A Dirty Shame [WS]

Director: John Waters John Waters

Overview

"The granddaddy of bad taste makes a potent return to form, and New Line Home Entertainment is there to back him up as John Waters' sexually obsessed concussion comedy arrives on DVD with another classic commentary track by the director and a remarkably insightful featurette. The feature presentation is offered up in a wonderful 1.85:1 anamorphic widescreen transfer, with all of Waters' unsightly sight gags well in place and long-time Waters set designer Vincent Peranio's giddily gaudy sets shining through in all of their eye-gouging, hideous glory. Of course, any Waters fan knows that this is one director who knows how to pick a soundtrack, and the raunchy rock tunes are perfectly balanced with the classic dialogue that fans of the director have known and loved since the days of Pink Flamingos. And anyone familiar with the director also knows he has been the voice of some of the most entertaining audio commentary tracks ever to appear on DVD, and his commentary for A Dirty Shame is no letdown. After opening the track with a mouthful of food, Waters hilariously goes on to discuss everything from the ratings controversy generated by A Dirty Shame, to the lesser-known sexual slang terms used by the cast and his unforgettable encounter with an auto-erotically obsessed businessman in the first-class section of an airplane. Clocking in at over an hour, the featurette ""All the Dirt on a Dirty Shame"" covers the making of the film in addition to offering interviews with such veteran Dreamlanders as Channing Wilroy and highlighting actor Suzanne Shepherd's traumatic first encounter with the film's script. Director and exploitation expert Frank Henenlotter also pops in for a guest appearance, and after witnessing some truly nauseating ""Sploshing"" footage, viewers get to find out the one fetish that instantly transforms the notorious Waters into one of the ""neuters"" he so gleefully parodies in A Dirty Shame. A fall-down-funny see-it-to-believe-it deleted scene featuring star Johnny Knoxville rounds out the features, making this release of Waters' back-to-form effort an essential addition to the collection of any serious fan."

Product Details

Release Date:	06/14/2005
UPC:	0794043775420
Original Release:	2004
Rating:	NC-17
Source:	New Line Home Video
Region Code:	1
Presentation:	[Wide Screen]
Sound:	[Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround, Dolby Digital Surround]
Language:	English
Time:	1:28:00

Special Features

Closed Caption;Original theatrical version of the film; Scandalous John Waters commentary; Shocking featurette "All the Dirt on a Dirty Shame

Cast & Crew

Performance Credits

Tracey Ullman	Sylvia Stickles
Johnny Knoxville	Ray-Ray Perkins
Chris Isaak	Vaughn Stickles
Selma Blair	Caprice Stickles
Suzanne Shepherd	Big Ethel
Mink Stole	Marge the Neuter
Patricia Hearst	Paige
Jackie Hoffman	Dora
Nicholas E.I. Noble	Weird Paperboy
Lucy Newman-Williams	Neuter Yuppie Woman
Scott Morgan	Neuter Yuppie Man
Wes Johnson	Fat Frank
David A. Dunham	Mama Bear
Dave Moretti	Papa Bear
Jeffrey Auerbach	Baby Bear
Ricki Lake	Herself
Susan Allenback	Actor
Paul DeBoy	Wendell Doggett,Dr. Arlington
Channing Wilroy	Male Motorist
Rosemary Knower	Female Motorist
Jewel Orem	Loose Linda
Richard Pelzman	Paw Paw
David Hasselhoff	Himself
Susan Allenbach	Betty Doggett
James Ransone	Dingy Dave
Alan Wendl	Officer Alvin,Driving Neuter Wife
Jonas Grey	Warren the Mailman
Lance Baldwin	Larry
Kosha Engler	Lu Ann
Michael Gabel	Mr. Pay Day
Mary Pearce	Unjudgemental Ex-Sex Addict
Kevin Reese	Ronnie the Rimmer
Susan Rome	Messy Melinda
Michael Willis	Tony the Tickler
Liam Hughes	Coffee Sex Addict
Shirleyann Kaladjian	Gay Woman #1
Hari Leigh	Gay Woman #2
Richard DeAngelis	Neuter Man With Sub-Titles
Gwendolyn Briley-Strand	Anti 'Oral Sex' Neuter
Kate Kiley	Anti 'Bear' Neuter
Grace Nalls	Vaughn's Mother
Ty Ford	Taxi Driver
Randall Boffman	Neuter Businessman
Patsy Grady Abrams	Neuter Old Maid
Douglas Roberts	Driving Neuter Husband
Jean Schertler	Neuter Grandmother on Bus
Carlos Juan Gonzales	Bus Driver
Brilane Bowman	Cow Patty
John Shields	Chesapeake Cooking Man
Gaelan Alexander Connell	Horny Kid
Fred Strother	"Strange" Sex Addict
Jean Hill	Woman on Fire Escape
Richard Salamanca	Fat Boy A
Britt Prentice	Fat Boy B
Nathan Fulord	Tire Lick Boy
Christopher Glenn Wilson	Tire Lick Dad
Lynn McCune	Neuter Mom #4
Steve Mack	Injured Neuter Man #1
Don Hewitt	Injured Neuter Man #2
Jeanette Chivvas	Fan on Airplane
George Clinton	Conductor,Composer

