Pink Flamingos (1972)
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82% of critics liked it
(38 reviews) -
72% of users liked it
(19,379 ratings)
Renegade filmmaker and noted aficionado of expressive bad taste John Waters exploded into international infamy with this darkly comic, no-budget parade of the perverse (his third feature film, and first in color), in which plus-size cross-dresser Divine stars as Babs Johnson, a flashy criminal on… More Renegade filmmaker and noted aficionado of expressive bad taste John Waters exploded into international infamy with this darkly comic, no-budget parade of the perverse (his third feature film, and first in color), in which plus-size cross-dresser Divine stars as Babs Johnson, a flashy criminal on the lam from the FBI who is hiding out in a trailer outside of Baltimore, MD. Accompanying Babs are her mother (Edith Massey), an obese and dim-witted woman who is malignly obsessed with eggs; her degenerate son, Crackers (Danny Mills); and Cotton (Mary Vivian Pierce), Babs' duplicitous "traveling companion" and Crackers' co-conspirator in unwholesome erotic play. While Babs would prefer to be left in peace, she takes great pride in her status as "the Filthiest Person Alive" (an honor confirmed by one of America's sleazier tabloid newspapers), and when Connie and Raymond Marble (Mink Stole and David Lochary) announce their plans to take the title away from her, Babs is not about to stand idly by. The Marbles are a hateful couple who kidnap women, force their homosexual manservant, Channing (Channing Wilroy), to impregnate them, and sell the babies to lesbian couples found unfit for legal adoption; the Marbles then turn the profits back into pornography and narcotics trafficking. Impressive stuff, to be sure, but Babs is not about to take a back seat to anyone in a battle of filth, and when the Marbles throw down the gauntlet, Babs and her family retaliate in a no-holds-barred battle to determine who truly are "the Filthiest People Alive." Featuring murder, bestiality, rape, dismemberment, coprophagia, a dizzying variety of sexual perversions, and a performance of "Papa Oom Mow Mow" you will not soon forget, Pink Flamingos is nonetheless a comedy, and a surprisingly successful one; shot on a budget of only 12,000 dollars, the film has grossed close to ten million dollars around the world, and its success launched John Waters into a career as America's leading authority on poor taste. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi
- Directed By
- John Waters
- Written By
- John Waters
- Genres
- Comedy
- In Theaters
- Mar 17, 1972 Wide
Critic Reviews
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Joe Baltake, Sacramento Bee
While the film now looks primitive and even more amateurish, it is laudable, if that's the right word, because unlike most movies being made these days, almost everything that happens in it is absolutely, horrifyingly real.
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Jeff Millar, Houston Chronicle
Waters works best with some restrictions on his license. He's much better as a subversive than he is an anarchist.
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Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times
I am not giving a star rating to Pink Flamingos, because stars simply seem not to apply. It should be considered not as a film but as a fact, or perhaps as an object.
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John A. Nesbit, Old School Reviews
Waters demonstrates visual talent and entertains
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Beth Accomando, KPBS.org
But what made Waters unique was the joyous quality of his work, the wicked delight he took in trashy obscenity.
See more critic ratings and reviews on Rotten Tomatoes
Fresh (60% or more critics rated the movie positively)
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Cast
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Divine
as Babs Johnson
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David Lochary
as Raymond Marble
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Mink Stole
as Connie Marble
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Mary Vivian Pearce
as Cotton
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Edith Massey
as Mama Edie
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Danny Mills
as Cracker
- George Figgs
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Cookie Mueller
as Cookie
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Linda Olgeirson
as Second Kidnaped Woman
- Ed Peranio
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Paul Swift
as Eggman
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Susan Walsh
as First Kidnaped Woman
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Channing Wilroy
as Channing
- Bob Adams
- Steve Yeager
- Pat Moran
- Jack Walsh