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Desperate Living | 
| Director: John Waters
Actors: Divine, George Figgs, Jean Hill, Susan Lowe, Edith Massey
Studio: New Line Home Video
Category: DVD
List Price: CDN$ 18.10
Buy New: CDN$ 12.30
You Save: CDN$ 5.80 (32%)
New (15) Used (2) from CDN$ 12.30
Rating:  25 reviews
Format: Import, Ntsc
Languages: English (Original Language), English (Subtitled)
Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.2
Dimensions (in): 7.1 x 5.4 x 0.6
MPN: TRNDN7514D
ISBN: 078064896X
UPC: 794043751424
EAN: 9780780648968
ASIN: B0002RQ3LG
Theatrical Release Date: 1977
Release Date: September 7, 2004
Availability: Usually ships within 1 - 2 business days
Shipping: International shipping available
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From Amazon.com
Everyone in IDesperate Living/I'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. John Waters's IDesperate Living/I takes on the air of a seedy, trash fairy tale as the humiliated residents of Mortville rise up against the queen and the cursed princess finds herself in a power struggle against her mother. Notable for the absence of Waters regular Divine, this movie pushes the rest of the cast to their over-the-top best. Fifties sex bomb Liz Renay has a great time as Muffy St. Jacques, half of the lesbian couple, and was still looking great by the '70s. The tumbledown sets of Mortville add a surreal touch to the movie, but Edith Massey steals every scene she's in as the hateful, repulsive Queen Carlotta. Note that the actors' breath is clearly visible in many scenes; it was filmed outdoors in a bitter Baltimore winter. Nasty, shabby, gross, and hilarious, this is John Waters at his best. I--Jerry Renshaw/I
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| Customer Reviews: Read 20 more reviews...
 The best of John Waters' early films. Mink Stole rocks April 19, 2004
guillermoj (Washington, DC United States)
In my opinion, John Water's movies have always been smarter on paper than most give him credit for. All of his work skewers the establishment was well as some of its offshoots and although intended to be shocking (in many instances just for the sake of being able to do so), my favorite moments generally involve the amazing Mink Stole and when John Waters in a very matter of fact fashion throws in something absolutely jaw-dropping as if it were just another scene.pOn one hand you'll have people who will find Waters' early work to be too repulsive to watch and on the other extreme, you'll find others who worship his movies without any reservation and reject any critique as a sign that people just don't get it. My perspective is a little different as after watching Pink Flamingos, Female Trouble, and Desperate Living, my view is that while the ideas continue to be as fresh as they were made in the mid to late 1970's, his early work is much funnier when taken in little dozes rather than full length movies. Although, many may disagree I find Desperate Living to be his early best, while Female trouble is highly overrated. Pink Flamingos falls somewhere between the two.pThere are scenes in Desperate Living that had me laughing so hard that I cried. In fact, the first half hour of the film is absolutely hilarious. Every scene involving Jean Hill who plays the hilarious Grizelda Brown and/or Mink Stole who plays the crazed Peggy Gravel, is a gag waiting to happen. There is a scene that takes place after something horrible happens (like I am going to tell you what happened) when Peggy is driving away with Grizelda that is worth the price of owning this movie. Said scene has Mink Stole going off like a madwoman regarding her hatred of nature, and it never fails to surprise me how funny she is. As happens with most of Waters' early films, it ultimately runs out of steam and starts relying too much on shock value and by now almost any Waters fan is hard to shock visually so it better be funny too. Desperate Living is my favorite early John Waters film, although many find it to be his most grim and depressing.pFemale Trouble is one of the early Waters movies that most fans tend to like, and I just did not like it at all. Of course no John Waters film can ever be made without having hilarious moments, but they are far and few in between and I was mostly bored. Mink Stole as usual steals every scene