View source for Pink Flamingos

{{Short description|1972 American film directed by John Waters}}
{{About|the film|the bird|Flamingo|the lawn ornament|Plastic flamingo}}
{{Use American English|date = October 2019}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=July 2022}}
{{Infobox film
| name           = Pink Flamingos
| image          = Pink Flamingos (1972).jpg
| alt            = A drag queen wearing a red dress, stands center stage, holding a gun. The title is above her, with the tagline "An exercise in poor taste"
| caption        = Theatrical release poster
| director       = [[John Waters]]
| writer         = John Waters
| producer       = John Waters
| starring       = {{Plainlist|
* [[Divine (performer)|Divine]]
* [[David Lochary]]
* [[Mink Stole]]
* [[Mary Vivian Pearce]]
* Danny Mills
* [[Edith Massey (actress)|Edith Massey]]
* [[Channing Wilroy]]
* [[Cookie Mueller]]
* [[Paul Swift]]
}}
| cinematography = John Waters
| editing        = John Waters
| studio         = [[Dreamlanders|Dreamland]]
| distributor    = [[New Line Cinema]]
| released       = {{Film date|1972|03|17|[[University of Baltimore]]}}
| runtime        = 92 minutes
| country        = United States
| language       = English
| budget         = $12,000<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.theguardian.com/film/2020/mar/17/how-john-waters-and-mink-stole-made-notorious-cult-film-pink-flamingos|title = How John Waters and Mink Stole made notorious cult film Pink Flamingos|website = [[TheGuardian.com]]|date = March 17, 2020}}</ref>
| gross          = $1.9 million or $7 million<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://archive.org/details/americanfilmdist0000dona/page/296/mode/1up|title= American film distribution : the changing marketplace|last=Donahue|first= Suzanne Mary|year=1987 |publisher=UMI Research Press |page=296|isbn= 9780835717762}} Please note figures are for rentals in US and Canada</ref>
}}
'''''Pink Flamingos''''' is a 1972 American [[Independent film|independent]] [[black comedy]] [[crime film|crime]] film{{efn|''Pink Flamingos'' has been variously categorized as a [[Comedy film|comedy]], [[Camp (style)|camp]], or [[Postmodernist film|postmodern]] [[Exploitation film|exploitation]] film}} by [[John Waters]].<ref name="gay" /> It is part of what Waters has labelled the "Trash Trilogy", which also includes ''[[Female Trouble]]'' (1974) and ''[[Desperate Living]]'' (1977).<ref name="gay">{{cite book |last=Levy|first=Emanuel|date=July 14, 2015|title=Gay Directors, Gay Films?|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=uwnSBgAAQBAJ&pg=PA282|publisher=Columbia University Press|isbn=978-0231152778}}</ref> The film stars the countercultural [[drag queen]] [[Divine (performer)|Divine]] as a criminal living under the name of Babs Johnson, who is proud to be "the filthiest person alive". While living in a trailer with her mother Edie ([[Edith Massey (actress)|Edith Massey]]), son Crackers (Danny Mills), and companion Cotton ([[Mary Vivian Pearce]]), Divine is confronted by the Marbles ([[David Lochary]] and [[Mink Stole]]), a pair of criminals envious of her reputation who try to outdo her in filth. Characters caught in their feud include the Marbles’ sadistic butler Channing ([[Channing Wilroy]]), their spy Cookie ([[Cookie Mueller]]), and The Egg Man ([[Paul Swift]]), an egg salesman whom Edie is infatuated with. The characters engage in several grotesque, bizarre, and explicitly crude situations, and upon the film's re-release in 1997 it was rated [[NC-17]] by the [[MPAA]] "for a wide range of perversions in explicit detail". It was filmed in the vicinity of [[Baltimore]], Maryland, where Waters and most of the cast and crew grew up.

Displaying the tagline "An exercise in [[Taste (sociology)|poor taste]]", ''Pink Flamingos'' is notorious for its "outrageousness", [[Nudity in film|nudity]], [[profanity]], and "pursuit of [[frivolity]], [[scatology]], [[Sensationalism|sensationology]] {{sic}} and skewed [[epistemology]]".<ref name="advocate"/> It features a "number of increasingly revolting scenes" that center on [[exhibitionism]], [[voyeurism]], [[sodomy]], [[masturbation]], [[gluttony]], [[vomiting]], [[rape]], [[incest]], [[murder]], [[Cruelty to animals|animal cruelty]], [[Human cannibalism|cannibalism]], [[zoophilia]], [[castration]], [[foot fetishism]], and concludes, to the accompaniment of "[[(How Much Is) That Doggie in the Window?|How Much Is That Doggy in the Window?]]", with Divine's [[coprophagia|consumption of dog feces]]{{snd}} "The real thing!" narrator Waters assures the viewers. The film is considered a preliminary exponent of [[Abjection#In art|abject art]].<ref name="abject">{{cite book |last1=Kutzbach|first1=Konstanze|last2=Mueller|first2=Monika|date=July 27, 2007|title=The Abject of Desire: The Aestheticization of the Unaesthetic in Contemporary Literature and Culture|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=dZIexlhC5aoC|publisher=Rodopi|isbn=978-9042022645}}</ref><ref>[http://whatculture.com/film/17-sex-scenes-that-supposedly-werent-simulated?page=3 What Culture#16] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180720051830/http://whatculture.com/film/17-sex-scenes-that-supposedly-werent-simulated?page=3 |date=July 20, 2018 }}; Pink Flamingos</ref>

