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Divine,
Liz Renay,
Divine,
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John Waters,
John Waters
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: New Line Home Video
: Comedies, Gay & Lesbian, Features, Erotica, Dysfunctional Families
: English
: English
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This title is currently out of print.
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Desperate Living (1977)
Divine was touring as a cabaret singer when director John Waters made this comedy of the grotesque, but he filled the void admirably with the equally rotund Jean Hill and burlesque-queen Liz Renay. The film tells the story of Peggy Gravel (Mink Stole), a mad housewife who kills her husband then goes on the lam with her 300-pound maid Grizelda (Hill). After being sexually accosted by a lewd, cross-dressing cop with gingivitis, the women are directed to Mortville, a shanty-town for fugitive criminals ruled by the evil Queen Carlotta (Edith Massey). Carlotta's daughter, Princess Coo-Coo (Mary Vivian Pearce) wants to renounce the throne and marry a nudist garbageman, so the Queen has him killed and enlists Peggy's aid in infecting the kingdom with rabies. Waters uses a fairy-tale framework to indulge his penchant for nauseating set-pieces, such as a transsexual lesbian (Susan Lowe) having her new penis cut off with scissors and fed to a dog, women being fed live cockroaches, and Peggy being assaulted at a lesbian glory-hole. Massey is hilarious as the Queen, urging her leather-clad bodyguards/sex-toys to "rob my safety-deposit box!," but the oddly-named actor Turkey Joe steals the show in his brief role as a lecherous cop, spouting lines like "I love the feel of cold nylon on my big butt!" and slobbering over Grizelda's huge underpants. The pinnacle of gross-out humor, Desperate Living is Waters' strangest and funniest film. ~ Robert Firsching, All Movie Guide
Polyester (1981)
After making a name for himself with such underground gross-out epics as Pink Flamingos and Desperate Living, director John Waters made a bid for somewhat wider acceptance with this black comedy, which is sedate only by the standards of his previous work. Francine Fishpaw (Divine) is a housewife whose life has become a living hell. Her husband Elmer (David Samson) runs a porno theater (currently showing the classic My Burning Bush) and is having an affair with secretary Sandra (Mink Stole), a vision of sleaze in Bo Derek-style cornrow braids who informs Elmer, "Children would only get in the way of our erotic lifestyle!" Francine has two teenage children, Dexter (Ken King), who likes to sniff glue and stomp on women's feet, and Lulu (Mary Garlington), a brazen slut who hangs out with overage juvenile delinquent Bobo (Stiv Bators) and gleefully anticipates her next abortion. Francine's best friend, Cuddles (Edith Massey), is a slightly insane heiress who is somehow convinced she's a debutante. Francine's life has become so miserable that her dog commits suicide rather than witness it, but a light appears on the horizon -- Todd Tomorrow (Tab Hunter), the handsome and dashing owner of a local drive-in specializing in art films (their current bill is a Margurerite Duras triple feature), with whom Dawn enters into a torrid affair. Subversive on all fronts, Polyester was originally shown in "Odorama" (patrons were given a card with ten scratch-and-sniff patches, to be smelled at key points in the action) and featured a romantic theme song sung by that new hitmaking duo, Deborah Harry and Bill Murray. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
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| Little Known Gem
by JLevendos
June 27, 2005 - 9:47 PM PDT
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3 out of 4 members found this review helpful
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| This film is not mentioned much by many when discussing Waters' work, but I think it ranks up there with Female Trouble, but with a dose of surrealism. Think of a demented fairy tale. From the opening scene when Mink Stole finds her children playing doctor and accuses them of being Sodomites, to the closing scene involving canabalism, this one is just as shocking as some of his most tasteless. But all the shocking visuals shouldn't detract one from the dialogue: it's really clever. |
| It's John Waters. What can I say?
by LJSosa
April 27, 2003 - 2:00 PM PDT
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6 out of 7 members found this review helpful
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It's scene after scene of derranged depravity. God how I love it! I watched it 4 or 5 times before I returned it. What makes this film so interesting is that it's one of the few John Waters' films from that period which does not star Divine. As much as I loved her acting, her absence gives the other 'regulars' a chance to shine on their own.
My only question is how did John Waters get from Desperate Living to Cecil B. Demented? I hate to think he sold out. Come back little Johnny. We miss you. |
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