freakboy on film: DESPERATE LIVING (1977)

Happy Pride Month! 🏳️‍🌈

I was planning to write film reviews for at least the first four letters in LGBTQ+ but life had other plans.  However, I wasn’t about to miss the chance to blog about one of my favorite films from one of my favorite underground queer filmmakers, which includes lots of L and maybe a few other letters.

“If it’s good enough for Gertrude Stein…”

Peggy Gravel is having a bad day after getting home from the mental hospital.  The neighborhood kids tried to assassinate her with a baseball!  Her children are having sex!  She has just killed her husband with the help of her 300-pound maid Grizelda!  To top it all off, Peggy received a phone call from the wrong number!  What are Peggy and Grizelda, two sisters-in-crime, supposed to do now?  Flee to the city of Mortville, where criminals can live free, at least according to a kinky cop who enjoys kissing women while wearing their panties. 

Fashion goals!

Mole McHenry is having a bad day after her  last tenant shot himself the night before.  She is a man trapped in a woman’s body!  Her girlfriend, Muffy St. Jacques, is having dirty thoughts about dirty men!  To top it all off, Mole’s cupboards are bare!  What are Mole and Muffy, the ultimate opposites attract couple, supposed to do now?  Rent the spare room to Peggy and Grizelda and pin their hope on winning the Maryland state lottery so they can escape the big nothing of Mortville, obviously.

This could be us but you playin’!

Queen Carlotta is having a bad day after her daughter, Princess Coo-Coo, ran off with a nudist garbageman!  She is busy exerting her royal powers on the new arrivals to her kingdom! Then someone dared to throw a mudball at her on Backwards Day!  To top it all off, one of her guards has an odor emanating from somewhere on his body!  What is Queen Carlotta supposed to do now?  Find a new heir to the thrown and spread rabies throughout the population, starting with her delinquent daughter, of corse.

Royal Proclamation: Readers of this blog must watch Desperate Living! 

These women’s stories converge in an eruption of sex, violence and maybe a little cannibalism, for good measure.  Yes, it’s revolution day in Mortville, and things may never be the same again!  I could say more, but you’ll have to watch to find out what happens in this very different film. 

Never provoke a pissed off princess!

How much do I love DESPERATE LIVING?  I call it my favorite pre-Hairspray John Waters film.  The plot is dark, the characters are crazy and the humor exists in its own plane of existence.  My first experience with this hysterically angry film was on VHS back in the 1990’s.  I was sick and had to go out for medicine, so I figured I’d spread my disease by stopping at Hollywood Video.  At the time, I had only seen HAIRSPRAY, CRY-BABY, SERIAL MOM and POLYESTER, so nothing really prepared me for DESPERATE LIVING!  It shocked and initially revolted me, but I laughed way too much and way too hard at the visceral situations and inspired dialogue.  I even have a Peggy Gravel sound bite on my phone’s voice mail greeting because I want to show people how important they are to me…

PEGGY GRAVEL:  “Hello?” (pause) “What number are you calling?” (pause) “You’ve dialed the wrong number!” (pause) “Sorry?  What good is that?  How can you ever repay the 30 seconds you have stolen from my life?” 

Me answering the phone! 

For some reason, callers rarely leave a message after the beep, but I can’t imagine why.  😏 

Writer/director John Waters has created a gangbusters film.  It helps he surrounded himself with a spectacular cast!  Mink Stole as Peggy Gravel (“I don’t want some renegade necrophile princess as my roommate.”) is perfectly cast as she throws vicious verbal daggers with perfect precision.  Jean Hill as Grizelda Brown (“I don’t want no white man looking at my Tampax!”) is so brazenly wild that you’ll forget Divine is absent in this Waters film.  Susan Lowe as Mole McHenry (“So much for science, Muffy!”) is the emotional and physical embodiment of aggressively angry punk.  Liz Renay as Muffy St. Jacques (“I was having an erotic dream.”) is radiantly fun and funny as the most beautiful woman in Mortville.  Edith Massey as Queen Carlotta (“You are interrupting my flow of power!”) adds another maniacally memorable character to her John Waters résumé.  Mary Vivian Pearce as Princess Coo-Coo (“Herbert doesn’t care if I have ears.  He only cares about my mind.”) presents a naïve innocence and is possibly the one truly sympathetic character in this bonkers film.

John Waters & the cast

In conclusion, 
Even though no one is eating dog poo, DESPERATE LIVING is nearly as shocking as PINK FLAMINGOS.  The plot and dialogue often take some truly out there twists and turns.  One early scene (“Is that what you learned in private school?”) must surely skirt a fine line of what can legally be shown in a film.  So, if you are in the mood for an in your face story that pushes the envelope of bad taste, then wear your clothes backwards and enjoy DESPERATE LIVING!  I have probably watched it more than any of John Waters other films, which is why I am impatiently waiting for Criterion to release an extras-packed blu-ray edition!  

Thank you for reading or listening to my half-blind words.

Freak Out, 
JLH 

P.S. Click the pic ⤵️ for a Totally Rocking Super Star Extraordinaire review of FIRST PERIOD from Dave of My Gay Opinion! 🏳️‍🌈
You’re Welcome! 

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