The film, at first semi-clandestine, has received a warm reception from film critics and, despite being [[Film censorship|banned]] in several countries, became a [[cult film]] in subsequent decades. In 2021, the film was selected for preservation in the United States [[National Film Registry]] by the [[Library of Congress]] as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant".<ref>{{cite web|url=https://deadline.com/2021/12/national-film-registry-2021-list-star-wars-return-of-the-jedi-fellowship-of-the-ring-sounder-nightmare-on-elm-street-wall-e-1234890666/|title=National Film Registry Adds ''Return Of The Jedi'', ''Fellowship Of The Ring'', ''Strangers On A Train'', ''Sounder'', ''WALL-E'' & More|date=December 14, 2021|first=Nancy|last=Tartaglione|website=[[Deadline Hollywood]]|access-date=December 14, 2021}}</ref>

==Plot==
Notorious criminal [[Divine (performer)|Divine]] lives under the pseudonym "Babs Johnson" with her mother Edie, delinquent son Crackers, and traveling companion Cotton. They share a [[Mobile home|trailer]] on the outskirts of [[Phoenix, Maryland]], next to a [[Yard globe|gazing ball]] and a pair of [[Plastic flamingo|plastic pink flamingos]]. After learning that Divine has been dubbed "the filthiest person alive" by a [[Tabloid (newspaper format)|tabloid]] paper, jealous rivals Connie and Raymond Marble attempt to usurp her title.

The Marbles run a [[black market]] baby ring: they kidnap young women, have them impregnated by their manservant Channing, and sell the babies to lesbian couples. The proceeds are used to finance pornography shops and a network of dealers selling heroin in inner-city elementary schools. Raymond also earns money by [[Exhibitionism|exposing himself]]—with a large [[kielbasa]] sausage or turkey neck tied to his penis—to women and stealing their purses when they flee. Later in the film, one of Raymond's would-be targets, a [[trans woman]], thwarts his scheme by exposing her breast, which excites him, and then showing her penis and scrotum, causing Raymond to flee in shock.

The Marbles enlist a spy, Cookie, to gather information about Divine by dating Crackers. Cookie is raped by Crackers while he tortures and [[Crush fetish|crushes a live chicken between them]] as Cotton [[Voyeurism|looks on through a window]]. Cookie then informs the Marbles about Babs' identity, her whereabouts, and her family—as well as her upcoming birthday party.

The Marbles send a box of human feces to Divine as a birthday present with a card addressing her as "Fatso" and proclaiming themselves "the filthiest people alive". Worried that her title has been seized, Divine declares that whoever sent the package must die. While the Marbles are gone, Channing dresses in Connie's clothes and imitates his employers' overheard conversations. When the Marbles return home, they are outraged to find Channing mocking them while wearing Connie's clothes, so they fire him and lock him in his "room" (a closet) while they head out to do evil deeds until they can return and throw him out for good after searching his stuff.

The Egg Man, who delivers eggs to Edie daily, confesses his love for her and proposes marriage, which she accepts. The Marbles arrive at the trailer to spy on Divine's birthday party. The birthday gifts include [[poppers]], [[fake vomit]], lice shampoo, a pig's head, and a meat cleaver. Entertainers feature a topless woman with a snake act and a contortionist who flexes his [[rectal prolapse|prolapsed anus]] in rhythm to the song "[[Surfin' Bird]]". Disgusted by the outrageous party, the Marbles anonymously contact the police, but Divine and her guests ambush the officers, hack up their bodies with the meat cleaver, and [[Human cannibalism|eat them]]. Afterwards, Edie and The Egg Man are wed, and he carts her off in a wheel barrow.

Divine and Crackers head to the Marbles' house, where they lick and rub the furniture, which excites them so much that Divine [[oral sex|fellates]] Crackers. They find Channing and he begs to be released, but they are not sympathetic and force him to show them the two pregnant women held captive in the basement. Divine and Crackers free the women and hand them a large knife to deal with the tied-up Channing, stating they can kill him and Divine will do so herself if they aren't interested. The women then use the knife to [[Emasculation|emasculate]] Channing.

The Marbles burn Divine's beloved trailer to the ground; when they return home, their furniture—cursed by being licked by Divine and Crackers—"rejects" them, the cushions flying up and throwing them to the floor when they try to sit down. They also find that Channing has bled to death from his emasculation and the two women have escaped.

