User reviews

The Divine and Doggie bit at the end is a bit much for me; I have to turn away. But a lot of it's pretty hysterical -- and it obviously works since folks are complaining why anyone would make a movie like this.

The answer, of course, is: to annoy folks who would complain why anyone would make a movie like this.

Don't be fooled by those who would have you believe that there's some deep meaning in, or mark of genius on, this film. There isn't. There is, though, a kind of bizarre, kinetic and desperate energy to this nonsensical enterprise.

I didn't hate it. There, that's my review: I didn't hate it.

I tend to agree with Ebert in this regard: this film is an object. It simply "is," and no amount of explaining will settle your nerves after you've seen it, nor convince you to see it in the first place.

The filthiest person alive, Divine, is using the codename Babs Johnson and living in a trailer in the woods with her retarded mother Eddie (Edith Massey), who loves eggs; her mad hippie son Crackers (Danny Mills); and her mate Cotton (Mary Vivian Pearce). The envious couple Connie (Mink Stole) and Raymond Marble (David Lochary), who abduct and impregnate female hitchhikers to sell their babies to gay and lesbian couples, using the money to invest in heroin and sell in schools, hire Cookie (Cookie Mueller) to have sex with Crackers and spy Divine to compete for the title of "the filthiest people alive". When the competition begins, Connie and Raymond Marble learn why Divine has this title.

The underground "Pink Flamingos" is outrageously sick, disgusting and grotesque… but also funny. John Waters' intention is certainly to shock the audiences and is certainly very well succeeded. The bizarre characters present some of the most scatological and gross scenes I have ever seen, like Divine chewing excrement of dog, or Crackers "singing" with his anus, and there is no limit for the sick mind of John Waters. The viewer has to have empty stomach to see the whole movie. In the Extras of the DVD, John Waters presents deleted scenes, inclusive with the fate of Cookie. The trailer used to promote the film in 1972 is hilarious, since it does not show any scene, but people being interviewed about the movie. My vote is five.

Title (Brazil): "Pink Flamingos"

Scatologically challenged by disgusting upstarts Raymond and Connie Marble (David Lochary and Mink Stole), Babs Johnson (Devine) decides to settle the question of who's the "filthiest person in the world". That a $12000.00 film about disgusting people doing disgusting things is actually watchable by anyone is a tribute to cult-director John Waters. While billed as a comedy, most of the humour comes from the over-the-top grotesqueness of the story and of the characters, so viewer beware. The legendary coprophagic climax is as revolting as expected but seems to have been tacked on as an afterthought (as if Waters decided that incest, fetishism, rape, exhibitionism, beastility, etc was a bit tame). Watched only to tick a box on my cinematographic life-list. I remain awestruck by what TCM will broadcast on TV.

I recently saw the movie after finding it's name in "1001 Movies To See Before You Die" ! So I thought of giving it a shot. The reviews I've read said that it is a GROSS and a BELOVED film and after seeing I really cant decide whether to rate it 1 or any thing above that. Cuz its a movie which has given DISGUST a new level .Its got scenes involving masturbation and sex with animals and all the filth on top of it. If one chooses to give it 1, then it means its got nothing at all but this definitely has SOME THING. So in order to appreciate and the filth and gross-stuff and Efforts made by John Waters to make it the Filthiest film ,I've given it a 5.

Pink Flamingos is definitely a lot to take in. It's one of those films that constantly pushes the envelope with its shocking imagery and extreme content. From the outrageous nudity to the infamous dog poop scene, it's hard to watch without cringing or feeling completely overwhelmed. John Waters deliberately throws every boundary out the window, and for some, that's part of its appeal, it's a wild ride that doesn't hold back. But honestly, it can be a bit much at times. The over-the-top performances and grotesque visuals are meant to challenge viewers, but they also risk alienating anyone who isn't in the right mindset. It's not a movie you casually watch, it's confrontational and, at times, downright uncomfortable. That said, if you're into films that completely reject traditional filmmaking and embrace weird, rebellious energy, Pink Flamingos definitely has something to offer, even if it occasionally feels like it's trying to shock just for the sake of it.

While this is a very disturbing and uneasy watch, I think this is truly such a great film. John Water presents the pinnacle of camp with his directing, writing, and the incredible characters of Divine, Raymond, Connie, and Edie. I think this shows the best part of indie filmmaking which is just messing around with your friends to make some weird shit. I've seen this movie 3 times and I can confidently say that this is a much more enjoyable watch with a group. I got to see this at the Academy Museum with John Water presenting it last year and it was such an incredible experience. While some might hate this movie, its truly the filthiest film in the world and I love it for that. Also the lines of "Could you give us some of your political beliefs" "Kill everyone now" honestly still applies today.

