Yr fave John Waters film (except Pink Flamingos)

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.

Voted for "auto in-DUS-try".

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L-XTsXNufYQ

An Oscar clip if I've ever seen one.

Desperate Living because:

Most of the dialogue consists of screaming
Mink Stole is the star of the show
It is his most disgusting film

Desperate Living because:

"I don't want no white man looking at my Tampax!!"

I'm going with Desperate Living just ahead of Female Trouble-I think DL is funnier and more well sustained. And I would put them both well ahead of Pink Flamingos.

Desperate Living because:

"I don't want no white man looking at my Tampax!!"

― Ham Lushbaugh (Eric H.), Wednesday, September 19, 2012 9:03 AM (12 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

^^^^^

u guys sure like your sassy 600-pound mamas

desperate living although female trouble is a close second, thouhg I will say I still would prefer a neuter version of each film

" Uh OH , here come the honkies already!" w/ Turkey Joe =- so many classic lines

"Desperate living" is the only film of his I haven't seen
(and "Mondo trasho")

desperate living although female trouble is a close second, thouhg I will say I still would prefer a neuter version of each film

So ... A Dirty Shame then?

xp oh man you are in for a treat

"treat"

omg the Gator leaves for Detroit scene

Desperate Living is like the darkest funniest thing ever

Was torn among Mondo Trasho, Desperate Living and Female Trouble; Mondo wins because of Mink Stole's topless dance and this, the greatest scene in all cinema: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kVCCFF8BTkc

Cry-Baby is one of my favorite movies. So so many things to love. Rikki Lake, for one thing. "He likes his women bad, not cheap." And the way he escapes from prison, by way of the easily removed grate in the floor of his cell. It's so funny and so campy and so meta and so absurd. And also Iggy Pop.

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.

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.