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:

absurd humor | black humor | black comedy | 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

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

October 1979 (West Germany)

Also Known As:

John Waters' Pink Flamingos

Filming Locations:

Baltimore, 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

Did You Know?

Trivia

Divine saw an item on TV that night, so he was worried about worms. He didn't eat it, of course, he just put it in his mouth.

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Goofs

When Cookie makes her phone call to the Marbles, there is a clear shadow of the crew as someone on the set moves around.

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Quotes

Miss Edie: Babs, where do eggs come from?
Babs Johnson: From little chickens, Mama. They lay them, and we eat them.
Miss Edie: But suppose someday there weren't any chickens. Would that mean there wouldn't be any eggs?
Babs Johnson: Oh, I don't think you have to worry about that, Mama.
Miss Edie: But... but is it true, Babs? lf there weren't any chickens, there wouldn't be any eggs? Is that true?
Babs Johnson: I suppose so, Mama... but there will always be chickens. You can be sure of that.
Miss Edie: But suppose someday it happens. Suppose someday there weren't any chickens. Oh...
[...]

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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 25th Anniversary re-release version contains a re-recorded music soundtrack, re-mixed for stereo, plus 15 minutes of deleted scenes preceeded by the film, introduced by John Waters.

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Connections

References Teorema (1968)

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Soundtracks

(How Much Is) That Doggie In the Window
Written by Bob Merrill
Performed by Patti Page
Courtesy of Mercury Nashville Records
by Arrangement with PolyGram Film and TV Licensing

User Reviews

It may be cheap and revolting, but it's got style.

I first saw Pink Flamingos in the mid 70's, back before VCRs. A college dorm had rented a print, and in a drunken state I've not achieved again this past quarter-century, I went to see it. Having finally seen it again only recently, this time sober, I'm here to tell you... it looks a hell of a lot better when you're drunk. Those who call it "great" or a "masterpiece" are plain wrong, they don't recognize what they are seeing. The camera work is a hair's breadth above home movies; the acting and story are... well, they are better than in porn flicks and even some straight-to-video movies, but, jeez, not by much. And then there is the primary purpose behind Pink Flamingos -- to make the most disgusting, revolting movie possible, perhaps even conceivable.

But... BUT... Pink Flamingos is distinctive. Even if you - yes YOU out there - the reader, wanted to make the most disgusting movie in the world and even if you had the money and the skills that John Waters lacked in 1972, you couldn't make a film as good as he did. Yes, GOOD! You couldn't because, first of all, I doubt you have the same quality of acquaintances that Waters had and put into into his early movies. And it's not just a matter of WHAT they will do, but HOW they do it. Waters' actors had a style, no matter how bizarre, that is rarer than most depravities. Could YOU recognize the virtues of, let alone even find, someone like Edith Massey? I doubt it. Which leads to the second point.

Pink Flamingos has panache! It has a free-wheeling sense of daring-do that borders on innocent fun. So, although the movie is so disgusting that I wish it had never been made, it is not a squalid film. And I don't think YOU, the reader, or anyone other than Waters could have pulled that off. It doesn't make Pink Flamingos a masterpiece. It does make it unlike any other film.