Product Description

Director John Waters broke new boundaries of bad taste with his hilariously trashy tale of suburban misadventure Polyester. His favorite leading lady, transvestite Divine, plays Francine Fishpaw, a dissatisfied suburban housefrau who longs for a little romance in her life because her husband and children drive her crazy. Salvation arrives in the form of Tod Tomorrow (Tab Hunter), a drive-in owner who sweeps Francine off her feet (a mean task, given Divine's girth). But he's not all he's cracked up to be.

Everyone in Desperate Living's Mortville has some horrible secret to hide. The mentally unstable Peggy Gravel (Mink Stole, in a superb display of overacting) and her 300-pound-plus maid Grizelda must take it on the lam after Grizelda smothers Peggy's husband under her elephantine buttocks. They find themselves in Mortville, a shanty fiefdom ruled by the grotesque Queen Carlotta (the incomparable Edith Massey). The evil queen delights in tormenting her subjects, but Peggy and Grizelda soon team up with a pair of lesbian outcasts, and a rebellion is in the air. Notable for the absence of Waters regular Divine, this movie pushes the rest of the cast to their over-the-top best. Nasty, shabby, gross, and hilarious, this is John Waters at his best.

---

Product Details

Publisher	New Line Home Video
UPC	794043523120
Number Of Discs	2
ISBN	0780634543
Original Release Date	1981-05-29
Creator	David Spencer James McKenzie Robert Maier Robert Shaye Sara Risher
Region Code	1
Format	DVD Closed-captioned Color DVD Full Screen Letterboxed Widescreen NTSC
Directed By	John Waters
Release Date	2001-09-04
Label	New Line Home Video
Title	John Waters Collection #2: Polyester/ Desperate Living
Studio	New Line Home Video
EAN	9780780634541
Starring	Liz Renay,Mink Stole,Susan Lowe,Edith Massey,Mary Vivian Pearce
Running Time	177 minutes
Theatrical Release Date	1981-05-29
MPAA Rating	R (Restricted)
Aspect Ratio	1.85:1
Manufacturer	New Line Home Video

---

Customer Reviews

fine and filthy feast for John Waters fans

Review by Matthew G. Sherwin, 2007-10-13

This two DVD set of John Waters films gives us Polyester coupled with Desperate Living. The packaging is good and the artwork reflects a good deal of thought as to how to attract viewers with a silly spoof of family and love stories in Polyester and a rather "different" (ahem) movie that is salvaged by great acting in Desperate Living.

In Polyester, we first watch a brief introduction by a "scientist." He tells us that we're about to watch a movie in odorama; and he shows moviegoers how to scratch and sniff the odorama card when the corresponding numbers light up in the corner of the screen. (Yes, you DO get an odorama card.) We then see the Fishpaw household. Francine (played by Divine) tries hard to keep her family together. That ain't easy: Francine's husband Elmer (David Samson) is fooling around with his secretary (Mink Stole); her pregnant and unwed teenage daughter is running around with junkies (look for Stiv Bators as Bo-Bo Belsinger); and her son loves women's feet so much that he routinely stomps on them and winds up in jail!

The pressure on Francine is worsened by her cruel mother. Francine's only friend is her former, mildly mentally handicapped maid Cuddles (Edith Massey) who is suddenly rich now that she's inherited a huge sum of money. Francine's world crumbles almost all together when her husband Elmer leaves her; and that's when the action speeds up even more! Francine meets Todd Tomorrow (Tab Hunter), a handsome man who's clearly interested in her. Can this be the start of a new life for Francine?

Of course, the plot can go in many different directions. Francine eventually becomes alcoholic because of her pain--will she combat her drinking problem? How far can Cuddles go to help Francine? Will Elmer really leave Francine for good? Will Francine's daughter go off with Bo-Bo? What about Francine's son? Will Todd turn out to be the right man after all for Francine? Watch the movie and find out!

The cinematography is good when the camera is filming an aerial view of the Baltimore suburb where The Fishpaws live; and the choreography works well in crowd scenes like Cuddle's debutante party. In addition, the DVD contains a director's commentary.

As for Desperate Living, the action starts in the Gravel household. Peggy Gravel has just returned from a psychiatric hospital and her husband seems to think it's going to be all right even though she's still crazy like a fox! Bosley Gravel (George Stover), Peggy's husband, wants to give her a medication injection. However, when Peggy fantasizes that Bosley is trying to kill her, their very obese maid Grizelda Brown (Jean Hill) accidentally kills Bosley by sitting on him.

They know they're in hot water for having murdered Bosley--ands Peggy and Grizelda flee in Peggy's car. After an unusual (ahem) scene in which a cop lets them get away, they know that they can only go to Mortville where murderesses are tolerated without being punished under the law.

And what a dump Mortville is! Full of trash, poor people and ugly shanties, Peggy and Grizelda don't like it. They stay, however, to avoid the law. They soon rent a room from Mole McHenry (Susan Lowe) and her female lover Muffy St. Jacques (Liz Renay). They also discover that Mortville suffers under the reign of wicked Queen Carlotta (Edith Massey), who delights in torturing people and making them walk backwards one day or be murdered on the spot.

Does Mortville work out for Peggy and Grizelda? Will Muffy or Mole make a pass at either Peggy or Grizelda? Will Queen Carlotta remain unchallenged? Watch the movie and find out!

The DVD has a commentary by John Waters; but that's really it for the DVD extras. Desperate Living isn't my kind of flick--the "sets" look like they were taken from a city dump-and they probably were! The acting redeems the movie to some degree.