After finding the remains of their burned-out trailer, Divine, Crackers, and Cotton return to the Marbles' home, kidnap them at gunpoint, and bring them to the arson site. Divine calls the local tabloid media to witness the Marbles' trial and execution. Divine holds a [[kangaroo court]] and convicts the bound-and-gagged Marbles of "first-degree stupidity" and "assholism". Cotton and Crackers recommend a sentence of execution, so the Marbles are tied to a tree, coated in [[Tarring and feathering|tar and feathers]], and shot in the head by Divine.

Divine, Crackers, and Cotton enthusiastically decide to move to [[Boise, Idaho]]. Spotting a small dog [[Defecation|defecating]] on the sidewalk, Divine scoops up the feces with her hand and [[Coprophagia|puts them in her mouth]]—proving, as the [[voice-over]] narration by Waters states, that Divine is "not only the filthiest person in the world, but she is also the filthiest actress in the world".

==Cast==
{{Cast listing|
* [[Divine (performer)|Divine]] as Divine/Babs Johnson, a filthy, bubbly underground criminal who is the Marbles’ rival
* [[David Lochary]] as Raymond Marble, a flasher and Connie’s husband who runs a baby ring with her
* [[Mary Vivian Pearce]] as Cotton, Babs’ traveling companion who lives with her
* [[Mink Stole]] as Connie Marble, Raymond’s cruel, sociopathic wife who runs a baby ring with her
* Danny Mills as Crackers, Babs’ delinquent, perverted son who goes on a date with Cookie and helps her in cursing the Marbles’ home
* [[Edith Massey (actress)|Edith Massey]] as Edie, Babs’ mentally ill mother who loves eggs and is kept in a baby crib
* [[Channing Wilroy]] as Channing, the Marbles’ sadistic, cowardly manservant who impregnates their prisoners
* [[Cookie Mueller]] as Cookie, a sassy woman who is hired by the Marbles to spy on Divine during her date with Crackers
* [[Paul Swift]] as The Egg Man, an egg salesman who Edie is infatuated with and later marries
* [[Susan Walsh (actress)|Susan Walsh]] as Suzie, a pregnant woman who is kept in the Marbles’ basement
* Linda Olgierson as Linda, a pregnant woman who is kept in the Marbles’ basement
* [[Pat Moran (filmmaker)|Pat Moran]] as Patty Hitler, Babs’ friend whose essential scenes were cut from the film but nevertheless appears during the party.
* [[Steve Yeager (filmmaker)|Steve Yeager]] as Nat Curzan, a reporter who Babs invites to her mock trial of the Marbles
* [[George Figgs]] as a bongo player who performs at Babs’ birthday party
* David Gluck as The Singing Asshole, a man who performs at Babs’ birthday party
* [[Elizabeth Coffey]] as a [[transgender woman]] who shocks Raymond when he flashes her
* [[Vincent Peranio|Vince Peranio]] as musician at party
* [[Van Smith]] as party guest
* Pat LeFaiver as Etta
* Jacqueline Zajdel (credited as Jackie Sidel) as Merle, a lesbian who buys a baby from Connie and Raymond
* [[John Waters]] as Mr. J, the narrator ''(uncredited)''
}}

==Production==
===Development===
Divine's friend Bob Adams described the trailer set as a "hippie commune" in Phoenix, Maryland, and noted that their living quarters were in a farmhouse without hot water. Adams added that ultimately Divine and Van Smith decided to sleep at Susan Lowe's home in Baltimore, and that they would awake before dawn to apply Divine's makeup before being driven to the set by Jack Walsh. "Sometimes Divy would have to wait out in full drag for Jack to pull the car around from back, and cars full of these blue-collar types on their way to work would practically mount the pavement from gawking at him,"{{sfn|Milstead|Heffernan|Yeager|2001|pp=61–62}} Adams said.

Divine's mother, Frances, later said she was surprised that her son was able to endure the "pitiful conditions" of the set, noting his "expensive taste in clothes and furniture and food".{{sfn|Milstead|Heffernan|Yeager|2001|p=61}}

John Waters told an interviewer "I was high when I wrote this movie. I was NOT high when I filmed it."

===Filming===
[[Principal photography]] began October 1, 1971 and ended January 12, 1972. Shot on a budget of only $12,000, ''Pink Flamingos'' is an example of Waters' style of [[low-budget film]]making inspired by New York [[underground film]]makers like [[Kenneth Anger]], [[Andy Warhol]], and brothers [[Mike Kuchar|Mike]] and [[George Kuchar]].<ref name="advocate">{{cite magazine |last=Van Sant|first=Gus|date=April 15, 1997|title=Timeless trash|author-link=Gus Van Sant|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=T2QEAAAAMBAJ&pg=PT41|pages=40–41|magazine=[[The Advocate (LGBT magazine)|The Advocate]]|issn=0001-8996|publisher=Here Publishing|issue=731|access-date=March 10, 2016}}</ref> Stylistically, it takes its cues from "exaggerated seaport [[Ball culture|ballroom]] [[Drag pageantry|drag-show pageantry]] and antics" with "classic '50s rock-and-roll [[kitsch]] classics".<ref name="advocate"/> Waters' idiosyncratic style{{snd}} also characterized by its "homemade [[Technicolor]]" look, the result of high amounts of indoor paint and make-up{{snd}} was dubbed the "[[Baltimore]] aesthetic" by art students at [[Providence, Rhode Island|Providence]].<ref name="advocate"/>

