Yr fave John Waters film (except Pink Flamingos)

I really think "Desperate Living" might be his grossest because everything looks so cold and wet and like it's falling apart, and also the sex scenes are partic crazy.

female trouble now and forever

Female trouble is great. I have a real soft spot for Cry Baby.

serial mom is underrated imo

i'm not sure the PF consensus is that strong! but maybe it's just me, because i am a 'female trouble' guy

really strong advocate for Serial Mom

I am halfway thru Serial Mom atm and it's really really good!!

Serial Mom is great too. I should watch a lot of these again. Oh and here is a picture of JW and me and some other people which I know I've posted somewhere here before but I don't care because it's the best thing: http://i.imgur.com/mVUPc.jpg

I look v v happy which I was because omg JW but also extremely high tbh.

i think i go female trouble > pink flamingos > multiple maniacs > hairspray > polyester > serial mom > desperate living > cry baby > cecil b demented > pecker. never saw a dirty shame or mondo trasho, diane linklater story is the only short i've seen, i'd slot it above desperate living i guess for old times sake.

funny this thread pops up now, just started making my way through his earlier filmography after seeing most of his "normal" films over the years (haven't seen Female Trouble or any '60s stuff besides Mondo Trasho). Multiple Maniacs was probably the best of those

I think I'll watch them all in order now. I mean not this very minute but now generally and as a result of this thread.

The world of heterosexual is a sick and boring life

Female Trouble for me, too. Though I have lots of love for the 90s movies, and am in a crowd shot of Cecil B. Demented.

Going to vote Female Trouble, but man, Desperate Living has some of his very best dialogue.

Also, Pink Flamingos would've come in 4th or 5th with me, I think.

Voted the one w/the Pia Zadora beatnik

http://www.stomptokyo.com/pia/img/hairspray3.jpg

but not just for that reason

I have a soft spot for Polyester even though it's not his best. I especially like that the home viewing experience minus scratch & sniff card gives everyone a sense of the anosmic experience.

Female trouble vs desperate living

A dirty shame is so so depressingly awful

I'm gonna vote Cry Baby bc I know it upside down and inside out and it holds up p well as a musical and a musical parody :D

I couldn't finish Female Trouble, it fucked me up too much

the only ones i haven't seen are the mondo->diane->multiple maniacs (saw those first few films at his new museum show back in 2004)

also in 2004: watched 'female trouble' to console myself on election night

'desperate living' is the one that gets quoted most often between my bf and i though, esp. mink's anti-nature rant

Polyester gets slept on, but I think Divine getting all hoity over her husband's farts is as hysterical as Divine with oatmeal on her face sitting in an electric chair.

The real dirty shame will be if that ends up his last movie.

Another vote for Female Trouble. Don't know that much of the really early stuff, but I like pretty much everything from the '70s on except A Dirty Shame. Seem to recall Pecker being a little disappointing but still not terrible.

it would but tbh i'd be perfectly fine with him just writing books for the remainder of his life xp

Hey Waters fans, I just read ASK DR. MUELLER, the book of Cookie Mueller's writing, and it's a good read. Real raw and engaging writing. Gets kind of sad at the end when she's writing some health column (full of pretty bad health advice) in the '80s, with all her rants about how doctors will fuck you up bad if you're not straight (not even heterosexual but just 'straight' like not a normal). Followed by a little epilogue on how she died of AIDS. Cookie Mueller: ultimate wkiw

this guy is awesome but i wish i liked his movies more.

http://i60.photobucket.com/albums/h20/bitter69uk/Female-Trouble-Susan-Walsh-Cookie-Mueller-4.jpg

love you Cookie

such a treasure. i really need to read that book!!

a john waters dreamland stable poll might be fun

When I was at Occupy Bmore the queer camp called themselves Mortville and we spent a lot of time quoting "Desperate Living" to each other

oh man I love me some Cookie, esp Nan Goldin's photos of her

Only have seen Flamingos and the 5 from the 80s-90s (and I guess some painful minutes of A Dirty Shame). Voting for Polyester over Hairspray.

tbh i'd be perfectly fine with him just writing books for the remainder of his life

I would be happy to see all working film critics replaced by just him.

ditto

stan vote for cry-baby

I think I'll watch them all in order now. I mean not this very minute but now generally and as a result of this thread.

