Desperate Living

Desperate Living

Director: John Waters Cast: Liz Renay
Liz Renay
, Mink Stole
Mink Stole
, Susan Lowe
Susan Lowe
, Edith Massey
Edith Massey
John Waters
Desperate Living

Desperate Living

Director: John Waters Cast: Liz Renay
Liz Renay
, Mink Stole
Mink Stole
, Susan Lowe
Susan Lowe
, Edith Massey
Edith Massey
John Waters

DVD (Full Frame)

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Overview

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.

Product Details

Release Date: 06/13/2017
UPC: 0888574535346
Original Release: 1977
Rating: NR
Source: Warner Archives
Language: English
Time: 1:31:00
Sales rank: 22,202

Cast & Crew

Performance Credits
Liz Renay Muffy St. Jacques
Mink Stole Peggy Gravel
Susan Lowe Mole McHenry
Edith Massey Queen Carlotta
Mary Vivian Pearce Princess Coo-Coo
Jean Hill Grizelda Brown
Cookie Mueller Flipper
Ed Peranio Lieutenant Wilson
Channing Wilroy Lt. Williams
George Stover Bosley Gravel
Roland Hertz Muffy's Husband
George Figgs Herbert
Pat Moran Pervert
Peter Coper Goon
Steve Parker Goon
David Klein Goon
Paul Swift Mr. Paul

Technical Credits
John Waters Director,Screenwriter,Producer
Robert Maier Sound/Sound Designer
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