===Post-production===
Waters' rough editing added "random [[Joel-Peter Witkin]]-esque scratches and [[Stan Brakhage]]-[[Mothlight|moth-wing-like]] dust marks" to the film, apart from sound delays between [[Shot (filmmaking)|shots]].<ref name="advocate" /> Waters has stated that [[Armando Bo]]'s 1969 Argentine film ''[[Fuego (1969 film)|Fuego]]'' influenced not only ''Pink Flamingos'', but his other films: "If you watch some of my films, you can see what a huge influence ''Fuego'' was. I forgot how much I stole. ... Look at Isabel's makeup and hairdo in ''Fuego''. Dawn Davenport, Divine's character in ''[[Female Trouble]]'', could be her exact twin, only heavier. Isabel, you inspired us all to a life of cheap exhibitionism, exaggerated sexual desires and a love for all that is trash-ridden in cinema."<ref>{{cite magazine|last=Corliss |first=Richard |url=http://www.time.com/time/arts/article/0,8599,2009246-1,00.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100826012359/http://www.time.com/time/arts/article/0,8599,2009246-1,00.html |url-status=dead |archive-date=August 26, 2010 |title=Isabel Sarli: A Sex Bomb at Lincoln Center |magazine=[[Time (magazine)|Time]] |date=August 7, 2010 |access-date=April 13, 2011}}</ref>

===Music===
The film uses a number of mainly single [[B-side]]s and a few hits of the late 1950s/early 1960s, sourced from Waters' record collection, and without obtaining rights. After rights were obtained, a [[Film soundtrack|soundtrack]] CD coincided with the 25th anniversary release of the film on DVD in 1997.<ref name=discogs>{{cite web |title=Various – John Waters' Pink Flamingos Special 25th Anniversary Edition Original Soundtrack |date=April 22, 1997 |url=https://www.discogs.com/Various-John-Waters-Pink-Flamingos-Special-25th-Anniversary-Edition-Original-Soundtrack/release/593916 |publisher=discogs.com |access-date=June 21, 2018}}</ref>
# "The Swag" – [[Link Wray]] and His Ray Men
# "Intoxica" – [[The Centurians]]
# "[[Jim Dandy (song)|Jim Dandy]]" – [[LaVern Baker]]
# "[[I'm Not a Juvenile Delinquent]]" – [[Frankie Lymon and the Teenagers]]
# "[[The Girl Can't Help It (song)|The Girl Can't Help It]]" – [[Little Richard]]
# "[[Joey's Song|Ooh! Look-a-There, Ain't She Pretty?]]" – [[Bill Haley & His Comets]]
# "Chicken Grabber" – [[The Nighthawks]]
# "[[Happy, Happy Birthday Baby]]" – [[The Tune Weavers]]
# "Pink Champagne" – [[The Tyrones]]
# "[[Surfin' Bird]]" – [[The Trashmen]]
# "[[Riot in Cell Block Number 9|Riot in Cell Block #9]]" – [[The Coasters|The Robins]]
# "[[(How Much is) That Doggie in the Window]]" – [[Patti Page]]

The song "[[Happy, Happy Birthday, Baby]]" is used as a replacement for "[[16 Candles (song)|Sixteen Candles]]", by [[The Crests]], which appeared in the original release and for which permission could not be obtained.

==Release==
''Pink Flamingos'' had its world premiere on March 17, 1972, at a screening sponsored by the Baltimore Film Festival. The event was held on the campus of the [[University of Baltimore]], where it sold out for three successive shows. The film had aroused particular interest among fans of underground cinema following the success of ''[[Multiple Maniacs]]'', which had begun to be screened in cities such as New York, Philadelphia, and San Francisco.{{sfn|Milstead|Heffernan|Yeager|2001|pp=66–67}}

[[File:Pink Flamingos (1972) - Trailer.webm|thumb|Original [[Trailer (promotion)|trailer]] for ''Pink Flamingos'', showing testimonials about the film from midnight moviegoers.]]
Being picked up by the then-small independent company [[New Line Cinema]], ''Pink Flamingos'' was later distributed to [[Ben Barenholtz]], the owner of the [[Elgin Theater]] in New York City. At the Elgin, Barenholtz had been promoting the [[midnight movie]] scene, primarily by screening [[Alejandro Jodorowsky]]'s [[acid western]] film ''[[El Topo]]'' (1970), which had become a "very significant success" in "micro-independent terms". Barenholtz felt that being of an avant-garde nature, ''Pink Flamingos'' would fit in well with this crowd, subsequently screening it at midnight on Friday and Saturday nights.{{sfn|Milstead|Heffernan|Yeager|2001|pp=69-70}} The original [[Trailer (promotion)|trailer]] used by New Line Cinema did not feature any footage from the actual film, and instead consisted almost entirely of interviews with filmgoers who had just seen the film. This trailer was included at the end the 25th anniversary re-release.<ref>{{cite AV media|people=Waters, John|year=2004|publisher=New Line Cinema|title=Pink Flamingos (25th Anniversary Edition)|medium=DVD|time=1 hour 43 minutes}}</ref> 

