Though Connie and Raymond Marble are confident about their positioning for the title, they still feel the need to take Babs and her bunch down a bit. So they send them shit. Literally.
What can be said about this movie that hasn't already? Yes, it's a bad movie, but it's also quite good. The sets--even on the film's low budget--are fun to look at. Both Divine and especially Mink Stole give the performances of their lives, and the dialogue is some of the best "worst" dialogue you'll ever hear.
PF ultimately became a huge midnight movie hit, based in part on the fact that one of the characters actually eats shit. (Hey, it had never been done before.) Waters followed up that film with Female Trouble. I have to admit, this is not a favorite of mine.
It's hard to put my finger on why I don't love this film, but I'll try. The film has some stuff going for it: all of Waters' regulars are here and the plot's as interesting as all his others. But I think the reason that I'm not crazy about FT is that the characters just don't grip me. Divine's character is not nearly as outlandish as the one in Pink Flamingos, while Mink Stole is reduced to playing a bratty kid. And the other characters? Ah, meh. Waters is known for his characterization--most of his films, good or bad, have them--so to have such weak characters as those in FT is truly a shame. (Of course, this is all a matter of opinion and I fully expect angry commenters to disagree with me--as this is a favorite of many Waters' fans--so flame away.)
At any rate, FT is about a woman--Divine again--who goes to pieces when her parents won't give her cha-cha heels. She runs away and gets impregnated--by well, herself. (Divine is also playing a man in the film.) Beauticians (David Lochary and Mary Vivian Pearce) notice her and decide to give her a job as a model who commits crimes. Let's just say it doesn't end well.
In between the filming of that movie and his next, and best, Desperate Living, one of his favorite male actors and close friends David Lochary died. There are two main theories about how Mr. Lochary passed away, but both involve a drug overdose on PCP (Angel Dust, a popular 70s drug). Waters made his next film an all-woman deal as a result.
Article comments
1 - Temple Stark
Eric Berlin picked this for an Editors' Pick of the Week. Go find out why here
2 - Natalie Davis
Yay! John is a Bawlmer treasure, hon, a treasure. And in addition to his cinematic art, he is one of the coolest people with whom I am privileged to be acquainted.
Thanks for big-upping him and for tipping the hat to the much-missed Divine and Miss Edie.
3 - marilyn
I wish John would read up on Maryann, the elephant at the Baltimore zoo and how the kids of Baltimore harassed the city fathers for an elephant. They had a club called the Jungle Club. There were over a hundred thousand kids in the club and the issue actually was responsible for causing a dark horse named Jackson to be elected Mayor of the city. This was in the 1920's and Jackson was still Mayor when Maryann died somewhere around 1944. The Pratt library has some articles on Maryann's death and her obituary giving her story. It's purely Baltimore and would make a hell of a Water's movie.