The magic of John Waters' 1972 cult classic "Pink Flamingos" is that even after decades, it still possesses the power to disgust and repel audiences. Bearing an Nc-17 rating — it deserves nothing less — "Pink Flamingos" features copious nudity, cannibalism, assault, vomiting, unsimulated sex, torture, real animal death, and real coprophagy. The characters constantly scream about how much they hate the world, and how wallowing in filth is the only thing that brings them true happiness. Indeed, breaking rules, destroying property, shoplifting, public sexual exposure, and eating poop are acts of blissful, pointedly perverted defiance against a world that demands normality. "Pink Flamingos" is a big queer, naked, punk rock middle finger to the pearl-clutching bourgeoisie.
Waters' movies from the 1970s — "Mondo Trasho," "Multiple Maniacs," "Pink Flamingos," "Female Trouble," and "Desperate Living" — are all essentially supervillain movies. Waters once said in an interview with yours truly (an interview that is sadly now...
Waters' movies from the 1970s — "Mondo Trasho," "Multiple Maniacs," "Pink Flamingos," "Female Trouble," and "Desperate Living" — are all essentially supervillain movies. Waters once said in an interview with yours truly (an interview that is sadly now...
- 3/19/2023
- by Witney Seibold
- Slash Film
Tw: This article contains references to fictional depictions of sexual assault and animal cruelty that some readers may find disturbing.
Social commentary in motion pictures implies high art. Pink Flamingos, which premiered on a single screen in a rented theater in Baltimore 50 years ago, is an antisocial commentary. It goes in the other direction. Written, directed, produced, shot, edited, and narrated by counterculture icon John Waters, the film features singing assholes, chicken-crushing sexcapades, and dog-doo finger foods. It changed movies forever.
Pink Flamingos was the first of Waters’ “Trash Trilogy,” which would go on to include Female Trouble (1974) and Desperate Living (1977). It led beat poet legend William S. Burroughs to declare Waters the “Pope of Trash,” and was even trashier than Andy Warhol’s Trash. Written and directed by Paul Morrissey, about a heroin addict looking to score and screw, that 1970 film made an impact on Waters, and Andy Warhol paid it forward,...
Social commentary in motion pictures implies high art. Pink Flamingos, which premiered on a single screen in a rented theater in Baltimore 50 years ago, is an antisocial commentary. It goes in the other direction. Written, directed, produced, shot, edited, and narrated by counterculture icon John Waters, the film features singing assholes, chicken-crushing sexcapades, and dog-doo finger foods. It changed movies forever.
Pink Flamingos was the first of Waters’ “Trash Trilogy,” which would go on to include Female Trouble (1974) and Desperate Living (1977). It led beat poet legend William S. Burroughs to declare Waters the “Pope of Trash,” and was even trashier than Andy Warhol’s Trash. Written and directed by Paul Morrissey, about a heroin addict looking to score and screw, that 1970 film made an impact on Waters, and Andy Warhol paid it forward,...
- 3/17/2022
- by John Saavedra
- Den of Geek
Filed under: Columns, Cinematical
Welcome to Where Everyone Has Gone Before, the weekly column where I continue my film education before your very eyes by seeking out and watching all of the movies I should have seen by now. I will first judge the movie before I've watched it, based entirely on its reputation (and my potentially misguided thoughts). Then I will give the movie a fair chance and actually watch it. You will laugh at me, you may condemn me, but you will never say I didn't try!
The Film: 'Pink Flamingos' (1972), Dir. John Waters
Starring: Divine, David Lochary, Mary Vivian Pearce, Mink Stole and Danny Mills.
Why I Haven't Seen It Until Now: The real reason? I haven't seen 'Pink Flamingos' because it sounds absolutely disgusting. Not in a high-minded moral way, mind you, but in a "this sounds like it may actually make...
Welcome to Where Everyone Has Gone Before, the weekly column where I continue my film education before your very eyes by seeking out and watching all of the movies I should have seen by now. I will first judge the movie before I've watched it, based entirely on its reputation (and my potentially misguided thoughts). Then I will give the movie a fair chance and actually watch it. You will laugh at me, you may condemn me, but you will never say I didn't try!
The Film: 'Pink Flamingos' (1972), Dir. John Waters
Starring: Divine, David Lochary, Mary Vivian Pearce, Mink Stole and Danny Mills.
Why I Haven't Seen It Until Now: The real reason? I haven't seen 'Pink Flamingos' because it sounds absolutely disgusting. Not in a high-minded moral way, mind you, but in a "this sounds like it may actually make...
- 3/5/2011
- by Jacob Hall
- Moviefone
Filed under: Columns, Cinematical
Welcome to Where Everyone Has Gone Before, the weekly column where I continue my film education before your very eyes by seeking out and watching all of the movies I should have seen by now. I will first judge the movie before I've watched it, based entirely on its reputation (and my potentially misguided thoughts). Then I will give the movie a fair chance and actually watch it. You will laugh at me, you may condemn me, but you will never say I didn't try!
The Film: 'Pink Flamingos' (1972), Dir. John Waters
Starring: Divine, David Lochary, Mary Vivian Pearce, Mink Stole and Danny Mills.
Why I Haven't Seen It Until Now: The real reason? I haven't seen 'Pink Flamingos' because it sounds absolutely disgusting. Not in a high-minded moral way, mind you, but in a "this sounds like it may actually make...
Welcome to Where Everyone Has Gone Before, the weekly column where I continue my film education before your very eyes by seeking out and watching all of the movies I should have seen by now. I will first judge the movie before I've watched it, based entirely on its reputation (and my potentially misguided thoughts). Then I will give the movie a fair chance and actually watch it. You will laugh at me, you may condemn me, but you will never say I didn't try!
The Film: 'Pink Flamingos' (1972), Dir. John Waters
Starring: Divine, David Lochary, Mary Vivian Pearce, Mink Stole and Danny Mills.
Why I Haven't Seen It Until Now: The real reason? I haven't seen 'Pink Flamingos' because it sounds absolutely disgusting. Not in a high-minded moral way, mind you, but in a "this sounds like it may actually make...
- 3/5/2011
- by Jacob Hall
- Cinematical
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