The film soon gained a cult following of filmgoers who came to the Elgin Theatre for repeat viewings, a group Barenholtz characterized as initially composed primarily of "downtown gay people, more of the hipper set", but after a while, Barenholtz noted that this group eventually broadened as the film also became popular with "working-class kids from New Jersey who would become a little rowdy". Many of these cult cinema fans learned all of the lines in the film, and recited them at the screenings, a phenomenon which later became associated with another popular midnight movie of the era, ''[[The Rocky Horror Picture Show]]'' (1975).{{sfn|Milstead|Heffernan|Yeager|2001|pp=70–71}}

===Ban===
The film was initially [[List of banned films|banned]] in Switzerland and Australia, as well as in some provinces in Canada and Norway.<ref name="Harrington"/> It was eventually released uncut on VHS in Australia in 1984 with an X rating, but distribution of the video has since been discontinued. The 1997 version was cut by the distributor to achieve an R18+ after it was also refused classification. No submissions of the film have been made since, but it has been said that one of the reasons for which it was banned (as a film showing [[Unsimulated sex|actual sexual activity]] cannot be rated X in Australia if it also features violence, so the highest a film such as ''Pink Flamingos'' could be rated is R18+) would now not apply, given that the depiction of actual sex was passed within the R18+ rating for ''[[Romance (1999 film)|Romance]]'' in 1999, two years following ''Pink Flamingos''{{'}} re-release.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.refused-classification.com/censorship/film-1/pink-flamingos/|title=Censorship of Pink Flamingos (1972)|website=Refused-Classification.com|access-date=October 25, 2011}}</ref> The film was originally rated as R18 by the [[Classification Office (New Zealand)|Classification Office]] in [[New Zealand]] with no cuts, but was later refused classification on a re-submission in 2024, effectively banning the film.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.fvlb.org.nz/film-detail?id=57946 |title=Pink Flamingos|work=Film & Video Labelling Body|access-date=June 11, 2024}}</ref>

===Home media===
''Pink Flamingos'' was released on [[VHS]] and [[Betamax]] in 1981, and the re-release in 1997 from [[New Line Home Entertainment|New Line Home Video]] became the second best-selling VHS for its week of release. The film was released in the John Waters Collection DVD box set along with the original NC-17 version of ''[[A Dirty Shame]]'', ''[[Desperate Living]]'', ''[[Female Trouble]]'', ''[[Hairspray (1988 film)|Hairspray]]'', ''[[Pecker (film)|Pecker]]'', and ''[[Polyester (film)|Polyester]]''. The film was also released in a 2004 special edition with [[Audio commentary|audio commentaries]] and [[deleted scene]]s as introduced by Waters in the 25th anniversary re-release ([[#Alternative versions|''see below'']]). The film was released on [[Blu-ray]] on June 28, 2022, by [[the Criterion Collection]], featuring a new [[4K resolution|4K]] restoration.<ref>{{Citation |title=Criterion Announces June Releases |url=https://www.blu-ray.com/news/?id=30326 |website=Blu-ray.com|access-date=June 16, 2022}}</ref>

