Polyester (1981)

User Rating:

6.6/10   

Director:

John Waters

Writer:

John Waters (writer)

Release Date:

29 May 1981 (USA)

Genre:

Comedy

Tagline:

Filmed in ODORAMA

Plot:

A suburban housewife's world falls apart when her pornographer husband admits he's serially unfaithful to her, her daughter gets pregnant, and her son is suspected of being the foot-fetishist who's been breaking local women's feet.

Plot Keywords:

Porno Theater | Abortion | Middle Class | Foot Fetish | Pregnancy

Cast

Divine	...	Francine Fishpaw
Tab Hunter	...	Todd Tomorrow
Edith Massey	...	Cuddles Kovinsky
David Samson	...	Elmer Fishpaw
Mary Garlington	...	Lu-Lu Fishpaw
Ken King	...	Dexter Fishpaw
Mink Stole	...	Sandra Sullivan
Joni Ruth White	...	La Rue
Hans Kramm	...	Heintz
Stiv Bators	...	Bo-Bo Belsinger
Rick Breitenfeld	...	Dr. Quackenshaw
Michael Watson	...	Freddy Ashton
Derek Neal	...	Pimp
Jean Hill	...	Gospel Bus Hijacker
Jim Hill	...	Picket Reporter

Runtime:

86 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Canada:18A (Ontario) | UK:15 (re-rating) | Australia:M | Finland:K-16 | Sweden:15 | UK:18 (re-rating) (1990) | UK:X (original rating) | USA:R | Argentina:16

Filming Locations:

Greenmount Avenue at 33rd Street, Baltimore, Maryland, USA

Company:

New Line Cinema

Trivia:

In the scene where Todd is standing around the car accident, since real ambulances where used and local people called the police reporting that there was an accident.

Goofs:

Audio/visual unsynchronized: When Dexter's principal calls Francine, Francine starts acting as if he's hung up on her before he's even said goodbye.

Quotes:

Lu-Lu Fishpaw: I never wanted to use macramé to kill!

Movie Connections:

References Bayou (1957)

Soundtrack:

BE MY DADDY BABY

Waters' last really gross movie

My first John Waters gross-out movie had me hooked to his works, but after seeing his other, much better earlier movies, I see that POLYESTER isn't as great as it was cracked up to be.

Divine is much too whiny (but good and campy) as Francine Fishpaw, a troubled housewife whose husband is a cheating porno theater owner, daugher is a slut, son is a glue-sniffing foot fetishist, and mother is a hateful kleptomaniac. She finds salvation in her friend Cuddles(played superbly by Edith Massey) and new beau Todd Tomorrow (an overacting Tab Hunter). While POLYESTER has plenty of great scenes (Dexter stomping on womens' feet, LuLu ditching a dorky date for her real boyfriend BoBo, the gigantic Jean Hill hijacking a bus and popping a car tire with her teeth), it is one of the weaker Waters movies. Yet it still hasn't swayed totally into the mainstream and therefore has a cheap, low-budget feel about it. It also features great cameos from Waters regulars Mink Stole (Elmer's mistress), Mary Vivian Pearce (a nun), Susan Lowe (foot stomper victim), Cookie Mueller (foot stomper victim), Marina Melin (foot stomper victim), Sharon Niesp (a nun), George Figgs (abortion picketer), and the guy who played Dawn Davenport's teacher in FEMALE TROUBLE.

POLYESTER is not one of my highly recommended Waters movies, but is a great start for those who want to gradually build a following of his films and is a nice farewell to lovable Edith Massey in her last Waters movie.