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>
In the film MIDNIGHT MOVIES, John Waters says in part "I was high when I wrote this film. I was NOT high when I made it." See more »
Goofs
Throughout the film, the Marbles deliriously talk about their scheme to ruin Divine and seize her title of "Filthiest Person Alive". They refer to the attacks as a series of "phases" - phase one is the sending of the obscene parcel. Phase three is when Connie & Raymond are in the phone booth calling the police about Divine's rambunctious birthday party. But there is no "phase two". See more »
Quotes
Babs Johnson:
Kill everyone now! Condone first degree murder! Advocate cannibalism! Eat shit! Filth is my politics! Filth is my life!
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
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. See more »
On the surface "Pink Flamingos" could easily be dismissed as a nostalgic piece of shock cinema. With an unparalleled level of notoriety -- based almost entirely on the final scene, the film has become a curiosity of sorts and a right of passage for those testing their own boundaries of decency. Beneath this seedy exterior however, lies a brilliant and biting satire of society's obsession with fame and the lengths one will go to in order to achieve it. This theme is relevant even more so today than it ever was. Just consider the over abundance of reality TV shows, for example 'Fear Factor' a show boasting contestants eager and willing to outdo one another by performing a variety of dangerous stunts and eating unimaginable specimens how is this any different than the characters in 'Pink Flamingos' attempting to outdo one another in an effort to claim the dubious title of the filthiest people alive? Society is (and has always been) captivated with sensationalism; from the Roman era and the coliseum packed with bloodthirsty audiences, to modern day and the likes of the 'Jerry Springer Show' (of which Babs Johnson and the Marbles would make excellent guests!!). The purpose of "Pink Flamingos" is to not only put a hilariously depraved spin on the fascination with celebrity but to also provide a cautionary tone to the dissolution of society itself. The performances are all top-notch; especially the ever-dependable and over-the-top Mink Stole, as heartless Connie Marble; and scene stealing Edith Massey, as Edie 'The Egg Lady'. It's amazing that the film is over thirty-years old because the message is just as fresh today as it was back in 1972.
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On the surface "Pink Flamingos" could easily be dismissed as a nostalgic piece of shock cinema. With an unparalleled level of notoriety -- based almost entirely on the final scene, the film has become a curiosity of sorts and a right of passage for those testing their own boundaries of decency. Beneath this seedy exterior however, lies a brilliant and biting satire of society's obsession with fame and the lengths one will go to in order to achieve it. This theme is relevant even more so today than it ever was. Just consider the over abundance of reality TV shows, for example 'Fear Factor' a show boasting contestants eager and willing to outdo one another by performing a variety of dangerous stunts and eating unimaginable specimens how is this any different than the characters in 'Pink Flamingos' attempting to outdo one another in an effort to claim the dubious title of the filthiest people alive? Society is (and has always been) captivated with sensationalism; from the Roman era and the coliseum packed with bloodthirsty audiences, to modern day and the likes of the 'Jerry Springer Show' (of which Babs Johnson and the Marbles would make excellent guests!!). The purpose of "Pink Flamingos" is to not only put a hilariously depraved spin on the fascination with celebrity but to also provide a cautionary tone to the dissolution of society itself. The performances are all top-notch; especially the ever-dependable and over-the-top Mink Stole, as heartless Connie Marble; and scene stealing Edith Massey, as Edie 'The Egg Lady'. It's amazing that the film is over thirty-years old because the message is just as fresh today as it was back in 1972.