===Alternative versions===
* The 25th anniversary re-release version contains a re-recorded music soundtrack, re-mixed for stereo, plus 15 minutes of [[deleted scene]]s following the film<!--Submitted theatrical runtime: 106:59-->,<ref name="BBFC"/> introduced by Waters. Certain musical excerpts used in the original version, including [[Igor Stravinsky]]'s ''[[The Rite of Spring]]'', had to be removed and replaced in the re-release, since the [[music rights]] had never been cleared for the original release.<ref name=discogs/>
* Because of this film's explicit nature, it has been edited for content on many occasions throughout the world. In 1973, the U.S. screened version edited out most of the [[fellatio]] scene, which was later restored on the 25th anniversary DVD. Canadian censors recently restored five of the seven scenes that were originally edited in that country. [[Hicksville, New York|Hicksville]] in [[Long Island, New York]], banned the film altogether.<ref name="Harrington">{{cite news |last1=Harrington |first1=Richard |title=Revenge of the Gross-Out King! John Waters's 'Pink Flamingos' Enjoys a 25th-Year Revival |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/style/longterm/movies/review97/fpinkflamingos.htm??noredirect=on |access-date=June 21, 2018 |newspaper=[[The Washington Post]] |date=April 6, 1997}}</ref> The Japanese laserdisc version contains a blur superimposed over all displays of pubic hair. Prints also exist that were censored by the Maryland Censor Board.
* The first UK video release of ''Pink Flamingos'' in November 1981 (prior to [[British Board of Film Classification|BBFC]] video regulation requirements) was completely uncut. It was issued by Palace as part of a package of Waters films they had acquired from New Line Cinema. The package included ''[[Mondo Trasho]]'' (double-billed with ''Sex Madness''), ''[[Multiple Maniacs]]'' (double-billed with ''Cocaine Fiends''), ''[[Desperate Living]]'', and ''[[Female Trouble]]''. The 1990 video re-release of ''Pink Flamingos'' (which required BBFC approval) was cut by three minutes and four seconds (3:04), the 1997 issue lost two minutes and forty-two seconds (2:42), and the pre-edited 1999 print lost two minutes and eight seconds (2:08).
* The 2009 Sydney Underground Film Festival screened the film in [[Scratch and sniff#In popular culture|Odorama]] for the first time, using scratch 'n' sniff cards similar to the ones used in Waters' later work ''Polyester''.
* John Waters recast the film with children and rewrote the script to make it kid-friendly in a 2014 project, ''Kiddie Flamingos''. The 74-minute video features children wearing wigs and costumes modeled on the originals and performing roles originated by Divine, Mink Stole, Edith Massey, and others. Waters has said the new version, filmed in one day with actors drawn mostly from friends' children, is in some ways more perverse than the original. The film was shown on a continuous loop in the Black Box gallery at the Baltimore Museum of Art from September 2016 through January 2017.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://artbma.org/exhibitions/2016-kiddie-flamingos|title=2016 Kiddie Flamingos Details|website=Baltimore Museum of Art|access-date=October 10, 2016|archive-date=October 11, 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161011135800/https://artbma.org/exhibitions/2016-kiddie-flamingos|url-status=dead}}</ref>

==Reception==
{{Rotten Tomatoes prose|84| |49|consensus=Uproarious and appalling, ''Pink Flamingos'' is transgressive camp that proves as entertaining as it does shocking.|ref=yes|access-date=August 19, 2025}}
{{MC film|47|10|ref=y|access-date=August 19, 2025}}

In the "Cult Movies" episode of the UK documentary series ''[[Mark Kermode's Secrets of Cinema]]'', [[Mark Kermode|Kermode]] admitted that ''Pink Flamingos'' is "one of the very few films that I have ever walked out of, when I first saw it as a teenager on a late-night double bill at the [[Phoenix Cinema|Phoenix]] in [[East Finchley]]".<ref>{{cite episode | title = Cult Movies | series = Mark Kermode's Secrets Of Cinema | series-link = Mark Kermode's Secrets of Cinema | network = [[BBC]] | station = [[BBC Four]] | air-date = January 25, 2021 |season = 3| number = 3}}</ref> 

[[Roger Ebert]] of ''The Chicago Sun-Times'' gave the film a rare no-stars rating when he reviewed it in 1997 for the 25-year anniversary re-release; he and [[Gene Siskel]] did not review the film on their TV show. Ebert described Waters as "a charming man" whose "talent had grown" over the years, and also speculated the controversial material of Waters's earliest low-budget films was an "understandable" method to "attract audiences". But Ebert also felt ''Pink Flamingos'' was perhaps best understood as "a weird kind of documentary" because the transgressive behaviors were not simulated, and added: "stars simply seem not to apply."

Like the underground films from which Waters drew inspiration, which provided a source of community for pre-[[Stonewall riots|Stonewall]] [[queer]] people, the film has been widely celebrated by many in the [[LGBT community]]<ref>{{cite book |last=Benshoff|first=Harry M.|date=June 17, 2004|title=Queer Cinema: The Film Reader|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=jI_IHFUidlwC&pg=PA9|access-date=March 10, 2016|publisher=Routledge|page=9 |isbn=978-0415319874}}</ref> and has been described as "early gay [[agitprop]] filmmaking".<ref name="advocate"/> This, coupled with its unanimous popularity among [[Queer theory|queer theorists]], has led to the film being considered "the most important [[Queer cinema|queer film]] of all time".<ref name="oyarzun">{{cite web |url=http://www.tasteofcinema.com/2016/20-essential-films-for-an-introduction-to-queer-cinema/|title=20 Essential Films For An Introduction To Queer Cinema|last1=Oyarzun|first1=Hector|date=January 3, 2016|publisher=Taste of Cinema|access-date=March 10, 2016}}</ref> ''Pink Flamingos'' is also considered an important precursor of [[Punk subculture|punk culture]].<ref name="ew">{{cite magazine |url=http://www.ew.com/article/1997/04/18/pink-flamingos|title=Pink Flamingos|last1=Gleiberman|first1=Owen|date=April 18, 1997|magazine=[[Entertainment Weekly]]|publisher=[[Time Inc.]]|access-date=March 11, 2016}}</ref>