― (✿◠‿◠) (ENBB), Wednesday, September 19, 2012 2:11 AM (3 hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

watching them in random order would probably be more fun

serial mom

Probably Cry-Baby b/c I loved the music so much and thought Amy Locane looked perfect

If this was post pink flamingos my vote would be serial mom with no reservations.

Polyester was my intro to the world of John Waters and i still think it stands up, also the Baltimore Foot Stomper makes me lol a lot

have always preferred FT to PF

The legacy of Hairspray is kind of a bummer, but that movie is really awesome. The production design is amazing.

Yes. And the bit where they leave the 'studio' and go downtown, and suddenly it looks like they went to somewhere real.

Desperate Living is so incredible, but the bleakness is so overwhelming

super-fond of Cecil B.

re: CryBaby, my little girl riding on a duck from Enchanted Forest this weekend

https://sphotos-a.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-snc6/207975_531057790253059_184226875_n.jpg

(@0:37)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wDYSsntMVsQ

I don't know, I'm trippin.

Definitely prefer Cry-Baby to Hairspray, among the John Waters movies most likely to be stocked at Wal-Mart.

wow, just realized a lot of childhood photos of me are from visits to the Enchanted Forest

Divine's performance in Female Trouble makes me anxious.

Pink Flamingos would not be obvious answer for me at all. Of the early, grossout stuff (which I honestly don't have the inclination to revisit anymore) I would rank Female Trouble > Desperate Living > Flamingos. I can barely remember Multiple Maniacs, but Mortville set and overall production design of Female Trouble are seared in my brain forever.

Of the more mainstream films, Hairspray and Cry Baby are a deadlocked tie for me; love them both, more than Polyester. And nothing from Serial Mom on really clicked for me.

I wish I could find video or images, but the first time you see the rickety slum village of Mortville, the scene is amazingly similar (in my memory) to the Joads' arrival in a migrant worker camp in The Grapes of Wrath. I'm sure that was only my reading, though.

I really really love John Waters but Hairspray does seem like a pinnacle to me, the midway point between the guerilla gross-out low budget films and his latter more restrained efforts. probably his best ever cast too.

Hairspray and Cry-Baby are a hell of a lot more restrained than Serial Mom

But they're both very funny, it should be noted.

Anyone know of any plans to put these films out on blu-ray?

Not sure many of them "need" 1080p, tbh.

I watched "Back to the Future" on Blu-Ray last night, and it only made very clear how bad the makeup was. (Not that I think this is a make-or-break thing with a John Waters movie.)

The makeup was probably JUST FINE for 1985 theatrical exhibition and analog TV. Studio makeup was not meant to undergo Blu-Ray scrutiny, which is why I don't particularly want to watch BR discs if the film is from the pre-digital era.

Yah, but isn't celluloid an infinitesimal amount higher resolution than Blu-ray?

I mean, I watched Labyrinth on the big-screen again a few weeks back, and that paper-mache was way more obvious there than on DVD.

unfortunately the inherent flaws of pre-digital films are far less severe on my TV than the flaws of cheaply made DVDs

well, why are people only seeing Lemmon's makeup and eyeliner in The Apartment on BR?

Because they're watching Some Like It Hot by accident.

I'm sure you'll see a lot of stuff you weren't originally supposed to see like makeup, but I prefer that over seeing weird digital artifacts that were not in the original source at all

I watched Forbidden Zone on Blu-Ray and omglol talk about drawing attention to cheap set design

I think this thread derail is making me glad I watch most of my movies on thrift store VHS.

