Sunday, November 4, 2007

Polyester

     This was John Waters's sixth full-length feature film and by the time Polyester came out, John Waters was doing considerably fewer drugs and his movies began to move in a more mainstream direction. Waters managed to sign a minor star like Tab Hunter to the cast and Debbie Harry (Blondie) to do the soundtrack. This movie is much tamer than his earlier films but still retains that wonderful unique sense of humor that John's movies have always had, and was the perfect prelude to Hairspray (his first truly mainstream success).  

     Divine plays Francine Fishpaw, a hopelessly humdrum housewife with a husband that owns a XXX theater and prefers the company of the dog over his wife. Her daughter Lulu is the epitome of an oversexed "bad girl" and her son Dexter is heavily abusing drugs and roams around Baltimore stomping on people's feet for the fun of it. 

     Francine's husband runs off with his secretary which causes her to become a serious alcoholic. But better times are on the way when Francine meets Todd Tomorrow (Tab Hunter). Todd is flashy and rich and sweeps Francine off her feet. Lulu's bad influence boyfriend dies, she has a miscarriage and has now become a good girl obsessed with macrame'. Dexter is arrested for being the "Baltimore Foot Stomper" and is released on an insanity defense. Everything looks rosy until it all comes crashing down when we learn that Todd and Francine's total bitch of a mother are planning to frame Francine for her husband's murder, admit her to a mental institution, sell her kids into sex slavery, and run off with the money from selling her house and all her belongings. 

      Edith Massey makes a great comeback as Francine's best (and only) friend Cuddles. Mink Stole is another one of John Waters's original "Dreamlanders" that makes a reappearance as Francine's husbands' slutty secretary and mistress. Sadly, most of his early actors had died off due to AIDS and drug overdoses by the time Waters made this movie. Mary Vivian Pearce and Cookie Mueller also make VERY small guest appearances. Mary is a nun at the unwed mother's home where Lulu has her miscarriage and Cookie plays the role of one of The Baltimore Foot Stompers (Dexter) victims.  

     A fun gimmick that went along with this movie is that it was filmed in "odorama". When the movie was released, a card with twelve scratch and sniff numbers on it was given to the audience members. When you saw the number flashed in the lower corner of the screen, you scratched and sniffed the corresponding number on your card to experience the same smells that would be experienced by the characters. Unfortunately, the smells are terrible... gasoline, a fart, stinky sneakers, etc. Tying this into the theme of the movie wasn't hard due to the fact that Francine was obsessed with nice smells, and air fresheners, and apparently had the nose of a bloodhound. Polyester wasn't nearly as shocking as his earlier films, yet was still packed with all the hilarity that emanates from the genius that is John Waters.

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