Review of Pink Flamingos (1976) by Thomas B — 25 Sep 2008

Disgusting! Incendiary! Riveting! PINK FLAMINGOS is the movie lampooning the very people who are appalled by it. With acts of depravity to make the strongest hearts skip a beat, this one makes SOMETHING ABOUT MARY look like SNOW WHITE.

Babs Johnson (the inimitable Divine) is The Filthiest Person Alive. Her title is coveted by Raymond and Connie Marble who run a black-market adoption ring targeted at childless lesbian couples. The Marbles' keep their baby-assembly line going by abducting girls and locking them in a dirty basement where they are impregnated by Channing, the weary cheauffer.

Keep in mind that PINK FLAMINGOS was made in 1972 when the idea of a lesbian couple adopting was enough to produce gasps of horror, then add an incestuous liaison, a fully nude pre-op transsexual, an up close and personal artificial insemination, a butthole dance, a cannibal feast, and a few other now-infamous scenes (including the gloriously revolting final moment) and you'll barely get a taste of this one.

(Sorry...bad word choice but you'll understand when you see it.) Characters with names like Crackers, Cookie and Edie the Egg Lady round out the ensemble. (Edie, Babs' mother, is played with gusto by the late Edith Massey.

Grossly overweight and first seen in a playpen wearing nothing but bra and girdle as she cries for eggs, Edie is probably the most peculiar character you'll ever see on film. I'm a huge fan of the unflappable Ms.

Massey.) Neither for the faint of heart nor for anyone who buys into conventional morality, this movie is pure smut. Brandishing an amoral but happy ending squarely on the side of the depraved, John Waters makes you believe that even the mad can live happily ever after.

Make sure there is no food anywhere near you during the last 2 minutes of the film or if there is, keep a puke-bucket handy: this is the scene that earns Divine the title of The Filthiest Person Ever to Make a Movie.