1. Pink Flamingos (1972)
A highly celebrated cult exploitation film, Pink Flamingos is a highly transgressive black comedy set in Maryland. Divine plays an underground criminal called 'Babs Johnson' who lives in a pink trailer with her mentally ill mother Edie, delinquent son Crackers and companion Cotton. She has been dubbed 'The Filthiest Person Alive' by a tabloid and bitter rivals Connie and Raymond Marble set out to destroy her. The Marbles run a black market baby ring. They kidnap young women and get their butler to inseminate them. The resulting babies are sold to lesbian couples and the funds are used to sell heroin to school children. Raymond also exposes himself to get money. He ties sausages to his penis and shows himself to women in the park, snatching their bags as they flee. The Marbles send a spy called Cookie over to spy on Babs. She has sex with Cracker and they crush a live bird between them. At Divine's birthday, she gets a box full of excrement from the Marbles with a card proclaiming themselves as the world's filthiest people. Divine vows to kill them. The Marbles come to spy on her birthday party. She gets lots of gifts including a pig's head, lice shampoo and an axe. The Marbles are disgusted at the bacchanals and phone the police but Divine and co simply kill the police and eat them. At the party's end, Divine and Cracker head over to the Marbles where they begin to lick all the furniture to spread their filthiness. They get turned on whilst doing this and have oral sex. The Marbles burn Divine's trailer to the ground so she takes them hostage and calls the tabloids to come and witness their trial and execution. The Marbles are put to death for 'first degree stupidity' and 'assholism'. They are tied to a tree, tarred and feathered and shot. Divine says she will relocate to Boise, Idaho Then she eats dog s**t. For real. Pink Flamingos has become over the years a kind of rite of passage movie for people to test out the boundaries of cinema that they can tolerate. It is certainly extreme in content and is quite a disgusting spectacle but it is extremely funny and does possess a serious message/piece of social satire on how far people will go to secure fame. Think of I'm A Celebrity Get Me Out Of Here and C class celebrities eating all sorts of nasty things in a desperate attempt to stay in the show. Is Divine eating dog crap so different? Waters is obviously filming on a microbudget but he has the advantage of working with an awesome cast which are unique to his films (Divine, Edie Massey, Cookie Mueller et al). There is no genre to put Pink Flamingos into. It is totally unique. It may offend the delicate sensibilities of some but for the exploitation fan, this one is manna from heaven.
A highly celebrated cult exploitation film, Pink Flamingos is a highly transgressive black comedy set in Maryland. Divine plays an underground criminal called 'Babs Johnson' who lives in a pink trailer with her mentally ill mother Edie, delinquent son Crackers and companion Cotton. She has been dubbed 'The Filthiest Person Alive' by a tabloid and bitter rivals Connie and Raymond Marble set out to destroy her. The Marbles run a black market baby ring. They kidnap young women and get their butler to inseminate them. The resulting babies are sold to lesbian couples and the funds are used to sell heroin to school children. Raymond also exposes himself to get money. He ties sausages to his penis and shows himself to women in the park, snatching their bags as they flee. The Marbles send a spy called Cookie over to spy on Babs. She has sex with Cracker and they crush a live bird between them. At Divine's birthday, she gets a box full of excrement from the Marbles with a card proclaiming themselves as the world's filthiest people. Divine vows to kill them. The Marbles come to spy on her birthday party. She gets lots of gifts including a pig's head, lice shampoo and an axe. The Marbles are disgusted at the bacchanals and phone the police but Divine and co simply kill the police and eat them. At the party's end, Divine and Cracker head over to the Marbles where they begin to lick all the furniture to spread their filthiness. They get turned on whilst doing this and have oral sex. The Marbles burn Divine's trailer to the ground so she takes them hostage and calls the tabloids to come and witness their trial and execution. The Marbles are put to death for 'first degree stupidity' and 'assholism'. They are tied to a tree, tarred and feathered and shot. Divine says she will relocate to Boise, Idaho Then she eats dog s**t. For real. Pink Flamingos has become over the years a kind of rite of passage movie for people to test out the boundaries of cinema that they can tolerate. It is certainly extreme in content and is quite a disgusting spectacle but it is extremely funny and does possess a serious message/piece of social satire on how far people will go to secure fame. Think of I'm A Celebrity Get Me Out Of Here and C class celebrities eating all sorts of nasty things in a desperate attempt to stay in the show. Is Divine eating dog crap so different? Waters is obviously filming on a microbudget but he has the advantage of working with an awesome cast which are unique to his films (Divine, Edie Massey, Cookie Mueller et al). There is no genre to put Pink Flamingos into. It is totally unique. It may offend the delicate sensibilities of some but for the exploitation fan, this one is manna from heaven.