Jackson Booth-Millard
I watched a small portion of this film in Film Studies in college, and it features in the book 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die, I knew the most disgusting moment at the end, I was prepared for whatever else was in store, from the aptly named "Prince of Puke", cult writer and director John Waters. Basically on the outskirts of Phoenix, Maryland, in a pink and green caravan, with a pair of eponymous plastic pink flamingos, lives underground criminal Divine (Divine, real name Harris Glenn Milstead), with her mentally ill, egg-loving mother Edie (Edith Massey), hippie delinquent son Crackers (Danny Mills), and travelling companion Cotton (Mary Vivian Pearce). Divine has gained herself the reputation of "the filthiest person alive" by a tabloid paper, jealous rivals the Marbles, Connie (Mink Stole) and Raymond (David Lochary), set out to destroy her career and take this title for themselves. The Marbles run an "adoption clinic", a black market baby ring, where they kidnap young women, their manservant Channing (Channing Wilroy) impregnates them with artificial insemination, they sell the babies to local lesbian couples, and the money they make they invest in heroin to sell in schools. The Marbles send their spy Cookie (Cookie Mueller) to search for Divine, there is a scene where Connie and Raymond have sex, while crushing a live chicken between them, Cookie looks through the window, before coming in to tell them he has found Divine, living under the pseudonym "Babs Johnson". Divine is celebrating her birthday, she is shocked to find a box containing human feces sent to her as a present, with a card calling her "Fatso", and the writers proclaiming themselves "The Filthiest People Alive", worried her title has been seized, Divine vows revenge, and to kill whoever sent the package. The birthday party continues, with the Marbles spying, Divine receives an assortment of gifts she is happy with, including live shampoo, a pig's head, and an axe, they also have a topless woman dancing with a snake, and a contortionist who "sings" with his anus to the rhythm of "Surfin' Bird". One of the guests, the Egg Man (Paul Swift), who delivers eggs to Edie daily, confesses his love and proposes to her, she accepts and he carries her away in a wheelbarrow for a honeymoon around the egg industry. The Marbles attempt to get Divine and the other arrested, but this proves unsuccessful as they kill the officers, their bodies are hacked up with the axe, and the party- goers goers eat them. Divine finds out the Marbles' address from local gossip, Patty Hitler (Pat Moran), she and Crackers go to their house, they lick and rub everything to spread their "filthiness", excited they also engage in oral sex, they find Channing locked away, but do not free him, the free two captive women from the basement, off-screen they punish Channing. Connie and Raymond burn down Divine's beloved trailer to the ground, when they return home they find their furniture, having been "cursed" by the licking and rubbing, "rejects" them, they also find the two girls escaped and Channing has bled to death from castration. Divine is furious finding her home has been destroyed, so they return to the Mables' house, holding them hostage at gunpoint, and the local tabloid press are called to witness their trial and execution. Divine holds the "kangaroo court", asking Cotton and Crackers for their biased testimony, the Marbles are found guilty "first-degree stupidity" and "assholism", and sentenced to death, bound and gagged they are tied to a tree, covered with tar and feathers, Divine shoots them in the head, the media leave satisfied, having seen a live homicide. In the end, Divine, Crackers and Cotton relocate to Boise, Idaho, the end shot sees them stop excited to see a dog defecating on the sidewalk, Divine takes the feces in her hand and puts them in her mouth, proving she is not only the filthiest person in the world, but also the world's filthiest actress, she gags twice, before apparently swallowing and grinning at the camera. Also starring Susan Walsh as Suzie and Linda Olgeirson as Linda, with narration from John Waters. Drag queen Divine proves herself the ultimate sleaze superstar, the rest of the actors are obviously amateurs, the film is the lowest of low budgets, and does absolutely everything it can to cause disgust and outrage: obscenity, chicken sex (or animal cruelty), real sexual acts, a performing rectum, and of course the final coprophagia (the consumption of feces). But this unashamed, notorious, gross-out movie does kind of work, aside from the vulgar stuff it does make you laugh, because it is so stupid, it's good because it's bad, a surprisingly funny cult satirical melodrama. Very good!
