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".
A spoiled schoolgirl runs away from home, gets pregnant while hitch-hiking, and ends up as a fashion model for a pair of beauticians who like to photograph women committing crimes.
A neurotic society woman murders her husband with the help of her maid and, on the lam, escape to Mortville, a homeless community ruled over by a fascist queen.
A suburban housewife's world falls apart when she finds that her pornographer husband is serially unfaithful to her, her daughter is pregnant, and her son is suspected of being the foot-fetishist who's been breaking local women's feet.
An uptight, middle-aged, repressed woman turns into a sex addict after getting hit on the head, and she then falls into an underground subculture of sex addicts in suburban Baltimore.
A talented young photographer, who enjoys snapping photos of his satirical, perverted Baltimore neighborhood and his wacky family, gets dragged into a world of pretentious artists from New York City and finds newfound fame.
Director:
John Waters
Stars:
Edward Furlong,
Christina Ricci,
Bess Armstrong
An insane independent film director and his renegade group of teenage filmmakers kidnap an A-list Hollywood actress and force her to star in their underground film.
Director:
John Waters
Stars:
Melanie Griffith,
Stephen Dorff,
Alicia Witt
A day in the lives of a hit-and-run driver and her victim, and the bizarre things that happen to them before and after they collide (sexual assault by a crazed foot-fetishist, visions of ... See full summary »
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...Written by
Michael Brooke <michael@everyman.demon.co.uk>
There was a "Revenge On Cookie" subplot, cut from the final film. See more »
Goofs
During a tracking shot along a sidewalk, the window frame of the camera car enters the shot. See more »
Quotes
Crackers:
Let's sleep in gas station lavatories this time, mama. Fuck permanent residences. It'll strengthen our filthiness.
See more »
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.) See more »
Alternate Versions
Although an uncut pre-certified video appeared in 1981 the film was never officially released in the UK until 1990. The initial Castle video was cut by 3 minutes 4 secs by the BBFC with heavy edits to the forced insemination and oral sex scenes, a chicken being crushed during a sex scene and shots of the man's elastic anus, and the final dog excrement eating scene was reduced to a series of still images. The 1997 cinema release saw the elastic anus scene restored and the 1999 EIV video (cut by a lesser 2 minutes 8 secs) restored both the elastic anus and complete excrement eating scenes. See more »
There is no film to put beside Pink Flamingos by way of comparison. It is a film genre of it's own. I read and hear reviews of this movie that express disgust and horror and I picture John Waters chuckling. This was the intent, it was meant to upset the status quo and in "politically correct" times that we live in, isn't it a small surprise to see this film come to the forefront again? This is a movie that will freak out the uptight for as long as it exists in any media. It was meant to. As much as "Clockwork Orange" talked about "ultraviolence" this movie is all about ultra-bad taste. We can numb ourselves to sex and violence but Pink Flamingos is a movie you just will never get used to. There will be something in this movie that will get to you. As a last resort to make sure everyone is offended before you leave the theatre, John includes the always discussed poodle scene. No reason for this scene, except to make sure he gets you and also to make sure you leave talking about it. Obviously filmed on a budget, and using Water's stock cast, this is a movie simply about a contest to see who are the filthiest people alive. All the characters are bizarre in one way or another. This movie reminds me of "Rocky Horror Picture Show" in that everyone in the film has something odd about them and both movies joyfully celebrate these uniquenesses. Not a movie to buy for Mom on Mother's Day... but worth seeing just to say you did.
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There is no film to put beside Pink Flamingos by way of comparison. It is a film genre of it's own. I read and hear reviews of this movie that express disgust and horror and I picture John Waters chuckling. This was the intent, it was meant to upset the status quo and in "politically correct" times that we live in, isn't it a small surprise to see this film come to the forefront again? This is a movie that will freak out the uptight for as long as it exists in any media. It was meant to. As much as "Clockwork Orange" talked about "ultraviolence" this movie is all about ultra-bad taste. We can numb ourselves to sex and violence but Pink Flamingos is a movie you just will never get used to. There will be something in this movie that will get to you. As a last resort to make sure everyone is offended before you leave the theatre, John includes the always discussed poodle scene. No reason for this scene, except to make sure he gets you and also to make sure you leave talking about it. Obviously filmed on a budget, and using Water's stock cast, this is a movie simply about a contest to see who are the filthiest people alive. All the characters are bizarre in one way or another. This movie reminds me of "Rocky Horror Picture Show" in that everyone in the film has something odd about them and both movies joyfully celebrate these uniquenesses. Not a movie to buy for Mom on Mother's Day... but worth seeing just to say you did.