John Waters

[Michael]

John Waters (1946-present)



If one thing lasts, I'm thrilled. I always say
to my audiences, I've made like 16 movies,
right? If you like one of them, I mean that's
all you get sometimes. Like most people don't
get one thing that they're ever remembered by.
That's why people have children. I made films.


Filmography

Hag in a Black Leather Jacket (1964)

Roman Candles (1966)

Eat Your Makeup (1968)

Mondo Trasho (1969)

Multiple Maniacs (1970)

The Diane Linkletter Story (1970)

Pink Flamingos (1972) New Line (R1)

Female Trouble (1974) Entertainment in Video (R2) New Line (R1)

Desperate Living (1977) New Line (R1)

Polyester (1981) New Line (R1)

Hairspray (1988) Entertainment in Video (R2) New Line (R1)

Cry-Baby (1990) Universal (R1 & R2)

Serial Mom (1994) Lionsgate (R1) Pathe (R2)

Pecker (1998) New Line (R1)

Cecil B. DeMented (2000) Lionsgate (R1) Momentum (R2)

A Dirty Shame (2004) Entertainment in Video (R2) New Line (R1)


Forum Discussions

Fruitcake

Hairspray: The Musical (Shankman, 2007)

A John Waters Christmas

John Waters on DVD


Web Resources

An Interview with Filmmaker John Waters - Tom Hosier (Modern Correspondence Magazine, 1978)

Brief but amusing Q & A - Amy Larocca (New York Magazine, 2006)

Dreamland - Jeff Jackson's Fan Site

The Fellini of Freaks podcast interview - (Feast of Fools, 2005)

John Waters - Daniel Mudie Cunningham (Senses of Cinema, 2003)

John Waters on the mainstreaming of gay culture - Zack Smith (Independent Weekly, 2007)

John Waters Page at The European Graduate School

John Waters - Daniel Reitz (Salon, 2000)

John Waters: Change of Life - Art Retrospective (New Museum of Contemporary Art, 2004)

The Mellowing of John Waters - Michael Dare (Movieline, 1988)

Sex Education: Interview with John Waters - Todd R. Ramlow (Pop Matters, 2004)

Video interview (Amoeba Music, 2007)


Books

American Originals: John Waters - John G. Ives & John Waters (Thunder's Mouth Press, 1992)

Art: A Sex Book - John Waters & Bruce Hainley (Thames & Hudson, 2003)

Crackpot: The Obsessions of John Waters - John Waters (Scribners, 2003)

Desperate Visions: Camp America - Jack Stevenson (Creation Books, 1996)

Director's Cut - John Waters (Scalo PublisherS, 1997)

Filthy: The Weird World of John Waters - Robrt L. Pela (Alyson Books, 2002)

John Waters: Change Of Life - Marvin Heiferman, Gary Indiana & Lisa Phillips (Harry N. Abrams, 2004)

John Waters: Unwatchable - Brenda Richardson & John Waters (Marianne Boesky Gallery/de Pury & Luxembourg, 2006))

Pink Flamingoes and Other Filth: Three Screenplays - John Waters (Thunder's Mouth Press, 2005)

Shock Value: A Tasteful Book About Bad Taste - John Waters (Thunder's Mouth Press, 2005)

[Lino]

A Dirty Shame was released on DVD yesterday and I'm really looking forward to seeing it. Somehow I missed it at the theater. Shame on me!


I'm super curious to find out what you think of John Waters. I personally think Female Trouble is his masterpiece, his most fully realized film to date. More on that later.

By the way, I ran into Divine's mother at a club recently... what an utterly sweet and loving woman!

Michael, rent it, buy it, rip it, steal it, just get it for the sake of God! You don't know what you're missing! It was one of the highlights of last year for me! Waters is on top form on this one - the movie is just hilarious from start to finish! Non-stop good fun, something that today's comedies are not able to achieve or even get close! And watch out for the explosive ending!

