"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!
