'Pink Flamingos' comes to Criterion.

[Mr Lime]

"SOMEONE HAS SENT ME A BOWEL MOVEMENT!!!"

At last!!! John Waters' magnum opus, 'Pink Flamingos' -probably the ultimate celluloid atrocity- comes to Blu-ray, courtesy of Criterion!

And appropriately enough it comes packaged in a plain brown wrapper. The packaging actually reproduces a parcel in the film that contains a human turd, sent by the villains of the piece to our heroine, the one and only Divine.

A battle between two warring families for the title of 'The Filthiest People Alive', probably the best way to sum up the effect of this meisterwerk, came from a friend of mine after I introduced him to its delights, when he said...

"Luckily I was laughing so much, it took my mind off throwing up!"

If I didn't love Criterion already, this would seal our love for eternity! Christmas comes early for me this year - June 28th!

No word of a UK release yet, but Criterion UK has released three John Waters titles so far and the BBFC a couple of years ago finally passed the film completely uncut for the first time, although no distributor has yet released the uncut version on disc.

 

[Mr Lime]

 

[IGC]

Like the JFK assassination I remember exactly where I was when I first seen Pink Flamingos.

 

[Mr Lime]

An interesting read - the chequered history of 'Pink Flamingos' at the BBFC.

Pink Flamingos

 

[Mr Lime]

Like the JFK assassination I remember exactly where I was when I first seen Pink Flamingos.

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Me too. I was a buyer for a video wholesale company during the heyday of home video in the early 1980s. I'd heard of 'Pink Flamingos' but had never seen it until Palace Video released it, fully uncut, in their first batch of releases. I was ecstatic - the jet black humour and sheer chutzpah on display was right up my street. I thought, "This film was made just for me!"

I was like an evangelist for the film. These were the days before video censorship, when everyone was looking for the next shock/sensation release and I sold it to our clients by showing them the dog turd scene at the end.

All were revolted, but nonetheless amused and we quickly sold out of our initial order.
When I phoned Palace Video to order more stock, their sales manager exclaimed...

"You want to order MORE? Everyone else is returning it by the lorry load!".

After that, Palace Video treated me like a king, with lots of freebies, nice Christmas presents and invites to their screenings, their dinners and receptions at the London trade shows, etc. And of course advance copies of every John Waters release!

 

[IGC]

"ONE OF THE MOST VILE, STUPID AND REPULSIVE FILMS EVER MADE -Daily Variety"

"LIKE A SEPTIC TANK EXPLOSION IT HAS TO BE SEEN TO BE BELIEVED -Detroit Free Press"

UK listed for July:

Pink Flamingos - The Criterion Collection | Blu-ray | Free shipping over £20 | HMV Store

John Waters (Director) | Divine (Actor) | Mink Stole (Actor) | Edith Massey (Actor) | David Lochary Pink Flamingos - The Criterion Collection Blu-ray Free shipping over £20

store.hmv.com

Amazon product

I first seen this in the cinema (might have been the Edinburgh Cameo) then on VHS,

It's a great film in the sense it opened up independent cinema to many people who just never knew there was cinema like this and that they could also make films on no budget.

All the great quotes about the film I always hoped for "THE JOHN CASSAVETES OF VULGAR".

 

[Mr Lime]

A reply to my e-mail asking Criterion if the UK release will be uncut. It will be!

This will be the first time the film has been available uncut in the UK since its first (short lived) VHS release in the early '80s.