MovieChat Forums > Female Trouble (1976) Discussion > Funny lines: FT vs. Pink Flamingos

Funny lines: FT vs. Pink Flamingos

posted 18 years ago by tgemberl
11 replies | jump to latest

I've owned a DVD set with both films for some time now, but until this weekend never felt like watching Pink Flamingos. To me it's mainly a mean and nasty film, with little to laugh at, but Female Trouble is the funniest thing I've ever seen, my all-time favorite. I attended a lecture by John Waters this past Friday and so decided that maybe I would watch PF again. Only saw it once before, about 15 years ago. Now I'm rewatching FT, and I think my judgment from before was pretty correct.

The only scenes in PF that I find funny are the first part of the "cruising" scene, where Mink Stole and David Lochary are out looking for another "surrogate mother," and the trial scene near the end. Mink Stole has one line that made me laugh: "What's wrong? Are you afraid he won't be big enough for you?" when the lady attempts to leave. Divine's speech in the trial is funny: he always makes me smile, though there are no particular lines there that are memorable. That line of Mink Stole's is the only memorable line in the film, while FT is full of lines that stay in my mind.

"Extremism in the pursuit of moderation is no vice."

[–] bluearmy73 18 years ago

HOLD THESE GOD DAMN CHICKENS

[–] heller-matthew 18 years ago

I wouldn't suck your dick if I was suffocating and you had oxygen in your balls!

[–] tgemberl 18 years ago

I guess I don't find that all that funny because having sex while holding chickens seems sort of pointless. There are some silly lines in FT, too, but they usually relate to something funny for me. For example, I love Taffy's line: "Ya little bi*ch? Is that all the thanks I get? I got you a hook, didn't I?" Just the ridiculousness of the idea that you could go down to the corner drugstore and get a hook for someone whose hand has been cut off is so hilarious to me. I heard Waters say that hooks were a fantasy thing for him as a child. He used to carry a bent coat hanger in one of his sleeves so it'd look like he had a hook on that arm. So maybe he had Dawn chop off Ida's hand just so he could work a hook into the script somehow.

"Extremism in the pursuit of moderation is no vice."

[–] g_monte 18 years ago

I don't find "Pink Flamingos" nearly as entertaining as "Female Trouble". FT is funnier, has many more quotable lines and Divine has a much better role as does Edith Massey.

[–] tgemberl 18 years ago

I agree, and it aggravates me that PF is apparently so much more popular. If you look at the PF board, it is far busier than the FT board. I think for some people, gross = good, at least for Waters films. I don't understand that. Even Waters has been quoted as saying he'd like to remove one scene of PF if he could, the one where Babs "goes down on" her son, "for Divine's dignity." I had to get up and leave the room at that point. It's true that PF performed the service of making Waters famous, but that's about the only good thing I can think of to say about it. I guess if it hadn't done pretty well in theaters, he couldn't have made Female Trouble, which I love dearly.

"Extremism in the pursuit of moderation is no vice."

[–] SuperstaRBarbie 18 years ago

I was pretty dissapointed in Pink Flamingos. It just isn't funny. A few parts maybe, but I consider it pretty boring for the most part. Female Trouble is WAAYYYY funnier and enteratining. I can watch it over and over again and never get sick of it, but with Pink Flamingos I have to force myself to watch it in hopes of finally getting what people love about it.

[–] liz_blizz 18 years ago

Hey! You spilled my drink! Daddy Earl's got a little present for you here.

[–] Grass_Stains 18 years ago

Funniest part in FT is probably when Edith begs Gator not to leave and when he does leave, she just flips out. Funniest in PF is the "egg paranoia" scene when Babs is talking to Mama about eggs, and the subject somehow drifts from "Which came first, the chicken or the egg?" to the egg man becoming homeless.

[–] joebee32 18 years ago

"OH MY GOD SOMEONE HAS SENT ME A BOWEL MOVEMENT!"

vs.

"It's strange, but when I look at your face, I pick up a distinct feeling of nausea."

[–] 18 years ago

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[–] 18 years ago

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