that she is in and she does a variation on her "I hate nature" soliloquy from "Desperate Living," this time involving humans. Although I could not get enough of Edith Massey as the egg lady Pink Flamingos or as Queen Carlotta in desperate living, her role in Female Trouble made me feel for her as I was not laughing with her or could not bring myself to laugh at her. While she has her moments and awesome potty mouth, Waters (possibly without meaning to) takes her costumes to a point where you want to hug her instead of laughing. Divine has the opposite effect as the cruder and ruder that she is, the more that I loved her in this movie.pPink Flamingos, which is Waters' breakout movie, without a doubt uses shock value more than any of his subsequent films. It is supposedly centered around defining who is the filthiest person alive in Waters' beloved Phoenix, Maryland. Since this was Waters' first fully realized early picture, he went for the jugular in trying to get away with as much gross out material as possible. The story, as is the case with Female Trouble, is not worth following and starts to get old quickly, but there are MANY scenes that will shock the numbest person alive. In many instances, the shock is not a bad thing as my motto is if it's funny, bring it on. Edith Massey as the egg lady is so funny that I can't help seeing her scenes over and over again. There are little touches as the manner in which Divine steals some ham, or apparently throwaway scenes involving dealing drugs and a baby selling ring, that are too funny to describe.pIn a nutshell, I think that John Waters in hilarious and is responsible for some of the funniest movies of our time (as is the case with Serial Mom, just to name one), but these early exercises in guerilla filmmaking work better as boundary pushers than fully realized self contained movies. Those who enjoyed Jackass - The Movie, said movie would probably never have seen the light of day if it were not for John Waters, and although some may wish that such were the case, I for one think that Jackass - The Movie is one of the funniest movies ever. Part of that success is due to Johnny Knoxville not attempting to create a linear narrative or a storyline but intertwining bigger and smaller ideas just for the sake of making us laugh. Maybe it was not a choice at the time, but all of Waters' early movies would have worked much better with extensive editing and bypassing the narrative to focus on being funny.pI give Desperate Living 3.5 stars, Pink Flamingos 3 stars, and Female Trouble 1 stars. New Line home videos has released several two-packs of John Waters' films, but none that I know of that have Desperate Living and Pink Flamingos on the same package.
 Brilliantly Sick Fairytale from the Price of Puke ! January 22, 2004
Eddie Landsberg (Tokyo, Japan)
I guess you'd call Desperate Living the last of the earlier John Waters "gross out" cult classic films... He went a bit more mainstream after that (not to say that I don't like his new stuff... in fact, I dug Pecker and Cecil B. Demented majorly, but his newer stuff are simply "good movies", as opposed to "cult classics" by destiny.) - - The best way to describe Desperate Living (and I believe these are Waters' words paraphrased) is "a fairy tale for adults with the minds of children..." (well, moreso sick 12-14 year olds.) the story is as fun and entertaining as it is gross and disgusting... Getting to see Edith Massey in the roll of the evil queen and villian is also quite hillarious (especially if you've watched all his earlier films...) and getting to see what she does with the castle goons is even funnier... - - in my book however, the two most memorable scenes involve a cross dressing cop as well as a rather amusingly severed ding dong. Liz Renay, is also hillarious and really into her role... almost too much... in fact, its the sheer exhuberence of the actors in John Waters' films that make the films such a great watch... you can tell that he's definitely the type of guy that could sell you the Brooklyn Bridge (or atleast eat some poop off of it...) - - All in all, I'd have to say that along with Female Trouble its one of my favorite John Waters films... Whether you found Pink Flamingos funny or offensive, expect to laugh and puke at the same time... this is JW at his most sick and childishly best !