Pink Flamingos (1972), directed by John Waters, is a bizarre and shocking cult classic that proudly calls itself "an exercise in bad taste." The movie follows Divine, a drag queen living in a trailer with her oddball family, as she competes for the title of "The Filthiest Person Alive." Her rivals, the Marbles, will stop at nothing to win, resulting in a wild, absurd showdown of grotesque stunts.

This movie is unlike anything most people have seen. Its humor is crude, its characters are outrageous, and its scenes are often disturbing. Waters doesn't hold back, including everything from over-the-top violence to gross-out moments that would make even the bravest viewers cringe. One infamous scene involving a dog is particularly shocking and hard to forget.

Despite how disgusting and offensive it is, the movie is strangely fascinating. It feels like it's mocking the idea of what a "good" movie should be. Divine is captivating in the lead role, bringing a larger-than-life energy that makes her impossible to look away from, even when the story becomes too much to handle.

Pink Flamingos is not for everyone. It's a movie that breaks every rule and crosses every line, but that's the point. It's a protest against conventionality, a celebration of being weird and different. For high schoolers, it might be hard to see past the grossness and find its message, but it teaches a unique lesson: art can be anything, even if it's uncomfortable or ugly.

While it's definitely not for the faint of heart, Pink Flamingos is an unforgettable film that challenges the boundaries of cinema.

I was told that this film contains many disgusting things for the sake of shocking the audience prior to watching it but I still found it hard to watch with my eyes fully open. I felt so sick after watching this movie that I now can't eat boiled eggs that I usually eat for breakfast because they give me flashbacks of this movie. I highly recommend not to eat before or while watching this movie. At the same time, I'm impressed how the actors were willing to do such filthy things in front of the camera and act like they actually enjoy them. Although their general acting felt not that great, their performances in those disturbing scenes felt somewhat real.

The narrative of this movie is a bit confusing because some scenes felt somewhat disjointed. I saw some of the deleted scenes and unused plots after watching the full movie which allowed me to understand the direction of the story was going for and added some extra context to the movie. Other than the disjoints, this movie was relatively easy to follow as it is mainly about the rivalry between two families trying to prove that they are the "filthiest person/people alive" and there will be scenes where each family's filthiness is depicted from time to time. I found it interesting that the rival's (the Marbles) side's display of filth was rather generic and predictable while the protagonist's (Divine family) side's actions always went over my expectations in a shocking way.

Overall, this movie has quality that makes it one of a kind but it's also a movie that I never want to watch again.

That's an extreme understatement for the "taste" in this. "Zero" is fitting, I would say. Oh, that's not an insult. It's exactly what they went for. A friend of mine lent me this and Female Trouble, and this is my first exposure to John Waters(save for his guest spot in a Simpsons episode, and his role in Seed of Chucky). As it turns out, he's not for me. Oh well. I'm not going to pass judgment on this, because I've seen films that genuinely seemed to be made to incite hatred(Saving Silverman and National Security, in case you're wondering), and this does no such thing. If you want to be shocked, this was made for you. I think the MPAA expressed it succinctly: "Rated NC-17 for a wide range of perversions in explicit detail". No, I won't detail it here. Some will want to be surprised. It's interesting that so little of it is in the language... no, really. Maybe the words we use has just changed a ton over the past almost four decades, but what is said in this is seldom that strong by today's standards. It's in what we see(almost all of which remains disgusting and offensive to this day). There's great music in this from the period. This is shot guerrilla-style, with next to no variance to the framing or skill. There are often as few cuts as they could get away with. Many takes are long, with the camera remaining on the subject, going back and forth between the people in the scene, and zooming in and out, when it can. Dialog is repetitive, not very credible, exposition-heavy and generally there to put in swearing and nasty descriptions. There is narration here and there in this. The plot is decent, no real surprises. It's essentially about who is filthiest. The acting is awful. I didn't personally find anything in this to be funny, merely crossing boundaries, taboos. We have people with strange hair and names yelling at each other, being obnoxious, crass and crude(at times resembling The Addams Family in their behavior... without the humor, in my opinion). Among them Divine, apparently an infamous transvestite, sort of playing herself... her thing seems to be laughing open-mouthed, without us hearing the sound, with her face painted with excessive make-up. The version of this I saw was around an hour and a half followed by 17 minutes or so of deleted scenes introduced by the director. There is a lot of disturbing content, a bit of sick sex and full nudity of both genders in this. I recommend this to those that find what I've described appealing. 5/10

Nothing about this is ok am actually calling the authorities right now, the director needs to be investigated because something is wrong with his mind and he need to pay for their crimes, everything about this movie is disgusting, the camera the acting and everything looks very bad, he is going to pay believe me, we need to make this s movie disappear and buried before a kid of a young catholic young meen find it, so lets work as a Society to find the culprit and make him pay with prision of some kind of community work, these is not ok and im actually very shock about this, they need to find god.