John Waters is an iconic director and screenwriter in addition to being an author, an artist, and when he finds the time, traveling the lecture circuit with a half-backstory half-stand-up routine that you can see on Netflix (This Filthy World, I HIGHLY recommend it). A celebrated cult filmmaker, his movies are trash-kitsch whirlwinds. Throughout his earlier films, he kept his regular group of collaborators known as the Dreamlanders. He enlisted his recurring superstars like Divine, Mink Stole, Mary Vivian Pearce, David Lochary, Edith Massey, Susan Lowe, and Cookie Mueller for much of his filmography. Rounding out the Dreamlanders are people like Van Smith, costume designer and makeup artist, and Pat Moran, Waters’ lifelong best friend, casting director, and producer.
After a series of both shorts and feature films, John Waters finally found success and underground notoriety in the 70’s with three films he’s dubbed The Trash Trio.
The first of the trio is the 1972 film Pink Flamingos. Starring Divine as a celebrity criminal under the fake name ‘Babs Johnson’, she lives undercover with her son Crackers (Danny Mills), her egg-obsessed mother Edie (legend, icon, and star Edith Massey) and their ‘traveling companion’ and resident voyeur Cotton (my queen, Mary Vivian Pearce). After Divine is named The Filthiest Person Alive, Connie and Raymond Marble (played by Mink Stole and David Lochary) set out to prove themselves as true filth royalty by
destroying Divine’s career.
*spoilers start here!
The Marbles’ credentials include running a black market adoption clinic where they kidnap young girls, have their servant Channing impregnate them, selling the babies to lesbian couples, and then using that money to finance a network of elementary school heroin dealers; when Raymond isn’t too busy tying a kielbasa to his dick in order to flash women in the park so he can steal their purses, of course. This routine is interrupted however to gain surveillance on Divine and her family. The Marbles’ hire a spy to go on a date with Crackers so she can get information and instead the two have sex while crushing a live chicken in between them in one of the infamous scenes in the movie. The fact that that is not the most infamous scene tells you a lot about what goes down in this movie.
After crashing Divine’s birthday party complete with pig heads, axes, Edie’s new engagement to the Egg Man, and lip-syncing prolapsed assholes; the Marbles call the police only for Divine and her party guests to hack them up and eat them. While Divine and Crackers spread their filthiness across the Marbles’ house (complete with an actual unassimilated incest-fest) , they discover Channing who had been locked away after being found dressed up in Connie’s clothes and makeup. They then save the kidnapped women who in turn cut Channing’s penis off.
Returning to their trailer, Divine and Crackers find that Connie and Raymond have burned down their trailer and set out to hold them hostage. Back at the site of the trailer, Divine calls all of the local tabloid reporters to cover the Marbles’ trial. While she has their attention, she takes the opportunity to lay out her ‘filth politics’, “Kill everyone now! Condone first degree murder! Advocate cannibalism! Eat shit! Filth are my politics! Filth is my life!”
The Marbles’ are sentenced to death for ‘first degree stupidity’ and ‘assholism’ and are shot promptly after being tied to a tree and tar and feathered. Divine, Crackers, and Cotton then plan for the future, deciding to leave for Boise, Idaho. The ending famously showing the three walking down the street when Divine sits down next to a dog and then eats it shit. Like actually. Like in real life. John Waters as the narrator, Mr. J, confirms her title by saying she is “not only the filthiest person in the world, but is also the world’s filthiest actress.” Instant. Cult. Classic.
With the tagline, “An exercise in poor taste”, Pink Flamingos delivered. The reception was polarized; you either loved it or you hated it. A cult following was gained through midnight movie screenings and later found critical success. Often considered “the most important queer film of all time”, the countercultural impact Pink Flamingos had was monumental.