Technical Credits

John Waters

John Waters	Director,Screenwriter
Mark Ordesky	Producer,Executive Producer
Christine Vachon	Producer
Ted Hope	Producer
the Fisher Brothers	Executive Producer
Rodney French	Key Grip
Kerry Barden	Casting
Mark Kaufman	Executive Producer
Merideth Finn	Executive Producer
Chazz Menedez	Stunts
Roy Farfel	Stunts
Pat Moran	Casting
Norman Douglass	Stunts
Melissa Morgan	Stunts
John Becker	Stunts
John Wells	Executive Producer
Jay Boryea	Stunts
Rick Angelella	Sound Mixer

Editorial Reviews

Like a cartoonish version of They Came From Within that substitutes head injuries for parasites and an uptight Baltimore neighborhood for a futuristic high-rise apartment complex, John Waters' A Dirty Shame finds the so-called "Prince of Puke"'s career coming full circle. For a while, it seemed that age had mellowed Waters somewhat, and though such later efforts as Serial Mom and Pecker certainly had a cheeky edge over the average Hollywood fare, it was simply harder to shock audiences into laughter in an era when South Park aired nightly and "special edition" DVDs offered raunchier, more explicit versions of films originally rated PG-13 or R when released to theaters. In short, it seemed that the precedent that Waters had set with his own shock classic Pink Flamingos had come back to haunt him. Thankfully for longtime fans, Waters was more than up to the challenge of regaining his former glory, and Fine Line Features was willing to support that decision by granting him the liberty to shoot an NC-17 film (though, even with that rating, one gets the occasional feeling that Waters was holding back). Supported by a game cast that includes Tracey Ullman and Chris Isaak, Waters not only takes on the sexual hypocrisy that has come to define the mores of post-nipplegate America, but also the very source of that anxiety by casting Johnny Knoxville as a sexual Jesus who has come to bring the "resurrsextion" to Hartford Street. The film also offers some of the most quotable dialogue of Waters' recent filmography, and when Ullman's sex-crazed Sylvia Stickles begs husband Vaughn (Isaak) to "discover the oyster," one can't help but chuckle at recalling the classic dialogue that defined such early efforts as Desperate Living. Though it doesn't possess the mean streak that defined Waters' early efforts, A Dirty Shame is still more Female Trouble than Cry-Baby, and the collection of naughty novelties that litters the soundtrack even finds his musical selections hearkening back to the pre-Polyester era. Leave it to Waters to revert back to his old deviant ways just as a Broadway version of his 1988 comedy Hairspray (the director's first PG-rated film) threatened to bring him some amount of "mainstream" respectability -- and longtime fans simply wouldn't have it any other way.