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starring: Liz Renay, Mink Stole, Susan Lowe, Edith Massey, Mary Vivian Pearcedirected by: John Waters
Audience Rating: R (Restricted)
Binding: VHS Tape
EAN: 9780780607750
Format: Closed-captioned, Color, NTSC
ISBN: 0780607759
Label: New Line Home Video
Manufacturer: New Line Home Video
Number Of Items: 1
Publisher: New Line Home Video
Release Date: July 01, 1997
Running Time: 90 minutes
Sales Rank: 23001
Studio: New Line Home Video
Theatrical Release Date: 1977
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Editorial Review:
Amazon.com:
Everyone in Desperate Living's Mortville has some horrible secret to hide. The mentally unstable Peggy Gravel (Mink Stole, in a superb display of overacting) and her 300-pound-plus maid Grizelda must take it on the lam after Grizelda smothers Peggy's husband under her elephantine buttocks. They find themselves in Mortville, a shanty fiefdom ruled by the grotesque Queen Carlotta (the incomparable Edith Massey). The evil queen delights in tormenting her subjects, but Peggy and Grizelda soon team up with a pair of lesbian outcasts, and a rebellion is in the air. John Waters's Desperate Living takes on the air of a seedy, trash fairy tale as the humiliated residents of Mortville rise up against the queen and the cursed princess finds herself in a power struggle against her mother. Notable for the absence of Waters regular Divine, this movie pushes the rest of the cast to their over-the-top best. Fifties sex bomb Liz Renay has a great time as Muffy St. Jacques, half of the lesbian couple, and was still looking great by the '70s. The tumbledown sets of Mortville add a surreal touch to the movie, but Edith Massey steals every scene she's in as the hateful, repulsive Queen Carlotta. Note that the actors' breath is clearly visible in many scenes; it was filmed outdoors in a bitter Baltimore winter. Nasty, shabby, gross, and hilarious, this is John Waters at his best. --Jerry Renshaw
Customer Reviews
Average Rating: 
Rating:  - Best JW Film Ever
The first time I saw "Pink Flamingoes," something seemed oddly familiar. I later realized it was the "acting." The actors delivered their lines with the conviction and subtlety of a Jr. High School play. This element coupled with the cruelly insightful, almost profound nature of what is being said is a trademark of John Waters. It softens the blow somewhat.
"Desperate Living" still delivers an abundance of Waters' trademark irony in action, but, there's a catch. Two catch's, really. ... Read More
Rating:  - it's a terrible play--but it makes a wonderful rehearsal
Desperate Living was made by John Waters before he truly entered the world of mainstream cinema--and it looks it. With sets that look like garbage pulled from the city dump so that they wouldn't have to pay for it, this movie really takes a strong stomach to enjoy--if you enjoy this sort of thing at all. Its real redemption is in the acting of the cast; their script ain't too hot but the actors sure do a fine job acting!
The action starts in the Gravel household. Peggy Gravel has just ... Read More
Rating: - "Desperate" to see this after the remake of HAIRSPRAY:THE MUSICAL!
After seeing the newest reincarnation of HAIRSPRAY:THE MUSICAL I needed "desperately" to return to original roots! Face it....there really is only one John Waters.(As a small child,John and his "cast of cohorts" were regulars at our home as they were all friends of my older sister!)
DESPERATE LIVING is supposed to be shocking,ridiculous,gross and in bad taste, and Waters has always had the right stable of stars (grade B and lower!) to pull off his warped visions .What we call "great actors" ... Read More
Rating: - DESPERATE LIVING
WE LOVE THIS MOVIE.. JOHN WATERS IS BRILLIANT!! WE HAD THE ORIGINAL ON VHS BUT NO LONGER WORKS. WE WERE SO HAPPY TO FIND IT ON DVD.. NOT EVEN DVD PLANET HAD THIS ONE..
Rating: - "I don't know i'm trippin'...Hey, got any downers."
John Waters is BRILLIANT! The man wrote THE best lines EVER! Who wants to be normal? NORMAL is boring! This is one of the best of his movies besides Pink Flamingos, Female Trouble and Polyester. Mink Stole and Edith Massey...the Greatest...after Divine ofcourse. Susan Lowe and Liz Renay(RIP), are flawless.
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