Hairspray
Directed by John Waters
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1h 31m
Directed by John Waters • 1988 • United States
Starring Ricki Lake, Sonny Bono, Divine
John Waters scored one of the biggest commercial and critical successes of his career with this affectionately outrageous musical satire that found the filmmaker bringing his outsider vision into the mainstream. In 1960s Baltimore, where the bouffant rules and every week a new dance craze is launched, rebellious, self-described “pleasantly plump” teenager Tracy Turnblad (Ricki Lake) becomes a local dancing sensation on “The Corny Collins Show”—and uses her newfound celebrity to become a crusader for civil rights. In a delightful double role as both Tracy’s mother and a racist TV station owner, the ever-brilliant Divine (in his final collaboration with Waters) steals the whole glorious, retro-schlock shebang.
Up Next in Directed by John Waters
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Desperate Living
Directed by John Waters • 1977 • United States
Starring Liz Renay, Mink Stole, Susan LoweDescribed by John Waters as “a lesbian melodrama about revolution,” the third installment in the director’s Trash Trilogy, following FEMALE TROUBLE and PINK FLAMINGOS, is a demented fairy tale wherein a scr...
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Female Trouble
Directed by John Waters • 1974 • United States
Starring Divine, David Lochary, Edith MasseyGlamour has never been more grotesque than in FEMALE TROUBLE, which injects the Hollywood melodrama with anarchic decadence. Divine, director John Waters’ larger-than-life muse, engulfs the screen with...
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Polyester
Directed by John Waters • 1981 • United States
Starring Divine, Tab Hunter, Edith MasseyFor his first studio picture, filth maestro John Waters took advantage of his biggest budget yet to allow his muse Divine to sink his teeth into a role unlike any he had played before: Baltimore housewife Fr...
