Every now and then, you just got to get down and dirty, and it doesn’t get much dirtier than the films of John Waters. Especially in his earlier films, no one raced to the bottom of the barrel faster (or more completely), with nothing sacred or off limits. His second film, 1970’s Multiple Maniacs, starred his muse Divine as Lady Divine, the owner of a traveling freak show called The Cavalcade of Perversion. And perverse it is, featuring acts like “the puke eater,” someone licking a bicycle seat, a heroine addict thrashing around in the in throes of withdrawal, etc. The fiendish acts get people in the door, after which Divine goes on stage to rob them, but this time, she’s tired of robbing and shoots and kills one in the crowd. Divine and her troupe run for it, but not before a fan grabs Divine’s lover, Mr David, and begs to be in the show. Those two start an affair, which eventually leads Divine to a jealous rage. But not before she is raped by two glue-sniffers in an alley, and later has lesbian sex in a church. It’s crazy, off-the-wall, completely absurd, vile, and in that last scene, crudely blasphemous, but at the end of the day, it is engaging and grossly funny. I don’t know if entertaining is the right word, but it is certainly memorable. There’s a lot of trashy films out there, but I’m not sure anyone purposefully made trash like John Waters. ★★★
Divine and the rest of Waters’ acting troupe, known as the Dreamlanders, returned for 1972’s Pink Flamingos. With more than double the budget of the last film (up to a whopping $12,000!) it does have a more polished look. At least, it didn’t look like it was shot in a day, but still. Divine is a career criminal living in a trailer outside Baltimore, there with her son and simple-minded mother, who has a fetish for eggs. Divine loves the tabloid press which calls her “the filthiest person alive.” However, married couple Connie and Raymond Marble are hoping to usurp that title. The Marbles kidnap young women, chain them in the basement (very Silent of the Lambs-esque, I can see the obvious inspiration there), and have their servant impregnate them. When babies are born, the couple sells them to lesbian couples, and when a mother dies in childbirth, the body is discarded and she is replaced with another. To dig up dirt on Divine, the Marbles send a spy to have sex with her son Crackers, who only gets off when live chickens are involved. When Divine gets wind of the Marbles and their scheme, she goes there to kill them, but when they aren’t home, she settles for freeing the girls in the basement and leaves, though not before having incest sex with her son on the couch. Finally Divine does catch the Marbles, calling the tabloid press out to witness their mock trial, charging them with first-degree stupidity and being assholes. Capital punishment, of course, ensues. It’s gross, it’s perverted, and unlike the first film, isn’t nearly as funny. I’ll watch anything once, but not going to this one again in the future. That being said, it did launch Waters’ career and became a hit at midnight movie screenings. In 2021 it was even selected for inclusion to the Library of Congress’ National Film Registry for its “cultural, historical, and aesthetic contribution.” Will wonders never cease. ★★
The vileness is turned down (just a little) and the comedy is dialed up for 1974’s Female Trouble. Divine plays Dawn Davenport, and the movie follows her life from a teen in 1960 to an adult in the mid-70s. Running away from home because her parents didn’t get her the cha-cha heels she wanted for Christmas, Dawn is raped outside of town, gives birth to a girl she names Taffy, and ends up a waitress by day and a prostitute by night. Later, as an adult, she falls in love with a young man named Gater, who lives nearby with his Aunt Ida (Aunt Ida is pretty hilarious; she is distraught that her nephew is straight and bemoans that he’ll have a boring life unless he “turns queer.” She keeps trying to set him up with guys throughout the film). Dawn gets in good with the owners of a local beauty salon who extol her looks, but after an irate Aunt Ida throws acid on her face, Dawn is left disfigured. Amazingly, the beauty salon owners say she looks even better know, and shower her with money and gifts as long as she continues to pose for their fetish photography. Eventually Dawn is brought down after murdering some people in a crowd, and the salon owners turn against her during testimony. There’s a ton of laugh-out-loud one-liners in this film, even if I can’t repeat most of them in polite society! It’s toned down quite a bit from the above 2 films, though still plenty crass in spots. Jokes about child abuse and abortion? Nothing is off the table. ★★★½
John Waters continued moving (ever-so-slightly) mainstream with 1981’s Polyester, though not as mainstream as the opening shots of suburban America would have you think. Divine plays Francine Fishpaw, a devout, pious homemaker, who hates her husband’s, Elmer’s, career of running an X-rated theater in town. Their two kids are kind of a mess too. Daughter Lu-Lu is sleeping around (announcing one day that she is pregnant, much to the ire of the God-fearing Francine), and son Dexter is secretly the area’s notorious “foot stomper,” a delinquent who’s been going around stomping on women’s feet due to his foot fetish, and gaining lots of news coverage because of it. Francine’s mom is also a cocaine addict who’s been stealing from her. It’s a funny little picture of a seemingly happy suburban family but with obvious problems under the surface. It comes to a head when Elmer leaves Francine for his secretary, sending Francine on an alcoholic drinking binge, and confronting those problems in her life. Sometimes those problems will be confronted with guns. Gonzo film, with plenty of bizarre funny moments but unfortunately lots of down time too. ★★½
Waters most famous film is 1988’s Hairspray, the inspiration for the popular musical that came later. It stars a young Ricki Lake as Tracy Turnblad, a dance-obsessed “pleasantly plump” teen with marvelously big hair in Baltimore. She’s a huge fan of The Corny Collins Show, a local teen dance show, the kind of which was so popular in the 1960s. When she and her friend Penny Pingleton sneak out to a record hop one night, they get noticed by Corny Collins who invites Tracy out to audition for his show. Tracy’s high energy dance style is a hit with the fans, but she becomes a target for Amber Von Tussle, who until now has been the center of attention on the dance show. Amber brings out the fat jokes, but they fall on deaf ears as Tracy’s popularity continues to bloom. With her popularity up, Tracy uses the opportunity to speak out for ending the segregated dance shows, and to integrate them so she and all her friends can dance together. The movie is funny in spots, but without any of the outlandish crude humor of Waters’ earlier films. Unfortunately I’m starting to think that the gross jokes, no matter how vulgar, is what Waters excelled at. Neither of the last 2 movies were as entertaining as the earlier, more raw stuff. Good cast in this one though, with Jerry Stiller as Tracy’s dad and Sonny Bono as Amber’s dad; it was also Divine’s (Tracy’s mom) last picture, as he died weeks after its release. ★★½
- TV series recently watched: Iron Fist (season 2), His & Hers (series), Wonder Man (series), Stargate SG1 (season 2)
- Book currently reading: New Spring by Robert Jordan
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