Pink Flamingos (1972)
This week, The B-Movie Boys dive headfirst into the glitter-soaked gutter with Pink Flamingos, directed by the one and only John Waters and starring the incomparable Divine.
Set in beautiful, trashy Baltimore, the film follows Divine and her family as they defend their title as “The Filthiest People Alive” against a pair of jealous perverts who think they can out-gross the reigning queen. What unfolds is less a traditional narrative and more a full-blown assault on good taste, social norms, and occasionally your gag reflex.
We break down the cultural impact, the microscopic budget, the deliberate aesthetic choices, and whether this movie is incompetent, transgressive genius, or some unholy fusion of both. We debate camp vs. punk, cult status vs. endurance test, and whether Audacity just broke the Schlockometer.
It’s provocative. It’s historic. It’s deeply uncomfortable.
And yes. We talk about that scene.
Good Journey.
Mentioned in this episode:
John Waters
Divine
Roger Ebert
The Criterion Collection
National Film Registry
Surfin' Bird – The Trashmen
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