Polyester (1981) ***1/2
For John Waters' first studio (and biggest budgeted) film, Polyester (1981), he ditched the overt filth and midnight movie approach to make his version of an R-rated Douglas Sirk melodrama, casting Divine against type (trading his well-known monstrous persona for a sympathetic character), and scored a real Hollywood star, 50s heartthrob Tab Hunter.
Aided by a scratch-and-sniff gimmick called Odorama™ and inspired by William Castle, Waters aimed his crude satirical sense of humor at suburbia—tackling divorce, abortion, adultery, alcoholism, foot fetishism, and the religious right. While it's tamer than his previous films in regard to gratuitous on-screen content, it benefits from improved production values, refined performances, and there's still plenty of memorable dialogue. His usual cast and crew of Dreamlanders are all there, just in minimized roles.
Polyester received good reviews and brought Waters to the multiplexes. This wasn't a bad thing. Though he never made anything quite as sleazy as his earlier work again, his next three films were some of his best. Even when Waters makes studio films, they still bear his mark and he will always remain an important figure in the history of counterculture (even if it doesn't exist anymore).
You can find my John Waters Feature Films Ranked list here.
Aided by a scratch-and-sniff gimmick called Odorama™ and inspired by William Castle, Waters aimed his crude satirical sense of humor at suburbia—tackling divorce, abortion, adultery, alcoholism, foot fetishism, and the religious right. While it's tamer than his previous films in regard to gratuitous on-screen content, it benefits from improved production values, refined performances, and there's still plenty of memorable dialogue. His usual cast and crew of Dreamlanders are all there, just in minimized roles.
Polyester received good reviews and brought Waters to the multiplexes. This wasn't a bad thing. Though he never made anything quite as sleazy as his earlier work again, his next three films were some of his best. Even when Waters makes studio films, they still bear his mark and he will always remain an important figure in the history of counterculture (even if it doesn't exist anymore).
You can find my John Waters Feature Films Ranked list here.
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