Pink Flamingos (1972)

Notorious Baltimore criminal and underground figure Divine goes up against a sleazy married couple who make a passionate attempt to humiliate her and seize her tabloid-given title as "The Filthiest Person Alive".

Director:

John Waters

Writer:

John Waters

Stars:

Divine, David Lochary, Mary Vivian Pearce

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Divine	...	Divine / Babs Johnson
David Lochary	...	Raymond Marble
Mary Vivian Pearce	...	Cotton
Mink Stole	...	Connie Marble
Danny Mills	...	Crackers
Edith Massey	...	Edie
Channing Wilroy	...	Channing
Cookie Mueller	...	Cookie
Paul Swift	...	The Egg Man
Susan Walsh	...	Suzie
Linda Olgeirson	...	Linda
Pat Moran	...	Patty Hitler (Party Guest In Nazi Uniform)
Jack Walsh	...	Party Guest
Bob Skidmore	...	Delivery Boy
Pat Lefaiver	...	First Lesbian (as Pat LeFaiver)

Storyline

Sleaze queen Divine lives in a caravan with her mad hippie son Crackers and her 250-pound mother Mama Edie, trying to rest quietly on their laurels as 'the filthiest people alive'. But competition is brewing in the form of Connie and Raymond Marble, who sell heroin to schoolchildren and kidnap and impregnate female hitchhikers, selling the babies to lesbian couples. Finally, they challenge Divine directly, and battle commences...

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Plot Keywords:

black comedy | underground film | controversy | anal gaping | scatological humor | 

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Taglines:

The filthiest people alive! Their loves, their hates and their unquenchable thirst for notoriety!

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Genres:

Comedy | Crime

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated NC-17 for a wide range of perversions in explicit detail

Did You Know?

Trivia

According to director John Waters, the film's budget was so tight, that he could not afford "A" and "B" reels. The work print was in effect the master copy.

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Goofs

During a tracking shot along a sidewalk, the window frame of the camera car enters the shot.

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Quotes

[a dead body is in the basement where Suzie is chained]
Suzie: When are you gonna get her out of here?
Channing: Come on, Little Noodles, you just found a new home!
Suzie: Oh that's real nice! Poor fucking Alice dies giving birth, you can't even bother to move the body, and now the bitch has sold the kid! Poor baby! And YOU, you little suckling, can't even get me my tranquilizers! You shithead, where are my pills? That bitch can afford it! She's got at least another couple grand coming from THIS one, can't she at least ...
[...]

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Crazy Credits

For Sadie, Katie, and Les- February 1972 (The Manson Family members Susan Atkins, Patricia Krenwinkel and Leslie Van Houten. February 1972 was the month when the California State Supreme Court abolished the death penalty in California (it was later reinstated), reducing the sentences of the convicted Manson Family members to life imprisonment.)

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Alternate Versions

The first UK video release of Pink Flamingos in November 1981 (prior to BBFC video regulation requirements) was completely uncut. It was issued by Palace as part of a package of Waters films they had acquired from New Line. The package included Mondo Trasho (double billed with Sex Madness), Multiple Maniacs (double billed with Cocaine Fiends), Desperate Living and Female Trouble. The 1990 (and now requiring BBFC approval) video re-release was cut by 3m 4s, the 1997 issue lost 2m 42s, and the pre-edited 1999 print was cut by 2m 8s. It is worth noting that in 2008, the BBFC informed the distributor that the film could finally be passed uncut, but it has not been re-submitted for classification.

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Connections

Referenced in RuPaul's Drag Race: Countdown to the Crown (2015)

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Soundtracks

Jim Dandy
by Lincoln Chase
Performed by La Vern Baker
Produced Under License from Atlantic Recording Corp., By Arrangement with Warner Special Products

User Reviews

Who's the filthiest woman alive?

"Pink Flamingos" will always be known as the film with "that doggie-poop scene". Starring the divine Divine, the film explores the outer limits of sick humor. Divine and her brewd compete with another family to see who is "the filthiest person alive". Have a guess at who'll win that one!?

John Waters' early "camp" films are not for the average viewer. You must appreciate this man's form of art, but it definitely IS art! Later films like "Hairspray", "Cry Baby" are geared at a main stream audience, for which the filmmaker had to "tone it down" considerably. For the College Camp Scene though, there is no substitute for the original 70's camp mastrpieces.

For anyone who is a John Waters virgin and would like a recommendation for the next "project", I suggest "Female Trouble" . There's so much more to John Waters' vision, realized through his muse Divine. The visually stunning, grotesquely overweight transvestite is quite credible as "Dawn Davenport", the high schooler who burned her small-town bridges when she didn't get her "cha-cha heels" for Christmas in "Female Trouble". There are many scenes that are definitely not for the squeamish, highlighted by the moment where Dawn gives birth (alone) and bites the ambilical cord (like primates would do), then, without losing a beat, gets up to confront the newborn's father via a pay phone.

If "Pink Flamingos" entertained you without giving your stomach a turn-over, then you can handle anything delivered by the creative genius John Waters. As all directors, Waters has had a few duds, even if they were box office successes. Avoid the made-up-as-they-go "Pecker", a total waste of time. The musically sparcling "Cry Baby" was trashed by critics, but the sound track makes up plenty for a lousy script. The one to beat is the 1988 "Hairspray", Divine's swan song. "Pink Flamingos" is the ONE that started it all and put Waters on the cult-city map of the world! Just to be safe, have the movie first -- then the dinner!

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

October 1979 (West Germany)

Also Known As:

John Waters' Pink Flamingos

Filming Locations:

Maryland, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$10,000 (estimated)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Dreamland

Technical Specs

Runtime:

93 min 106 min (re-release) 104 min (re-release) 108 min (re-release) 108 min (re-release)

Sound Mix:

Dolby (1997 re-release) Mono

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1