FEMALE TROUBLE

how's life! where are they keeping the enchanted forest now? it's not where it was a couple years ago, last time i checked

zach, the people at http://www.clarklandfarm.com/ (aka Clark's Elioak Farm)have done a lot of work restoring the old pieces from Enchanted Forest and giving them a home. It's right next to Centennial Park out on 108.

ah, thanks. sort of a bummer that sneaking into the abandoned plot is no longer an option for md's young

Pretty sure that's the Maryland Renaissance Festival near Crownsville playing the role of the Enchanted Forest in Cry Baby.

I'm pretty sure it's the actual Enchanted Forest in Ellicott City. Also, zachlyon: my wife reports that not everything had made it out to the farm yet, so it's possible that suburban youth still make pilgrimages to drink 40s (or 4Loko, these days) among the thorny brambles and derelict amusements.

You're right. http://articles.baltimoresun.com/1991-01-16/news/9113000505_1_enchanted-forest-cry-baby-gosling

Back in high school, I told this girl I was making out with that I thought she looked like Ricki Lake. I meant the skinny Ricki Lake who hosted the talk show. I had not yet seen Hairspray or Crybaby.

Ricki Lake in John Waters' films >>>>>>>>>> talk show Ricki Lake

My compliment was inept either way, but I got some very definite feedback at the time about telling a girl she looked like Ricki Lake and which version of Ricki Lake she presumed me to mean. The makeouts diminished significantly.

Yeah, I'm fairly sure going "but, uh, fat Ricki is way cooler" would not really help anybody's cause. Oh well.

Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.

this guy is awesome but i wish i liked his movies more.

― (The Other) J.D. (J.D.), Wednesday, September 19, 2012 3:08 AM (3 days ago) Bookmark

^^^ this. i'd rather re-read his interview in butt magazine that watch these films. If serial mom is one of his best i'd loathe to see one of the lesser ones. that film is completely inept and unfunny.

tbh i would attend a JW-curated fashion show or photography exhibit over watching his films any day of the week, tho I still like him OK as a director.

Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.

good turnout!

Surprised Cry-Baby had a pretty weak showing. Also, my late-period reclamation film is Cecil B. Demented, which nobody seemed to rep for as hard as Serial Mom, which I think is good, but not as good as CBD.

i love cecil b demented and got a signed copy for my birthday (after my parents ran into him @ borders)

Will rep for basically every single one of his films of his except Hairspray (doesn't need my help) and A Dirty Shame (doesn't deserve it).

Don't watch this again if you haven't seen multiple maniacs because seeing this in context as the climactic scene is what makes it the best of all of his many great films who wants to die for art

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_mPUVciF6TE

And by again I mean AGAIN

Ha, I liked "A dirty shame", it was so tasteless and stupid and amazing. The closing scene when the trees start turning into genitals and the dancers on the street spell out "SEX" felt charming in this old-school version of risqué.

Yeah, I was quite partial to A Dirty Shame too, though it suffers from the Tracy Ullman on a film screen problem...

I've got a ticket for this on the weekend:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sJqw0hTAhXY

Maybe John Waters will show up.

Very entertaining, very moving at times. Funniest moment: the juxtaposition of something Divine's mom says with the ending of Multiple Maniacs.

I'm pretty sure it's the actual Enchanted Forest in Ellicott City. Also, zachlyon: my wife reports that not everything had made it out to the farm yet, so it's possible that suburban youth still make pilgrimages to drink 40s (or 4Loko, these days) among the thorny brambles and derelict amusements.

― stURGEON & musKEY (how's life), Friday, September 21, 2012 4:54 AM (1 year ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

R.I.P.

http://ellicottcity.patch.com/groups/around-town/p/former-enchanted-forest-site-being-cleared?a_dgi=aolshare_facebook

also in 2004: watched 'female trouble' to console myself on election night

― TOP FEMALE LAWYER & CARTOONIST FOR 2011: (donna rouge), Tuesday, September 18, 2012 10:02 PM (five years ago) Bookmark

I just watched Female Trouble and found it oddly comforting in our current florid hellscape

my favorite has always been Serial Mom, but you can't fuck with the consecutive run of Multiple Maniacs, Pink Flamingoes, Female Trouble, and Desperate Living.