Female Trouble
| Female Trouble | |
|---|---|
Theatrical release poster
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| Directed by | John Waters |
| Produced by | John Waters |
| Written by | John Waters |
| Starring |
Divine David Lochary Mary Vivian Pearce Mink Stole Edith Massey Cookie Mueller Susan Walsh Michael Potter |
| Music by | John Waters Bob Harvey |
| Cinematography | John Waters |
| Edited by | John Waters Charles Roggero |
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Production
company |
Dreamland
Saliva Films |
| Distributed by | New Line Cinema |
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Release date
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Running time
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97 minutes (Original) 92 minutes (16mm cut) 89 minutes (Theatrical) |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $25,000 |
Female Trouble is a 1974 dark comedy film co-composed, filmed, co-edited, written, produced, and directed by John Waters starring Divine, David Lochary, Mary Vivian Pearce, Mink Stole, Edith Massey, Michael Potter, Cookie Mueller, and Susan Walsh.
The film is dedicated to Manson Family member Charles "Tex" Watson. Waters' prison visits to Watson inspired the "crime is beauty" theme of the film and in the film's opening credits, Waters includes a wooden toy helicopter that Watson made for him.
Dawn Davenport, a regular troublemaker at her all-girls school, receives a failing Geography grade and a sentence of writing lines for fighting, lying, cheating, and eating in class.
Dawn runs away from home in a rage after her parents didn't get her the "cha-cha heels" she wanted for Christmas. She hitches a ride with Earl, and they have sex. Dawn falls pregnant but Earl refuses to support her and she gives birth to Taffy alone. Dawn works various jobs including waitress and stripper to support herself and Taffy, whom she tortures and beats mercilessly through her childhood. Dawn continues to act as a thief and a fence, in league with school friends Chicklet and Concetta.
To raise her spirits, Dawn begins frequenting the Lipstick Beauty Salon to have her hair done by Gator Nelson, who is also her neighbor. The Lipstick Beauty Salon is an exclusive salon run by high fashion freaks Donna and Donald Dasher who believe that "crime and beauty are the same". Dawn marries Gator whose aunt Ida (Edith Massey) badly wishes that her nephew was gay (Gator is generally tolerant of homosexuality but is adamantly straight) and Ida therefore loathes Dawn. When the marriage fails Dawn has Gator fired and the Dashers enlist Dawn to model in their photographic exploration of "crime and beauty".
Gator leaves to work in the auto industry. Ida blames Dawn and exacts revenge by throwing acid in Dawn's face. The thrilled Dashers continue to court the scarred Dawn discouraging her to have corrective cosmetic surgery and continue to use her as a grotesquely made-up model. The Dashers kidnap Ida, keeping her caged in Dawn's home as a gift to Dawn, encourage Dawn to chop off Ida's hand, and get Dawn hooked on the drug Liquid Eyeliner. Taffy is distraught over these events and finally convinces Dawn to reveal the identity of Taffy's father.
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Wikipedia