Desperately debauched deliciously depraved. September 16, 2003
BD Ashley (Otago, New Zealand)
With DESPERATE LIVING, the demented genius John Waters has come up with a movie almost on a par with his most notorious bad taste classic PINK FLAMINGOS. DESPERATE LIVING is best described as a warped contempory fairy tale with lashings of ketcupy gore (a homage to Herschell Gordon Lewis perhaps?).brWritten and Directed by Waters, this stars Mink Stole as Peggy Gravel, a mentally unbalanced suburban housewife drivine to the brink of madness by her amorous children, cruel husband their alcoholic maid Grizelda Brown (Jean Hill). brHowever after the chunkily built Grizelda murders Mr. Gravel by sitting on him squashing him to death; she Peggy go on the lam, crossing paths with a wacko cop who has a fetish for women's lingerie. He is also a chivalrous romantic who has a strange request to make of Peggy: "I'd like to stick my whole head in your mouth let you suck out my eyeballs". Now there's a pick-up line that's guaranteed to work every time!brAfter escaping being assaulted by this crazed copper; Peggy Grizelda wind up seeking refuge in a low rent village/slum called Mortville where they shack up with lesbian wrestler Mole (Susan Lowe) her vulgar, trashy lover Muffy (Liz Renay); a disturbed individual whose leisure pursuits include driving a meat fork through her hand for fun. But alas their solitude proves to be short-lived, as the corrupt ruler of Mortville, Queen Carlotta (Edith Massey) has sent her guards out to arrest execute all homosexuals; but they mistakenly arrest Peggy Grizelda. Soon the repressed townspeople band together to stage a violent revolt against their revolting dictator her submissive slave-servants.brAs with all Waters early films, you will either find this to be absoutely hilarious or downright depraved. I am of the former mindset. Fans of the director will be delighted with this. No spoilers but the special highlight for me was Mole's botched sex-change operation- utterly repulsive, sick hilarious. You have to see it to believe it. Highly recommended, but be forewarned: Edith gets her kit off. Aiieee!
I Honor You, Queen Carlotta! August 31, 2001
El Kabong
It's hard for me to believe that there could be John Waters fans who know only his mainstream films. They're pretty good movies, don't get me wrong; but they walk meekly in the shadow cast by his amazing Trash Trio (this, FEMALE TROUBLE PINK FLAMINGOS). This one is his all-time best, partly because of Divine's absence. Had he been available, he would not only have nabbed the Queen Carlotta role, but become the focus of every viewer's attention as he usually did. (Well, nobody cites FEMALE TROUBLE for the Donald Dasher role, right?) The way DESPERATE LIVING worked out, you finally get a chance to see how good Waters' other Dreamland divas really were. Here, they're VERY good. Fact, DESPERATE features some of the most inspired, OTT female acting ever featured in a movie, trash or otherwise. It's as if a heroin-addicted George Cukor decided to remake THE WOMEN in a Maryland junkyard. pMink Stole is unbeLIEVABLE as Peggy Gravel; she seethes with constant neurotic dementia throughout. Her portrayal of misery to the power of ten is less overacting than it is finding the perfect pitch for the role, and settling in on the very spot. The movie-opening running tantrum she spews is one of the funniest things I've ever seen - every third or fourth word is shouted for maniacal emphasis (The CHILDREN are having SEX!! Beth is PREGNANT!! And I NARROWLY escaped an ASSASSINATION attempt!!) Brilliant. But she's matched, step for weaving step, by Susan Lowe's unforgettable diesel-dyke Mole and the nonpareil Edith Massey as the evil Queen of the criminal shanty-kingdom, Mortville. (If you've never experienced Edith Massey, nothing I can say could possibly prepare you for her....unique...greatness. Let's just leave it at that, okay?) And that's not to discount the typically outre work by Mary Vivian Pearce - who plays her character as if she'd gotten lost on her way to the set of a Julie Andrews musical - or the CGI effect that is Miss Jean Hill. This assembly of female firepower results in one incredible movie that STILL has the power to make you squirt liquid out your nose in helpless laughter, Farrelly Brothers or no Farrelly Brothers. As a matter of fact, the more Waters' early assaults on good taste have become absorbed into mainstream entertainment, the better and more shocking his films look for it. When DESPERATE LIVING stood alone, one hardly knew what to make of it. Now that every lesser talent in show-biz is trying to finance a swimming pool by imitating the Waters touch, it's easy to see, and appreciate, who the innovator and true original is. When Waters made this movie, he was a pariah with nothing to lose...he knew better, but still didn't care. Thus, there's an intoxicating power and thrift-shop integrity to DESPERATE LIVING that none of the Johnny-come-latelies can approach, now that bad taste is boxoffice, and safe as milk. If you're gonna wallow in slime, then accept no substitutes, folks: demand DESPERATE LIVING.
 Desperately Depraved June 4, 2001
Xavier Thelakkatt (Rush City, MN United States)
One more fithy movie from John Waters' perverted mind. It is most trashy with mediocre acting, cheep cardbord settings, most unrealistic fairytale-like story and bizarre situations degrading of humans. I failed to see the art involved here and for me it was a waste of time and my hard-earned money.
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