Pink Flamingos (1972) Film Review Trash! Trash! Trash! Rated C (Solo) High Camp at a Midnight Screening

DIRECTOR: John Waters

BOTTOM LINE: After two under-the-radar curiosities, John Waters and his star, the fabulous drag queen Divine (né Harris Glenn Milstead), arrived on the scene in the fall of 1972 with “Pink Flamingos,” a sick-and-twisted black comedy and the first part of his “Trash Trilogy”, which also includes “Female Trouble” (1974) and “Desperate Living” (1977). Divine plays a criminal named Babs Johnson, who is proud to be the filthiest person alive. While living in a trailer with her mother, Edie (Edith Massey), and companion Cotton (Mary Vivian Pearce), she is confronted by the Marbles (David Lochary and Mink Stole), a pair of criminals envious of her reputation who try to outdo her in filth. The scene in which Devine eats dog poop is not for the faint at heart. Like “Valley of the Dolls” and “Rocky Horror,” the ONLY way to see “Pink Flamingos” is as a GROUP EXPERIENCE with a very gay crowd. Like the majority of his films, “Pink Flamingos” is set in Waters’s hometown of Baltimore, which he affectionately calls the “white trash capital of the world.” Original screenplay by Waters.

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STREAMING: “Pink Flamingos” is not available for streaming. However, the DVD can be purchased on Amazon.

The Dreamlanders

Just a partial list of John Waters’s group of stock players known as “The Dreamlanders.” Most of the original bunch live, or lived, in the Baltimore area. Divine, David Lochary, Edith Massey, Mink Stole, Mary Vivian Pearce and Rikki Lake were essential to Water’s transition from cult favorite to mainstream success with “Pink Flamingos,” “Polyester” and particularly “Hairspray.”