About my favorite movie of his, I must say I don't have one! I love them all so much, even the less better ones! But the"lesbian fairytale" Desperate Living (as Waters once named it) is also a big contender for his best, though I have to agree that Female Trouble is probably his most concise and fully realized piece of work in that he was able to transmit his ideologies and leave a sort of sour taste in the viewer's mouths at the end of the movie while at the same time being a lot of fun to watch too (but I'm afraid he loses me every time I see Divine disfigured and enjoying it, although I know that's precisely the point).

[Michael]

I don't know if it's narrow-minded to think like that but if I have to choose the best John Waters film, then it must have Divine in it (at least). I think when Divine died, an enormous chunk of Waters died along with him. Don't get me wrong, I do enjoy his recent, Divine-less works and in fact, I adore A Dirty Shame which I finally watched last night. So hysterical. Definitely my type of comedy. (A warning to those who haven't seen it yet = do NOT watch this film late at night or you will end up totally mentally ravaged with all the bad songs pecking on you nonstop so much that you won't be able to sleep peacefully!) A Dirty Shame is consistently entertaining and silly in the best Waters fashion. Loaded with great dialogues as usual. Nice to see that "Full of Grace" woman from Pecker again. She's one of the bus passengers. I also love how John Waters being a gay man makes fun of the gay subcultures and in this film, its the bears! I never understand that whole "club" mentality (the need to be grouped, designed, or whatever.. )the bears in this film talk and act the same thing. My partner is a bit chubby and hairy and I asked him if he would call himself "bear". He said no fucking hell and said he's just "full". I often say that the bears and also the leather men are just another forms of the drag queens and I think John Waters tackles that mentality absolutely well in his films.

I still think Female Trouble is his best film. Divine, Edith Massey, Mink Stole.. loaded with glamorous, original costumes, make ups, social commentaries. Divine on the trampoline - "who wants to die for Art?". Simply brilliant. What's there not to like? One of the many messages of the film = always get your child what he asks for Christmas!

It's been a long time since I watched Cecil D. Mented and I remember that was the only Waters film that I found extremely disappointing. Thinking about giving it another chance.

[Lino]

I also love how John Waters being a gay man makes fun of the gay subcultures and in this film, its the bears! I never understand that whole "club" mentality (the need to be grouped, designed, or whatever.. )the bears in this film talk and act the same thing. My partner is a bit chubby and hairy and I asked him if he would call himself "bear". He said no fucking hell and said he's just "full". I often say that the bears and also the leather men are just another forms of the drag queens and I think John Waters tackles that mentality absolutely well in his films.

About that, this is what I had to say on the thread dedicated to the DVD release of A Dirty Shame:

My take on it is that he was trying to prove that today's society is so over the top on its moral values and paradoxical at the same time (because you can show people getting killed to a child but not two people having sex) that you've reached a point that you completely lost any sense of impartial judgement.

And that whole deal with verbal euphemisms is hilarious as well. It reminds me of a scene in "Sophie's Choice" where the character Stingo is ready to finally have sex with a girl he's courting for some time but he soon finds out that while she can utter the word "fuck" and not feel guilty about it (this is the 50's), she ultimately can not do the deed...! And the same thing happens here - you can say the lewdest things and not show sex but you get a NC-17 nevertheless...! Jeez! Do we live in a neuter world or what?! Not to mention that today EVERY sex act or sex taste or sex whatever has a name for it - and that to me is both mindboggling AND funny too!

And as a critique of that very thing, I think it's one of the funniest and more to-the-point than most I've seen recently.

About Cecil B. Demented, it's kind of serendipity you mention it, because I just watched it last night on TV and it played at a very early hour for such a raunchy film! Enjoyed it tremendously of course - it's always great to see that the old man is still making films with the same enthusiasm and disregard to mass culture as he ever did!

[ben d banana]

Cecil B. Demented remains my least favorite Waters' film, but he always comes through on his DVD commentaries, which will be sorely missed now that we're finally getting Cry Baby. I still hold out that Serial Mom is by far his best "big time" movie, but there are certainly plenty of laughs (smart and tasteless) in A Dirty Shame, despite the 15-20 minute pre-climax lull I've mentioned on that film's thread.

