tastes in clothes, animal cruelity, sadomasochism, even evily possessed couches. I'm sure I'm missing a few here.

Most of the time, it is cheap base humor, with the freak shows to match. If you decide to watch, don't miss out on Bab's birthday party. It is insane, both humorous, and flat out outrageous. The park scene was good also, the audience
will fall for that one too. If for some reason, you are inured to what's going on around you, John Waters will make sure to get you with the poodle scene before you leave the theater.

The music for Pink Flamingoes was wonderfully matched with the movie. It is a retro 50's track complete with hard-edged lyrics like "I'm a Juvenile Delinquint".

As a film from the 1970's, it certainly was shocking and revolutionary for its time. It is now 2001, and the film is still shocking, which is good; society's morals seem to be intact.

John Waters certainly is the auteur of bad taste; well.. no, that is not kind enough compliment... He is the king of perverse, and tasteless humor. If its not outrageous, demented, shocking, and most of all real enough to be beliveable, then its not John Waters.



Recommended:
Yes

Viewing Format: DVD
Video Occasion: Good for Groups
Suitability For Children: Not suitable for Children of any age