Despite Waters having released similar films, such as ''[[Mondo Trasho]]'' and ''[[Multiple Maniacs]]'', it was ''Pink Flamingos'' that drew international attention.<ref name="advocate"/> Like other underground films, it fed the rising popularity of [[midnight movie]] screenings, at which it generated a dedicated [[cult following]] that carried the film for a 95-week run in New York City and ten consecutive years in Los Angeles.<ref name="advocate"/><ref>{{cite book |last1=Mathijs|first1=Ernest|last2=Sexton|first2=Jamie|date=March 30, 2012|title=Cult Cinema|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=uPtuaV7IAt0C&pg=PT136|publisher=John Wiley & Sons|page=136|isbn=978-1405173735}}</ref> For its 25th anniversary, the film was re-released in 1997, featuring a post-film commentary by Waters in which he introduced and discussed deleted scenes,<ref name="advocate"/> adding fifteen minutes of material.<ref name="BBFC">{{cite web | url=http://www.bbfc.co.uk/releases/pink-flamingos-1970 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150924114203/http://www.bbfc.co.uk/releases/pink-flamingos-1970 | url-status=dead | archive-date=September 24, 2015 | title=''Pink Flamingos'' (18) (CUT) | work=[[British Board of Film Classification]] | date=June 27, 2013 | access-date=June 29, 2013}}</ref> American "[[New Queer Cinema]]" director [[Gus Van Sant]] has described the film as "an absolute classic piece of [[American cinema]], right up there with ''[[The Birth of a Nation]]'', ''[[Dr. Strangelove]]'', and ''[[Boom! (1968 film)|Boom!]]''"<ref name="advocate"/>  The [[Library of Congress]] inducted ''Pink Flamingos'' to the [[National Film Registry]] in December 2021.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.npr.org/2021/12/14/1063708109/return-of-the-jedi-selena-sounder-national-film-registry|title = 'Return of the Jedi,' 'Selena' and 'Sounder' added to National Film Registry|website = NPR|date = December 14, 2021|last1 = Ulaby|first1 = Neda}}</ref>

==Influence==

===Divine===
{{See also|Divine (performer)}}

The final scene in the film would prove particularly infamous, involving the character of Babs eating fresh dog feces; as Divine later told a reporter, "I followed that dog around for three hours just zooming in on its asshole" waiting for it to empty its bowels so that they could film the scene. In an interview not in character, Harris Milstead revealed that he soon called an emergency room nurse, pretending that his child had eaten dog feces, to inquire about possible harmful effects (there were none).<ref>''[[Divine Waters]]'', 1985</ref> The scene became one of the most notable moments of Divine's acting career, and he later complained of people thinking that "I run around doing it all the time. I've received boxes of dog shit – plastic dog shit. I have gone to parties where people just sit around and talk about dog shit because they think it's what I want to talk about". In reality, he remarked, he was not a [[Coprophilia|coprophile]] but only ate excrement that one time because "it was in the script".{{sfn|Milstead|Heffernan|Yeager|2001|p=65}}

Divine asked his mother, Frances Milstead, not to watch the film, a wish that she obliged. Several years before his death, Frances asked him if he had really eaten dog excrement in the film, to which he "just looked at me with that twinkle in his blue eyes, laughed, and said 'Mom, you wouldn't believe what they can do nowadays with trick photography.{{'"}}{{sfn|Milstead|Heffernan|Yeager|2001|p=61}}

===Cultural influence===
The film has a reputation as a [[midnight movie]] classic [[Cult following|cult]] with audience participation similar to ''[[The Rocky Horror Picture Show]]''.
* ''The [[Funday PawPet Show]]'' holds what is called the "Pink Flamingo Challenge", in which the ending to the film is played to the audience while they eat a (preferably chocolate) confection. Videos of the show are forbidden from showing the clip, only the reaction of the audience.{{Citation needed|date=May 2017}}
* Theater patrons often received free "Pink Phlegmingo" vomit bags.{{Citation needed|date=May 2017}}

[[Death metal]] band [[Skinless]] sampled portions of the Filth Politics speech for the songs "Merrie Melody" and "Pool of Stool", both on their second album, ''[[Foreshadowing Our Demise]]''.{{Citation needed|date=May 2017}}

Joe Jeffreys, a drag historian, mentioned seeing in ''Pink Flamingos'' a poster for the documentary film ''[[The Queen (1968 film)|The Queen]]'' (1968), featuring [[Flawless Sabrina]], and stated that it influenced his career path to document the history of drag with the [[Drag Show Video Verite]].<ref>{{Cite magazine|url=https://www.vice.com/en/article/queen-sabrina-flawless-mother/|title=Queen Sabrina, Flawless Mother|last=Ryan|first=Hugh|date=March 7, 2015 |magazine=[[Vice (magazine)|Vice]]|access-date=May 2, 2017}}</ref>

