'Pink Flamingos': From 'Vile, Stupid and Repulsive' to One of the Greatest Movies of All Time

John Waters had the last word.

In 1973, Variety titled "Pink Flamingos", the cheerful send from the director-up in bad taste, "one of the most despicable, stupid and disgusting films ever made."

In a scathing review, the trade publication went on to suggest that while they hated what Waters was offering , it was hot ("Pink Flamingos" had already become an underground movie sensation, bringing in $500,000 in rent by the time Variety weighed in).

"The nocturnal unfoldings of the poorly lit 16 mm image, populated by nocturnal ephemeris and camp sophisticated following confer a special status on the audience. Shrill laughter and heard hoots greet its excesses and the "inness", now breathlessly sought after by large segments of the mass of the hips, is achieved.

What a difference a few decades make. This week, we declared "Pink Flamingos" to be one of the 100 greatest movies ever made (the 92nd greatest, to be exact). Reevaluating the cult hit's place in the cinematic pantheon, we now declare, “John Waters' Ultimate Midnight Movie is, in fact, one of the funniest, boldest and most outrageously compelling films ever made. That's because every moment is touched by a raging happy outlaw danger too oddly happy to be faked.

To be honest, the reviewer of variety wasn't the only one got it wrong about "Pink Flamingos" and its merits. And Waters' low-budget comedy isn't for the faint-hearted. It's a film that revels in its own transgressive power, depicting incestuous sex, a couple selling heroin to children, and a climax involving Divine and dog poo. For Roger Ebert, that meant "Pink Flamingos" didn't even deserve stars.

"Stars just don't seem to apply," Ebert wrote in 1997. "That doesn't should not be seen as a film but as a fact, or perhaps as an object.”

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