This underground dark comedy was director John Waters’ very first feature-length film. Produced on a shoestring budget of just $2,100, the black-and-white feature served as a critical stepping stone for Waters’ regular crew of Baltimore actors, known as the “Dreamlanders”.
It also features the legendary drag queen Divine (born Harris Glenn Milstead) in her very first starring role.
A platinum blonde – referred to as “The Bombshell” (Mary Vivian Pearce) – spends her day wandering Baltimore, getting into bizarre situations, including an encounter with a foot fetishist (John Leisenring) in a park.
She is eventually run over by a hit-and-run driver (Divine driving a massive red 1959 Cadillac) who, instead of calling for help, loads the unconscious victim into the car, and the two spend a manic “day of hell” wandering through Baltimore, encountering psychiatric patients, a deranged back-alley doctor named Dr Coathanger (David Lochary), and recurring visions of the Virgin Mary.
Because Waters could not afford synchronised sound equipment, the film is constructed like a silent movie. It features almost no spoken dialogue, with the narrative and emotional beats told entirely through musical cues.
The film gained underground notoriety when Waters and his crew attempted to film a scene involving a nude male hitchhiker (Mark Isherwood) on the campus of Baltimore’s Johns Hopkins University without a permit. Campus police intervened, and Waters and several cast and crew members were arrested and charged with indecent exposure and disorderly conduct.
Waters screened his previous short films for the judge to prove he was a legitimate avant-garde artist rather than a pornographer. Amused by the defence, the judge dropped the charges.
Waters later disavowed the film, criticising it as too loud, poorly paced, and overly long (saying it should have been edited down to a 20-minute short instead of a 95-minute feature).
Because Waters never cleared the music copyrights for the film, Mondo Trasho can not be screened or broadcast legally. Aside from a rare, out-of-print 1984 VHS release, the movie exists today almost exclusively via bootlegs.
The Bombshell
Mary Vivian Pearce Divine
Divine Dr Coathanger
David Lochary Homeless Woman
Mink Stole Asylum Personnel/Policeman
Bob Skidmore The Virgin Mary/Shocked Mother in Park
Margie Skidmore Dr Coathanger’s Nurse/Evil Stepsister #1
Berenica Cipcus The Virgin Mary’s Assistant
Lizzy Temple Black Hitchhiker
Mark Isherwood Dr Coathanger’s Secretary
Pat Moran The Shrimper/Prince Charming
John Leisenring Asylum Inmates
George Figgs
Susan Lowe
Marina Melin
Alan Reese Reporter (voice)
John Waters
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She is eventually run over by a hit-and-run driver (Divine driving a massive red 1959 Cadillac) who, instead of calling for help, loads the unconscious victim into the car, and the two spend a manic “day of hell” wandering through Baltimore, encountering psychiatric patients, a deranged back-alley doctor named Dr Coathanger (David Lochary), and recurring visions of the Virgin Mary.
Waters screened his previous short films for the judge to prove he was a legitimate avant-garde artist rather than a pornographer. Amused by the defence, the judge dropped the charges.
