Pink Flamingos/Female Trouble

New Line | minutes | | | Standard DVD reviewed by: Fusion3600

Babs (Divine) and her family have been the filthiest people in town for some time, but some competition has surfaced, looking to take over the position. Divine lives in a run down mobile home with her mother Edie (Edith Massey) who has an egg fetish and sleeps in a playpen, her son Crackers who is a crazed hippie with a sexual interest in chickens, and Cotton, a young woman who is no stranger to filth herself. But at the same time, Connie Marble (Mink Stole) and her husband Raymond seek to dethrone Divine from the filthiest of the filthy, with some darn impressive filth of their own. The two deal drugs to young children, pay someone to impregnate kidnapped hitchhikers, and sell black market babies to lesbians. In this clash of the filthy titans, can Divine and her lot remain at the top of the heap, or will the Marble's be able to stake their own claim on the title?

The third and final release in New Line's John Waters Collection has brought us Pink Flamingos, which fans have been awaiting since the line was announced. I can understand why too, as it has some of Waters' most infamous scenes, including the classic canine feces fiasco. I find myself liking most of Waters' films and while Pink Flamingos is not my personal favorite, it is very humorous and deserves a place in any Waters' fan's collection. Of course, Divine (Mondo Trasho, Hairspray) proves to be the real force behind the film, but other Waters' regulars also show up, such as Mink Stole (Cry-Baby, Serial Mom) and Edith Massey (Polyester, Desperate Living). A film loaded with perversion, sick jokes, and gross moments, Pink Flamingos is a must own title for fans of Waters, but anyone interested in offbeat cinema should give this disc a spin.

Dawn Davenport (Divine) has lived an unusual life to say the least, from her innocent school days to her wild youth to her rendezvous with the electric chair. She started out life as a kind, loving young schoolgirl, but then events sent her spiraling out of control, toward a life of crime, punishment, and pain. Her school work had gone downhill, her conduct was atrocious, and when she didn't get the cha-cha heels she wanted, it pushed her right over the edge. Soon enough, Dawn has run away from home to seek a new life of her own, but of course, that means trials and tribulations, some of which would send most young women back home in a second. She is doomed to run afoul of the law time and time again, but when she is caught and faces her punishment, will Dawn's criminal adventures be worth the final cost?

Although this movie is not as well known as some of Waters' other pictures, I find Female Trouble to be one of his finest efforts, without a doubt. It has the presence of Waters' usual suspects like Divine, Edith Massey, and Mink Stole and of course, it contains tons of gross moments and perverse humor. Perhaps not as shocking as some of Waters' other works, Female Trouble offers plenty of perversion, but is safe for more mainstream Waters' fans, those who like movies such as Pecker or Hairspray, but not his more extreme pictures. In other words, this one has enough of Waters' trademark stuff to please all of his fans, but remains open to those with more mainstream tastes also, a sort of best of both worlds, so to speak. So of course, this movie is more than recommended, especially in a cool double feature release, like this edition.

Pink Flamingos is presented in a 1.85:1 anamorphic widescreen transfer. As this was a low budget effort on 16MM film, it looks less than pristine in this presentation, but New Line has issued the best home video edition to date, which should please fans. The print used shows grain, wear signs, marks, and even scratch lines, but looks more than solid, especially when compared to some of the prior versions I've seen. The colors and contrast look stable, but not up to the usual DVD standards, of course. In the end, this looks about as good as can be expected, given the nature of the materials involved.

Female Trouble is also presented in a 1.85:1 anamorphic widescreen transfer. The story is pretty much the same here as with Pink Flamingos, as age and low budget roots are more than evident in the source materials. The print has defects of all kinds, but is still clean enough to watch and in truth, I think the flaws are part of the experience, it wouldn't be the same with a pristine, flawless print in use, I don't think. I saw no real problems with colors, flesh tones, or contrast, but none are as refined as more recent efforts, by any means. This is as good as I think we can hope for, unless a ton of work is done on the source materials, so fans should be pleased.

As far as low budget, dialogue driven flicks as concerned, the audio on both films is more than up to par, but of course, lacks the dynamic presence found in more recent, higher budget pictures. Both films have been given 2.0 surround options, which more than handle the material and even enhance it more than a little, especially the musical soundtracks. So no, the surrounds won't implode from overuse, but this is as active as I think the films can be and as such, I doubt anyone will be let down in the least. Each disc also includes the original mono soundtrack, as well as English subtitles, in case you'll need those.

This disc two set contains each film on a separate disc, with a theatrical trailer and John Waters audio commentary on each. As always, Waters supplies a humorous, informative, and very entertaining overall session. I applaud Waters and New Line for recording tracks on all of his releases in this series, as fans are simply sure to love them, to be sure. The disc for Pink Flamingos also includes a selection of extensive deleted scenes, complete with introductions and explanations by Waters himself, very cool indeed.