[jorencain]

I haven't seen all of his movies, but "Serial Mom" was my first, and I agree that it's his best "tame" film. I enjoyed "A Dirty Shame" (and now that I live in Baltimore, I can actually enjoy some of the in-jokes about the city), but I think that "Desperate Living" is his crowning achievement. The story really is a good one, and it's always moving forward; the dialogue is some of his funniest, I think. Anyway, I can only take his early stuff in small doses, but it's hilarious when I'm in the right mood.

[Lino]

On "Divine Trash" someone mentions that Multiple Maniacs remains his most important movie and from the footage that is shown I can understand why he would say this. But having not yet seen the movie, I don't have anything to say about that. I do realize that he juxtaposes very strong sacred and profane imagery and that the final result is polemical to say the least but how does the film as a whole stands? Is it any good?

[Michael]

Absolutely! Keep in mind that it was made before Pink Flamingos so the roughness of the entire production work shows tremendously. But I think the roughness adds a lot to the film by giving it an amazingly creepy, intense documentary look. But it's still as hysterical as the best of John Waters. In the beginning, there are numerous long takes that take us closer to the characters making this film feel very personal (quite unusual for a Waters film).

John Waters tried to get New Line to release this film on DVD but failed. It is a shame because Multiple Maniacs is a great film. Important, yes because this is a major part of Waters' development as a filmmaker. Here what he said about this film: "I made this film, which glorified violence, at the peak of the hippie love generation. But hippies liked it. Part of its success was to offend my target audience in a humorous way. Of course, now that sounds much more calculated than I was." And then he said this about his next film Pink Flamingos: "Pink Flamingos was an antihippie movie made for hippies who would be punks in two years. It's a pothead movie. I wrote it on pot."

However in my opinion, Divine, Edith Massey and Mink Stole didn't give their best in Multiple Maniacs as much as they did in Female Trouble. This is one of the reasons why I continue to herald Female Trouble as the greatest film done by John Waters.

Citizen Kane is often considered as the greatest film ever made. Maybe Female Trouble will take over someday!

I finally watched the charming, infectious and hilarious Hairspray last night for the first time in 17 years. It is as good as I remember it, maybe even better. Every time Ricki Lake came on, I was like "how adorable!". I'm happy that over the years, Hairspray grew to become a deservedly classic, a staple at children's birthday parties, an inspiration for the smashing Broadway musical. Great for you, John Waters!

[ben d banana]

I once had an argument with Jean Smith of Mecca Normal about Ricki Lake. She claimed her show was racist, while I countered it was merely targeting an untapped television market. She called me naive and I had to alert her to the existence of Hairspray and its story. Mmm... sweet victory.

[Michael]

Sweet victory indeed!

[jorencain]

I have seen this several times prior to the movie trailers at the Charles Theatre in Baltimore and found it hilarious. I just came across it online.

[Fletch F. Fletch]

Waters picks his fave films of the year:

[quote]JOHN WATERS

1 United 93 (Paul Greengrass) The best movie in the last five years. No cheap shots in this one! I have friends who would watch a snuff film, yet they refuse to see this great action picture—I don't get why.

2 Jackass Number Two (Jeff Tremaine) Playing on more than three thousand screens, Jackass 2 was the number-one-grossing movie in America on its opening weekend—and the male stars eat shit and drink horse semen for real. They're nude a lot, too. If this isn't cultural terrorism, I don't know what is.

3 The Last King of Scotland (Kevin Macdonald) Forest Whitaker tops the performance of Joseph Olita in 1981's Rise and Fall of Idi Amin, one of my all-time favorite trash masterpieces.

4 Shortbus (John Cameron Mitchell) When was the last time the star of a film rimmed someone, sang “The Star-Spangled Banner,â€

[chaddoli]

I usually love Waters' opinions on films but this list is disappointing.

[Michael]

Yeah, the list is pretty lame. It's either: Waters submitted the list too early or 2006 is a lame year for movies. I'm surprised that Volver didn't make it on his list because from what I read, he's a big fan of Almodovar. But I'm glad that he didn't forget Jackass 2.

[Fletch F. Fletch]

Either that or it shows that he hasn't lost his sense of humor.