Modern zombie films like ''[[The Dead Don't Die (2019 film)|The Dead Don't Die]]'' (2019)<ref>{{Cite web |last=Goi |first=Leonardo |date=2019-05-17 |title=Cannes Review: 'The Dead Don't Die,' and Neither Do Old Zombie Tropes |url=https://dev.thefilmstage.com/cannes-review-the-dead-dont-die-and-neither-do-old-zombie-tropes/ |access-date=2025-06-08 |website=The Film Stage |language=en-US}}</ref> and ''[[Hemet, or the Landlady Don't Drink Tea]]'' (2023)<ref>{{Cite web |last=Noble-Davies |first=Cain |date=2025-05-22 |title=Hemet, or The Landlady Don't Drink Tea |url=https://www.filmink.com.au/reviews/hemet-or-the-landlady-dont-drink-tea/ |access-date=2025-06-08 |website=[[FilmInk]] |language=en-AU}}</ref> were compared to ''Pink Flamingos''.

===Cancelled sequel===
Waters had plans for a sequel, titled ''Flamingos Forever''. [[Troma Entertainment]] offered to finance the picture, but it was never made, as [[Divine (performer)|Divine]] refused to be involved, and [[Edith Massey (actress)|Edith Massey]] died in 1984.<ref name="Harrington"/>

After reading the script, Divine had refused to be involved as he believed that it would not be a suitable career move, for he had begun to focus on more serious, male roles in films like ''[[Trouble in Mind (film)|Trouble in Mind]]''. According to his manager, Bernard Jay, "What was, in the early seventies, a mind-blowing exercise in Poor Taste, was now, we both believed, sheer Bad Taste. Divi[ne] felt the public would never accept such an infantile effort in shock tactics some fifteen years later and by people fast approaching middle age."{{sfn|Jay|1993|p=211}}

The script for ''Flamingos Forever'' would later be published in John Waters' 1988 book ''Trash Trio'', which also included the scripts for ''Pink Flamingos'' and ''[[Desperate Living]]''.

==See also==
* [[List of American films of 1972]]
* [[List of LGBTQ-related films of 1972]]
* [[List of banned films]]
* [[List of cult films]]
* ''[[Divine Trash]]''
* ''[[In Bad Taste]]''
* [[Cinema of Transgression]]

==Notes==
{{Notelist}}

==References==
{{Reflist}}

===Bibliography===
{{Refbegin}}
* {{Cite book|title= Not Simply Divine! |last=Jay |first=Bernard |year= 1993|publisher= Virgin Books|location= London |isbn=0-86369-740-2}}
* {{Cite book|title= My Son Divine |last1=Milstead |first1=Frances |last2=Heffernan |first2=Kevin |last3=Yeager |first3=Steve |year= 2001 |publisher= Alyson Books |location= Los Angeles and New York |isbn=978-1-55583-594-1}}
{{Refend}}

==External links==
{{Wikiquote}}
* {{IMDb title}}
* {{Rotten Tomatoes}}
* {{AFI film}}
* {{TCMDb title}}
* [https://www.criterion.com/current/posts/7845-pink-flamingos-the-battle-of-filth ''Pink Flamingos:'' The Battle of Filth] – an essay by Howard Hampton at [[The Criterion Collection]]
* [http://www.dreamlandnews.com/films/pink-flamingos.html ''Pink Flamingos''] at the Dreamland website

{{John Waters}}
{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Pink Flamingos}}
[[Category:1972 films]]
[[Category:1972 black comedy films]]
[[Category:1972 crime films]]
[[Category:1972 horror films]]
[[Category:1972 independent films]]
[[Category:1972 LGBTQ-related films]]
[[Category:1970s American films]]
[[Category:1970s crime comedy films]]
[[Category:1970s English-language films]]
[[Category:1970s exploitation films]]
[[Category:American black comedy films]]
[[Category:American crime comedy films]]
[[Category:American exploitation films]]
[[Category:American independent films]]
[[Category:American LGBTQ-related films]]
[[Category:Animal cruelty incidents in film]]
[[Category:Bisexuality-related films]]
[[Category:Censored films]]
[[Category:Cross-dressing in American films]]
[[Category:American drag (entertainment)-related films]]
[[Category:English-language black comedy films]]
[[Category:English-language crime comedy films]]
[[Category:English-language independent films]]
[[Category:Films about cannibalism]]
[[Category:Films about dysfunctional families]]
[[Category:Films about incest]]
[[Category:Films about rape in the United States]]
[[Category:American films about revenge]]
[[Category:Film controversies]]
[[Category:Films directed by John Waters]]
[[Category:Films produced by John Waters]]
[[Category:Films set in Baltimore]]
[[Category:Films shot in Baltimore]]
[[Category:Films set in Idaho]]
[[Category:Films with screenplays by John Waters]]
[[Category:Lesbian-related films]]
[[Category:LGBTQ-related black comedy films]]
[[Category:LGBTQ-related controversies in film]]
[[Category:LGBTQ-related crime comedy films]]
[[Category:Obscenity controversies in film]]
[[Category:United States National Film Registry films]]
[[Category:New Line Cinema films]]