Desperate Living (1977)
- Starring:
- Liz Renay, Mink Stole, (more)
- Director(s):
- John Waters
- Theatrical MPAA Rating:
- NR
- Category:
- Comedy
My RatingTheatrical Release Information | See Details About All Versions
Divine was touring as a cabaret singer when director John Waters made this comedy of the grotesque, but he filled the void admirably with the equally rotund Jean Hill and burlesque-queen Liz Renay. The film tells the story of Peggy Gravel (Mink Stole), a mad housewife who kills her husband then goes on the lam with her 300-pound maid Grizelda (Hill). After being sexually accosted by a lewd, cross-dressing cop with gingivitis, the women are directed to Mortville, a shanty-town for fugitive criminals ruled by the evil Queen Carlotta (Edith Massey). Carlotta's daughter, Princess Coo-Coo (Mary Vivian Pearce) wants to renounce the throne and marry a nudist garbageman, so the Queen has him killed and enlists Peggy's aid in infecting the kingdom with rabies. Waters uses a fairy-tale framework to indulge his penchant for nauseating set-pieces, such as a transsexual lesbian (Susan Lowe) having her new penis cut off with scissors and fed to a dog, women being fed live cockroaches, and Peggy being assaulted at a lesbian glory-hole. Massey is hilarious as the Queen, urging her leather-clad bodyguards/sex-toys to "rob my safety-deposit box!," but the oddly-named actor Turkey Joe steals the show in his brief role as a lecherous cop, spouting lines like "I love the feel of cold nylon on my big butt!" and slobbering over Grizelda's huge underpants. The pinnacle of gross-out humor, Desperate Living is Waters' strangest and funniest film. ~ Robert Firsching, All Movie Guide
- Theatrical Feature Running Time:
- 91 mins
Complete Cast:
- Liz Renay - Muffy St. Jacques
- Susan Lowe - Mole McHenry
- Mary Vivian Pearce - Princess Coo-Coo
- Cookie Mueller - Flipper
- Channing Wilroy - Lt. Williams
- Roland Hertz - Muffy's Husband
- Pat Moran - Pervert
- Steve Parker - Goon
- Paul Swift - Mr. Paul
- Mink Stole - Peggy Gravel
- Edith Massey - Queen Carlotta
- Jean Hill - Grizelda Brown
- Ed Peranio - Lieutenant Wilson
- George Stover - Bosley Gravel
- George Figgs - Herbert
- Peter Koper - Goon
- Divine
- David Klein - Goon
- Director(s):
- John Waters
- Writer(s):
- John Waters
- Producer(s):
- John Waters
- Theatrical MPAA Rating:
- NR(Nudity, Not For Children, Violence)
- Categories:
- Comedy
- Closed Captioning:
- Check All Versions
- Subtitles:
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