sashank_kini-1
Pink Flamingos – The Movie is a rare bird which not only makes trash enjoyable but also a good film. Just a single clip of trashy reality TV shows Jerry Springer or The Maury Show on YouTube and what we witness is nonstop display of vulgarity, sleaze and uncontrollable behavior. On the other hand, we have a plethora of terrible films like The Room, the entire Friday the Thirteenth series, Caligula etc that are unintentionally hilarious but all in all unwatchable. Pink Flamingos is a sure shot delight for the voyeurs of violence, sex, deviance, coarseness and trash, albeit one that is made with uncanny expertise. John Walters is the small-scale Quentin Tarantino who can conjure unique, quirky characters and make them cult figures; we are not perturbed by the characters' wrongdoings and we usually end up rooting for them to commit another misdeed.The story here is narrated in an androgynous manner, probably by a flaming gay man or a transsexual, who takes us into the pink, tawdry and shabby trailer of Divine (who is living as Babs Johnson to evade police attention) and her family- her pretty, lusty blonde traveling companion Cotton who possesses the looks of a yesteryear's' star, her bucktoothed, long-maned chicken loving son Crackers and her egg obsessed cutie-pie mother Edie. Divine has long remained the undisputed 'filthiest person on the planet', unbeaten, unchallenged by anyone and is a small-time cult figure who makes it into shoddy newspapers. She is settled now, and does no harm to others other that warming beef between her legs to save on money. Her son seems more wayward at first, but only in sex (chickens are his favorite partners, it seems). Cotton exhibits only voyeuristic tendencies and likes to hang posters of beefy men next to her bed – but that seems acceptable. And sweet Edie only thinks and talks about eggs, their shape, size and color, Humpty Dumpty nursery rhyme, what happens if all the chickens disappear?, when will the egg-man arrive etc. No one seems to transgress modesty to an unlawful extent except perhaps Crackers. But all this changes when the team is challenged by Raymond and Bonnie Marble, a husband-wife team who vie to steal Divine's esteemed (at least according to them) title. Raymond exposes himself to unsuspecting souls but that is just the tip of the iceberg- the couple discreetly orders their homosexual manservant Channing to impregnate kidnapped women, so that the new-born can be sold to happy lesbian couples. The pitiful kidnapped woman in tattered clothes and straggly hair castigates Channing whenever he enters the basement; she hasn't even seen the actual perpetrators of her misery. When this terrible couple takes on Divine and her flamingos, it is WAR!I believe that the degree of crime committed by Connie and Raymond automatically makes them antagonists; while most of Divine's victims are simply killed without much introduction, we are constantly updated about Connie's victims' sufferings. Even the effect from the disturbing chicken scene with Crackers and the spy Cookie is palliated by the previous scene where we are told of Cookie's deception. . Divine and her gang shoot, chop and eat their victims in one scene but it is too hilariously over-the-top to be offensive. The sexuality on the other hand is something that is bound to gross out or p-ss off certain audiences, with the idea of incest itself can be unnerving for many, but again who really finds Divine to be role model or even a woman, with her androgynous appearance and her ludicrous make up (actual name: Harris Glenn; yes, a man!).The entire setup seems like shots from a sleazy reality show, the budget of the film being so tight the entire product was the master copy. We see choppy editing, shadows creeping up often in the background, cameras shaking furiously while closing in on a person and passersby gawking at Divine's appearance as if completely unaware of the film. However, it is this low-quality which make the action look more authentic, as if Divine is an actual C-grade celeb who has made her name through malefaction. The songs, a mix of rock and roll and country make the scenes more lively and enjoyable, and also mitigate the actual violent acts that occur when the music is played.Watch Pink Flamingos if you want to see a kick-ass trashy exploitation film. It is hilarious at moments (the 'trial' scene) and deliciously (in a slightly gross way), wickedly and divinely entertaining. My Rating: 7.4 out of 10