[Michael]

8 Sleeping Dogs Lie (Bobcat Goldthwait) A feminist tale of a girl who once blew her dog and mistakenly tells her boyfriend. Now there's a high-concept romantic comedy.

9 Hamilton (Matthew Porterfield) A tiny, minimalist art film from Baltimore that made it to New York and is astonishing in its simple beauty, amazing performances, and hypnotic pace. The real thing.

Never heard of either one of them. Sound very interesting.

[Barmy]

Sleeping Dogs is the only interesting item on that list. Otherwise it's pretty gay.

[Antoine Doinel]

The trailer for Sleeping Dogs Lie is here, and it looks terrible.

[Barmy]

The Trailer sucks.

[tavernier]

Sleeping Dogs is the only interesting item on that list. Otherwise it's pretty gay.

Yeah, especially United 93!!!

[pianocrash]

I ran into the site for Hamilton while sniffing around flickr one day, and it looks pretty neat. Will I ever get to see it? Maybe.

[Galen Young]

JOHN WATERS

5 The Departed (Martin Scorsese) The best-acted film of the year from America's coolest director. The final shot is beyond perfection.

That sounds like some wisecrack Waters would say. I was watching Elevator to the Gallows again the other day and was struck by the shot of a black cat walking along a white railing outside the office window -- probably a coincidence, but a startling visual similarity nonetheless to the rat shot...

[Guest]

A kind friend recently sent me the New Line DVDs of Flamingoes and Female Trouble for 57th birthday so I could bin the old VHS's. (But were these EVER meant to be screened 1.85? I have only ever seen them in Academy ratio - far more suitable I think.)

Like Michael, Female Trouble is my personal fave - and I had the rare pleasure of seeing Divine in Sydney doing a totally filthy cabaret act in the mid 80s, during which he excoriated the terminally trendy audience with venom. Sublime. (Saw also the late great Ethel Eichelberger doing a solo "Classics" monologue the same year. Euripides and Alexandre Dumas on crack.) Much as I like Cry Baby and Serial Mom I always feel his late movies are incomplete without Divine.

The thing with Waters is that MONDO TRASHO, MULTIPLE MANIACS and PINK FLAMINGOS are really bad, but in a good way. FEMALE TROUBLE is actually a more mature and more thought-out trash epic than PINK FLAMINGOS (let us not forget that Waters was stoned when he wrote PF). There's a certain charm to Waters' early films, a juvenile craziness, radicality and pure hatred for authority that really makes them exciting. FEMALE TROUBLE was his first real film. Anyway, I love all of his midnight movies. As fine as some of his recent work is, Waters was simply at the top of his game when he collaborated with Divine and company.

[Fletch F. Fletch]

As fine as some of his recent work is, Waters was simply at the top of his game when he collaborated with Divine and company.

The impression I get from Waters is that he kinda hit the wall with Pink Flamingos as for how far he could shock people and smash taboos. I think he felt that he kind reached the summit with that one (esp. with Divine eating real dog poop) and decided to pull back and instead put mainstream movie stars in roles that they wouldn't normally do while sneaking in little subversive things here and there.

I dig his midnight movies as well but I find myself watching Serial Mom and Pecker far more often than PF.

[Lino]

A kind friend recently sent me the New Line DVDs of Flamingoes and Female Trouble for 57th birthday so I could bin the old VHS's. (But were these EVER meant to be screened 1.85? I have only ever seen them in Academy ratio - far more suitable I think.)

I hope you haven't binned them because Academy ratio is the right ratio for those two as the DVD for Desperate Living testifies. When Pink Flamingos turned 25, New Line and Waters went back to it and modernized it for the digital generation, if you know what I mean... But 1.85 was never how it was supposed to be seen in the first place.

That said, I really hope someday you'll end up buying the 8 disc set that comes with an amazing bonus disc that is worth the price alone for its sheer amount of info on Waters and the rarity of the materials it collects. I have it and it really is worth it, believe me.

Anyway, planning on buying the perfect Christmas gift? Well, look no further than the recently re-released Christmas Evil, complete with Waters commentary! And if you're looking for that perfect yuletide soundtrack, here's the thing for you!

Happy Holidays!