Female Trouble (1974)

I watched the 97 minute version. This and Pink Flamingos was lent to me by a friend of mine, and they are my first and only exposure to Waters, other than his guest appearance in an episode of The Simpsons and his role in Seed of Chucky. Well, I'm not a fan. I would have to say that this is the better of the two. Instead of being one long excuse to shock and put the nastiest things they could think of onto the screen(this may have the same amount, but in a much lesser range), this has genuine plot and even sort of a point... crime as beauty(seemingly related to Charles Manson and his "family"), and the pursuit of the latter. Well, yeah, it's *strange*... remember who we're dealing with. The substance does help this considerably(a little absurd stuff is better than absolutely nothing). There are a couple of funny lines(such as the one in my summary), if on the whole, I didn't find this humorous(the "don't want eggs" bit was amusing), only offensive. Not a lot of it is in the language, it's largely visual and in the occurrences. Divine is yet again wearing excessive make-up, and again there are characters with odd names wearing weird clothes and hair being obnoxious and not necessarily credible. While the dialog is not as repetitive, and doesn't feel as improvised and "ok, guys, we only have time for one take so keep going if you flub a line" as in the earlier movie, it's not impressive. Performances are decent, same for the FX. This has a little good music. The technical aspects remain underwhelming. There is a moderate measure of sex and full frontal nudity of both genders in this. I recommend this to those who enjoy John's work, or find what I describe here to be appealing. 6/10

Female Trouble is John Waters' follow up to his breakthrough hit Pink Flamingos and anyone that saw that movie will know exactly what to expect. With this film, Waters delivers yet more bad taste and trashiness; although it's slightly higher quality than the earlier film was and the plot has some extra depth. I think a viewer's opinion on John Waters will largely depend on what exactly they want from movies and thus this is not a film for everyone...and it didn't do much for me. The lead character is Dawn Davenport, a spoilt schoolgirl that wants a pair of cha-cha heels from her parents for Christmas. She doesn't get what she wants, so the brat decides to run away from home, ends up having an illegitimate child and gets involved with a couple of photographers that like to photograph women during acts of crime because that, apparently, is sexy. Davenport eventually makes something of a name for herself; but her fame comes at a price and she ends up on the run from the cops.This film does have more depth than Pink Flamingos; but it's still all about style. No matter what you think of the film itself, you have to take your hat off to Waters for the style of the film, which is completely bizarre and unique. The set design and costumes are completely over the top and this compliments the absurd and disgusting humour well. It's obvious that this film was made on a very low budget; and Waters clearly couldn't afford any good actors. The film does benefit from the presence of Divine, however; the trashy transvestite who delivers another unforgettable performance as Waters' leading 'lady'. The film takes a turn for the surreal on several occasions and Waters adds in plenty of social satire; some of which works (but most of which doesn't go anywhere). The film doesn't pull any punches, and although it is less disgusting than the earlier effort; there's still plenty to make the audience vomit. The structure of the film holds it together well until the ending and Waters does at least tell a story. Anyone that enjoys this sort of stuff will no doubt be in heaven with this trash-fest...but I doubt I'll ever see it again.

Funnily enough, around the time that Divine sits in the crib with the pile of dead fish I started thinking about the words of the Bomb Squad's Hank Shocklee - "If they want noise, let's give them NOISE!" Yes, friends, Waters is the queer Public Enemy, tying identity to culture, cranking the most alienating elements of same to 11, and losing great chunks of his own demographic in the spectacular, chaotic process. This was made right off the midnight-movie success of "Pink Flamingos", and presumably this facilitated a budget, and presumably this led to the extra notch of competence that keeps the movie barreling forward from beginning to end - there's even an original theme song, plus thirty glorious seconds of Nervous Norvus singing "H-I-P". In most underground movies a scene featuring the lead actor, in two roles, raping himself for two full minutes - and THEN taking off his pants - would be the climax, not the inciting incident! And Edith "Flav" Massey yelling "NO I don't want any god damn eggs!" is an even better inversion than the new Bond's martini line. A triumphant cinematic masterpiece.

In 1974, John Waters created his masterpiece entitled, "Female Trouble," a film that began to show the deep and very dark Baltimore humour he uses today. The movie's basic message is: Crime is beauty, showing the hysteria of at first, a teenage Dawn (played by Drag-queen Dreamlander Divine) to a vicious and violent criminal only to be betrayed by her partners in crime and later, being executed in the electric chair. Gore is included, even a scene of an obese woman getting her hand chopped off as well as a scene of mutilation of Divine's "perfect face." A highly recommended film, not as explicit as Pink Flamginos but with much more quality. If you loved Pink Flamingos, you're in for a hilarious and bizarre oddity.