Lust in the Dust (1985)

Director:

Paul Bartel

Writer:

Philip John Taylor (writer)

Release Date:

1 March 1985 (USA)

Genre:

Comedy | Western

Tagline:

He Rode The West... The Girls Rode The Rest! Together They Ravaged The Land!

Plot:

A group of unscrupulous characters seek buried treasure in the old west.

Plot Keywords:

Saloon | Buried Treasure | Saloon Girl | Transvestite | Catfight

Awards:

1 nomination

Cast

Tab Hunter	...	Abel Wood
Divine	...	Rosie Velez
Lainie Kazan	...	Marguerita Ventura
Geoffrey Lewis	...	Hard Case Williams
Henry Silva	...	Bernardo
Cesar Romero	...	Father Garcia
Gina Gallego	...	Ninfa, Whore at Marguerita's
Nedra Volz	...	Big Ed
Courtney Gains	...	Red Dick Barker
Woody Strode	...	Blackman, Hard Case Gang
Pedro Gonzalez Gonzalez	...	Mexican, Hard Case Gang
Daniel Frishman	...	Clarence, Hard Case Gang
Ernie Shinagawa	...	Chang, Hard Case Gang
Pit Ginsburg	...	Toothless Drunk
Al Cantu	...	Gunslinger

Runtime:

84 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Singapore:PG (cut) | Australia:M | UK:15 | USA:R

Filming Locations:

Bonanza Creek Ranch - 15 Bonanza Creek Lane, Santa Fe, New Mexico, USA

Company:

Fox Run Productions Inc.

Trivia:

John Waters was asked to direct the film but refused because he did not write the script.

Quotes:

[Rosie's canteen falls and empties its contents in the desert]
Rosie Velez: My gin!

Movie Connections:

References Gone with the Wind (1939)

Soundtrack:

These Lips Were Made For Kissin'

Ole Every Day

Divine, the alter ego of Glen Milstead (1945-1988), first burst onto an unsuspecting public with such notorious John Waters films as the infamous PINK FLAMINGOS, dishing up bad-taste humor in proportion with her truly ample size. But there was more to Divine than drag queen humor, and LUST IN THE DUST offers her a less extreme playground, pitting her against a lone gunman (Tab Hunter), a vicious saloon floozy (Lainie Kazan), and a host of desperadoes in a flyweight send up the spaghetti westerns so popular in the 1970s and 1980s.

Directed by Paul Bartel, best known for his 1982 black comedy EATING RAOUL, LUST IN THE DUST is essentially the very slight story of a search for gold--a search that leads Able Wood (Hunter), Marguarite Ventura (Kazan), and Rosie Velez (Divine) to the isolated old west one horse town of Chile Verde. There, with support from the likes of Cesar Romero, they snap, snarl, break up furniture, sing bawdy songs, show their tattoos, and... well... lust in the dust. What else? I may be overly generous in granting this film five stars. The film is occasionally slow and there's nothing greatly inspired about plot, script, and so on--but the performers make the whole thing a lot of fun. Divine wallows, Kazan hisses, and Hunter sweats with the best of 'em, and when it comes to one-liners the movie overflows with both the obvious and very unexpected. Yes, it's all very silly stuff, but everybody puts it over with flair and a sense of fun; you'll grin in spite of yourself. The DVD offers a reasonable, if not pristine, print of the film--and there's even a bonus package: the film trailer and an entertaining little "making of" documentary.

If you're already a Divine fan, LUST IN THE DUST is a must; if you've never encountered Divine, this would be a good place to start, for it lacks the truly jaw-dropping (and frequently off-putting) content of Divine's work for John Waters. Two tons of fun.

GFT, Amazon Reviewer