The Art and Culture of Movies: The Films of John Waters: Introduction

Since the most consistently popular post on this blog remains a genre theory essay on John Waters' 1988 cult classic HAIRSPRAY, which I wrote during my time in film school, I thought it might be interesting to look back at his body of work with a series of posts on each of his films (at least those that are currently available for viewing).

Growing up in Baltimore, Waters was obviously a major inspiration to me as an aspiring filmmaker. I first became really interested in his work around the time of the 25th anniversary re-release of PINK FLAMINGOS, in 1997. Watching the interviews with Waters on "Rodricks for Breakfast" and other local programs, I was fascinated by how he'd made these films on a shoestring, self-distributing his early works, and how they represented such a unique and original sensibility.

My reviews will begin with the earliest of his films that I've been able to see, MONDO TRASHO, made in 1969 and also Waters' first feature-length project (adhering to his dictum that his films should run no longer than 90 minutes). His earlier, underground short films, are unavailable for reasons he mentions in this interview at Nerve.com. These underground films would be particularly interesting to see if they were ever made available, given Waters' frequent acknowledgement of debt to the work of the Kuchar brothers. It would be interesting to be able to compare the films to the work of the Kuchars and other underground filmmakers of the period to trace the influences.

In Shock Value, published in 1981, Waters recalls that his first short film, HAG IN A BLACK LEATHER JACKET (1964), was shown only once, in a Baltimore coffee house. His next effort, ROMAN CANDLES, followed two years later, and contained three, 40-minute films shown side-by-side (influenced by Warhol's THE CHELSEA GIRLS). His third of these early works, EAT YOUR MAKEUP, was produced in 1968 and featured, among other things, a re-creation of the Kennedy assassination, with Divine as Jackie Kennedy!

Another short, THE DIANE LINKLETTER STORY, was produced in 1969, and apparently was an improvised effort made with the chief purpose of testing the sound camera system that Waters was planning to use for his first talkie, MULTIPLE MANIACS. Unlike the previous three films, THE DIANE LINKLETTER STORY has found its way onto bootleg videotapes. Based on the real-life tragic suicide of Diane Linkletter, daughter of TV personality Art Linkletter, Waters' film stars Divine in the title role, with David Lochary and Mary Vivian Pearce as her concerned parents. Stylistically, this film is not terribly interesting, being lensed in long takes as, presumably, the sound camera system did not allow for editing of dialogue. As an experiment in improvisation, it goes on too long (running nearly ten minutes) and lacks any of the characteristic Waters dialogue that would become a key component of his mature work, but it is interesting to see purely for historical purposes.

I will be posting reviews of the films in chronological order, beginning with MONDO TRASHO and finishing up with his most recent effort, A DIRTY SHAME. Look for the first review soon.

Source: http://artandcultureofmovies.blogspot.com/2013/01/the-films-of-john-waters-introduction.html

punxsutawney facebook ipo facebook ipo egypt soccer riot mike kelley puxatony phil josh harvey clemons