Pink Flamingos (1972)

Terrible acting, screenplay and direction.

Don't Believe the Hype

Clever and entertaining enough to recommend even to members of the 1%

A great movie, one of the best of this year. There was a bit of confusion at one point in the plot, but nothing serious.

I expected this to be crass, outrageous, and disgusting. It was. However, I did not expect it to be so genuinely giddy, self-aware, and downright hilarious. This has got to be one of the most quotable films I've seen in a long time. The writing is great, and the conviction through which the dialogue is delivered by the performers totally sells it; elevates it, even. Divine in particular commands every scene she's in and manages to be outlandish in a way that is both repulsive and hypnotic. No, it isn't perfect. The pacing is a bit odd, the camerawork is beyond basic and the colors are drab. However, these shortcomings lend an endearing quality that only adds to the trashiness that the film gleefully revels in. Had it been more competently made, I don't think it would've had the same effect. I couldn't call it a favorite, but it is certainly memorable and its best moments are pure gold.Strong 3.5/5

******************* CONTAINS SPOILERS ************************ If you're here like me because you're into weird movies, I am warning you, you're going to have a terrible time. This movie was a waste of my time and I still think of what a bad time I had while watching it. If you're in doubt whether to watch it or not, follow my advice and go see another disturbing movie, but not this one. I have seen some perturbed movies like "964 Pinocchio" & "Enter the Void" and none made me feel the way I felt after watching "Pink Flamingos". If you decide to ignore me and watch it anyway, I'll just list some of the most disturbing scenes of the movie. Don't worry I wont spoil the storyline because there is no plot at all, just bizarre and revolting scenes. 1. A man completely naked opening and closing his anus 2. Divine eating dog feces (which sadly, are real) 3. The emasculation of a man 4. Two persons having sex while crushing a live chicken to deathIf you agree and think that any of the things listed above are acceptable and worth watching, then go ahead. I'm not saying that I don't enjoy movies that make you feel sick by the end, however I prefer ones where the actors are remotely good and where the plot is more interesting than 'who is the filthiest person alive'."Pink Flamingos" is not a movie where you contemplate life at the end and makes you think about a deeper meaning. John Waters just wanted to shock the audience with disgusting scenes. It will gross you out, but that was Waters intention. Overall the acting is crap, the editing was horrible and I could write a better plot than this. I would rate this 0/10 but the lowest is 1/10.

First of all, I want to quickly squeeze in that the dialogue is wholly atrocious. I can't stand it. Now for the review...John Waters misses the mark in Pink Flamingos, overshooting avant-garde paraphelia to eye-rolling licentiousness. The plot revolves around two parties with an overly uncanny fetish for filth (coincidentally not too far from each other). Why or how such perversion in their lives came to be is never explained. Even the setting is almost anachronistic in nature.I watched this movie finding myself without care for any of the characters amidst this misfire of art. John Waters may have set the benchmark high for sickness in cinema, but watching it without any rhyme or reason implores me to wonder why I'm bothering watching any of it. If John Waters wanted to prove something by producing this movie, he grossly failed (pun absolutely intended).It could be possible (albeit highly unlikely) that John Waters made Pink flamingos "ars gratia artis," but that failed too. The utterly shoddy camera-work coupled with the haphazard film editing is a quick recipe to make a movie unwatchable. Waters has never cooked it more perfectly.My least favorite movie is Freddy got Fingered. That movie is mindless shock humor. Coincidence? I think not.

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