John Waters fans will rejoice at this two DVD set. Desperate Living lets you see what John Waters did before he attempted to go mainstream; and Polyester is the first film John Waters directed when he did begin to go mainstream. I highly recommend this for fans of movies directed by John Waters; and people who like movies that are off the beaten path will love these two films as well.

Five stars for Polyester + three stars for Desperate Living = four stars for this DVD set.

---

POLYESTER?DESPERATE LIVING YUMMY

Review by Anonymous, 2004-07-15

This is a real gag fest collection of John Waters cinema. I first viewed Divine in the notorious Pink Flamingos and was immediately addicted!!! This second collection features Polyester starring Tab Hunter(Todd Tommorrow as the lead), Edith Massey(Cuddles-Francine's former cleaning lady turned millionaire and best friend), Mink Stole(Sandy Sandstone?! the misstress) and Divine (as Francine Fishpaw-unhappy, loving,devoted mother and wife to an owner of a porno theatre).This insane light comedy is just a real riot and offers its audience the unique gift of odorama. That is a card that features numbers that you can scratch and sniff only when the corresponding numbers appear on the screen. The second film is Desperate Living which does not feature Divine but instead you get Mink Stole, Edith Massey and a cast of others who venture in the backwards town of Mortville...a town that could best be described as hell on Earth! Mink Stole stars as a demented woman driven to murder her husband during an fight. Well, it was actually her black overweight cleaning lady who did but that doesn't make a bit of a difference here. They both seek refuge deep in the woods where they end up in Mortville where all the inhabitants live mortified lives under the iron grip of the evil but pint sized Queen Carlota (Edith Massey)and her drones! This is a must have for all you Trash cimena fans! The disc includes interviews with surviving cast members and John Waters who is always a delight becuase unlike other directors always has something outrageously valuable to say.

---

"Filthy....Dirty....Filthy"

Review by Kasey G, 2004-01-10

...screams Mink Stole in the opening rant of this delicious double scoop of filth and decadence. And that line sums it up perfectly: this DVD set picks up where "Pink Flamingos/Female Trouble" leave off. "Desperate Living" was the only movie in John Waters' 70's trash trilogy I had never seen (because it was never available at any local video stores) and I was unsure as to whether he could pull off another camp/trash masterpiece without his "Elizabeth Taylor" (I am referring, of course to that wonderfully, hilariously vulgar creature known as Divine). Ten minutes into this disc, and that answer was a definite "yes!". Right from its opening moments, "Desperate" has the same sleazy feel as its predecessors, and the lines that come out of Mink Stole's mouth could make up an entire CD of laugh-til-you-drop sound bytes. Sheer brilliance! And the film just gets better as it goes along, when Mink and Jean Hill descend upon Mortville and Susan Lowe and Liz Renay ("I sleep in the room right next to you.....NAAA-keddd!") enter the picture. Their flashback sequences are among the funniest moments in the movie and the "dog food" scene made me laugh out loud--but the "squish" scene at the end of the wrestling match almost made me pee my pants, it was so riotously funny! Mary Vivian Pearce actually gives a somewhat touching performance here, as I felt sorry for Princess Coo Coo once ruthless Edith Massey as Queen Carlotta started putting her wicked plans into action. The lesbian bathroom bit was another memorable sequence (Pat Moran--kudos to you for a brief but deliciously creepy turn as the "bathroom pervert"--and to Van Smith for making her look that way). Susan Lowe as Mole delivered another gut-busting moment as she stood there proudly waving her newly-attached penis ("It never goes soft!!") but also made me wince as Muffy finished off the last "stitch" making Mole scream in agony. Aside from Princess Coo-Coo's fate at the end, the movie is a real camp classic that, like the rest of Waters' earlier work, definitely improves with repeated viewings. Watch it with friends and you will all be quoting from it for days--"Royal proclomation Number One--Kiss...my...ass!!". The commentary on this disc is a little disappointing because Waters' shares the time with cast member Liz Renay who spends way too much time raving about her own body and how much she loves her own boobs, but she can be forgiven because I'm sure this discussion must have brought back plenty of fun memories for her. Waters alone does the commentary on "Polyester", which brings Divine back to the forefront as suburban matriach Francine Fishpaw, who's life of suburban bliss is constantly threatened by one crisis after another. Several of the Dreamlanders appear in this one, but in minor roles (Mink Stole is sadly under-used) yet Divine manges to hold it all together, and the actors playing her teen-age children deliver funny performances, with Lulu's go-go girl-gone-bad antics being a definite highlight (she even has her own theme song). "Polyester" is John Waters' "transition" film--not as offensive to mainstream audiences as some of his earlier works, but still quirky enough so as not to alienate fans of those earlier works. It too, is filled with wickedly bad dialogue you'll be quoting daily ("Scrub down any interesting toilets lately?"). Together, these two films will provide hours of fun--put these on at your next party and see who goes running for cover--you'll find out who your REAL friends are. Buy this set together with "Pink Flamingos/Female Trouble" and you've got hours of fun!!

---

A classic

Review by Jose R. Castillo Jr., 2003-09-12

After having seen this movie for the grillionth time I still fall in love with it every time. You have to appreciate the campiness about it to "get" the film. The characters are over the top, the story line is filled with drama, and the ending is priceless. I absolutely recommend this movie to anyone who has not seen it. A++++

---

Retarded and lame (desperate living only)

Review by soft boy, 2003-05-30

I know it's supposed to be bad, but I didn't know it was supposed to be useless. Nevermind the amateurish everything, that's fine, it just wasn't funny (maybe a line here or there). Not inspired just dumb, keep your cult. John Waters still seems like a great guy though.

---