Slideshow
DESPERATE LIVING
U.S., 1977
Directed by John Waters
With Liz Renay, Mink Stole, Edith Massey, Susan Lowe, Mary Vivian Pearce, Jean Hill
Cinematography by John Waters
Approx. 90 min. 35mm.
Mentally unstable housewife Peggy (Mink Stole) and her maid turned partner-in-crime Grizelda (Jean Hill) are on the run for the joint murder of Peggy’s absent husband. Abandoning their vehicle after a bizarre run in with a perverted cop, they escape to the colorful hellscape of Mortville, a paper-thin town reminiscent of Pasolini’s short film THE EARTH AS SEEN FROM THE MOON. They ward off nudists, evil Lesbians, and reigning misanthrope Queen Carlotta (Edith Massey), who taunts her residents as a hobby and is plotting to eradicate them altogether.
Ranking “the highest peak atop the director’s trash heap of a filmography” by The New York Times, the film managed to offend so many Lesbians that their protests prevented it from being shown in some cities.
Reviews
“I dare anyone not to take John Waters seriously after DESPERATE LIVING. He remains the visionary of camp and the den mother of the bizarre… This film is a triumphant example of the most vital bad taste in America.”
– The Village Voice
“You could look far and wide to find a more pointlessly ugly movie than John Waters’s DESPERATE LIVING, but why would you bother?”
– Janet Maslin, The New York Times