Polyester (1981)

A suburban housewife's world falls apart when her pornographer husband admits he's serially unfaithful to her, her daughter gets pregnant, and her son is suspected of being the foot-fetishist who's been breaking local women's feet.

Director:

John Waters

Writer:

John Waters

Stars:

Divine, Tab Hunter, Edith Massey

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Divine	...	Francine Fishpaw
Tab Hunter	...	Todd Tomorrow
Edith Massey	...	Cuddles Kovinsky
David Samson	...	Elmer Fishpaw
Mary Garlington	...	Lu-Lu Fishpaw
Ken King	...	Dexter Fishpaw
Mink Stole	...	Sandra Sullivan
Joni Ruth White	...	La Rue
Hans Kramm	...	Heintz
Stiv Bators	...	Bo-Bo Belsinger
Rick Breitenfeld	...	Dr. Quackenshaw
Michael Watson	...	Freddy Ashton
Derek Neal	...	Pimp
Jean Hill	...	Gospel Bus Hijacker
Jim Hill	...	Picket Reporter

Storyline

Francine Fishpaw is an upper middle class suburban housewife in Baltimore. Unfortunately for this "good Christian woman", the money to support her lifestyle comes from her husband's porno theater, the neighbors are protesting, her son is the notorious "Baltimore Stomper", her daughter is knocked up by a local hoodlum, and her husband is having an affair with his secretary.

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Plot Keywords:

abortion | foot fetish | middle class | dysfunctional family | obese woman | 

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Taglines:

It'll Blow Your Nose!

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Genres:

Comedy

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Certificate:

R

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

29 May 1981 (USA)

Also Known As:

Hullu haiseva maailma

Filming Locations:

Greenmount Avenue at 33rd Street, Baltimore, Maryland, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$300,000 (estimated)

Company Credits

Production Co:

New Line Cinema

Technical Specs

Runtime:

86 min

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Todd Tomorrow takes Francine Fishpaw to an "intellectual" theatre that has on the marquee: "3 Marguerite Duras Hits: 'The Truck', 'India Song', and 'Destroy, She Said'."

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Goofs

When Dexter's principal calls Francine, Francine starts acting as if he's hung up on her before he's even said goodbye.

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Quotes

Elmer Fishpaw: She's the hairiest woman I've ever laid eyes on!

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Crazy Credits

During the credits, the title song "Polyester" describes the action seen on screen, leading the audience through a helicopter shot of the suburbs into Francine's house (commenting on its French Provincial decor) and upstairs to meet her.

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Connections

Referenced in The Killing Floor (2007)

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Soundtracks

"BE MY DADDY BABY"
(Lu-Lu's theme)
Words and music by Deborah Harry and Michael Kamen
Arranged and produced by Michael Kamen
Vocals by Michael Kamen

User Reviews

Smellovision

This was my first John Waters movie, and it opened with scratch and sniff cards. Each "spot" had a color and number and when the appropriate scene arrived we had the privilege of smelling what was on screen. Devine's character had an odor fetish and was constantly spraying air freshener, while a nefarious plot was instigated to drive her insane by planting offensively smelly things like gym sox, dead fish etc for her to find at home.

Her husband runs an adult cinema. Her son, based on the Baltimore Stomper, a true character, sniffs industrial solvents, stalks women with cute shoes and feet, and then stomps on them with his combat boots. The daughter, obviously the model for Christine Applegate's character in Married With Children, is the high school slut that dances on tables for quarters. And Mom worries about fresh scents.

With these subplots to the main plot, it should be obvious that plot resolution and character development are not the main attractions in a John Waters movie. The caricature of society and its stereotypes is his game, and the best moment of the movie has to be when the TV news camera is in the face of one of the Baltimore Stomper's victims as she is being carried to the ambulance on a strecher. The victim's on camera stream of obscene invectives against the callous media was one of the great moments of the movie because it was such a refreshing expression of the common person's real disgust and frustration with tabloid evening news and a culture that trivializes human suffering. Juxtapose a broken instep with the main character's insufferable pain of finding a smelly sock and you have the theme of this movie. Even the fairytale resolutions to the problems are a hilarious sendup of 80's America.

If you want to see what makes John Waters such a cult hero, but would find Female Trouble or Pink Flamingos too offensive, this was his first attempt to bridge the gap to the more accessible films he made later, while still having enough of the gross-out quality for a good laugh riot.

(Serial Mom will be on TV the weekend after Veteran's Day, and it is another very accessible glimpse into the mind of Mr. Waters.)