Cookie Mueller in Desperate Living (1977)

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The tagline for John Waters’s outrageously detestable Desperate Living (1977) is “It isn’t very pretty,” and after ninety minutes of viewing, it’s clear that that’s a severe understatement. Fresh from chronicling the exploits of his feces-scarfing heroine Divine in Pink Flamingos (1972), the reigning king of cinematic outrageousness delivers a perverse fairy tale of sexual excess, the likes of which had never been witnessed before—or since. Lesbian transsexuals, pedophilic moms, and the hedonistic homeless converge for a kind of carnal car accident that you won’t soon forget. Thanks to Jean Hill, Susan Lowe, Marina Melin, Cookie Mueller, Liz Renay, Mink Stole, and Pirie Woods, there’s two tons of flesh on display here.