Polyester (1981) [The Criterion Collection LaserDisc #210] [ReUp]

Director: John Waters
Stars: Divine, Tab Hunter, Edith Massey

After making a name for himself with such underground gross-out epics as Pink Flamingos and Desperate Living, director John Waters made a bid for somewhat wider acceptance with this black comedy, which is sedate only by the standards of his previous work. Francine Fishpaw (Divine) is a housewife whose life has become a living hell. Her husband Elmer (David Samson) runs a porno theater (currently showing the classic My Burning Bush) and is having an affair with secretary Sandra (Mink Stole), a vision of sleaze in Bo Derek-style cornrow braids who informs Elmer, "Children would only get in the way of our erotic lifestyle!" Francine has two teenage children, Dexter (Ken King), who likes to sniff glue and stomp on women's feet, and Lulu (Mary Garlington), a brazen slut who hangs out with overage juvenile delinquent Bobo (Stiv Bators) and gleefully anticipates her next abortion.

Francine's best friend, Cuddles (Edith Massey), is a slightly insane heiress who is somehow convinced she's a debutante. Francine's life has become so miserable that her dog commits suicide rather than witness it, but a light appears on the horizon – Todd Tomorrow (Tab Hunter), the handsome and dashing owner of a local drive-in specializing in art films (their current bill is a Margurerite Duras triple feature), with whom Dawn enters into a torrid affair. Subversive on all fronts, Polyester was originally shown in "Odorama" (patrons were given a card with ten scratch-and-sniff patches, to be smelled at key points in the action) and featured a romantic theme song sung by that new hitmaking duo, Deborah Harry and Bill Murray.

John Waters is truly a great director. I had seen Pink Flamingoes but not to much of his earlier work. I am more familiar with his later works like Serial Mom or Cecil B. Demented, which is all great stuff. Polyester is the bridge, as so many people put it, between his disgusting yet entertaining earlier work to more mainstream films like Hairspray.

Divine plays Francine Fishpaw. A rather large lady who is married to a man who owns a pornographic theater. Her son is a drug attic who loves to smash womens feet and her daughter is a wannabe Go-Go dancer who gets herself pregnant. Francine has only one friend in the world and that is Cuddles who is wonderfully played by Edith Massey. After Francine catches her husband sleeping with another woman (Mink Stole) Francine's life starts going into a downward spiral as she can't control her children and she becomes an alcoholic. Only, when she meets a man named Todd Tomorrow (Tab Hunter) do things start to change… or do they?

I had a grin on my face throughout the whole movie. The storyline sounds pretty depressing but only John Waters could have pulled this off and turn it into a complete comedy. Divine is right at home in her role as Francine. You truly do feel completely sorry for her. Edith Massey is excellent in the role as Cuddles and is definitely the most likable character in the whole movie. What made this movie so great for me was when this came out in theaters I was to young to see this. I just recently bought it on DVD and it comes with an actual Scratch N' Sniff card for the movie! Great stuff!

IMDB Reviewer

Release Note:
Contained on this DVD-R is the complete Criterion laserdisc treatment of John Waters' Polyester. This is NOT meant to replace the currently-available edition on DVD, which is pretty nice in it's own right what with it's anamorphic picture and director commentary and theatrical trailer and replica odor-rama card (all of which you can't get on this DVD-R). Rather, it's meant to supplement your current legally-owned DVD release in order to make your life more complete. I have made a painstaking effort to replicate the laserdisc and all of it's extra features and audio tracks and even chapter stops. Contained on it is 3 and a half hours of material previously unseen on DVD.

There is a whole slew of extra stuff on this laserdisc that you can't get on DVD. Here's the breakdown for each audio track:

Audio Track #1:

Chapter 1: Opening/Logos
Chapters 2-42: The Movie (original audio)
Chapter 43: Supplement Opening (same audio on all tracks)
Chapter 44: No Smoking in This Theater (original audio; NOT AVAILABLE ON DVD)
Chapter 45: Polyester Production Scrapbook (Tab Hunter commentary)/Whatever Happened to Showmanship? (Associate Producer Sara Risher commentary) (NOT AVAILABLE ON DVD)
Chapter 46: Memories of Dreamland (same audio on all tracks with John Waters, Vincent Peranio, and Pat Moran) (NOT AVAILABLE ON DVD)
Chapter 47: Love Letter to Edie (original audio)
Chapter 48: From the John Waters Collection (The Movie Loft Audio) (NOT AVAILABLE ON DVD)
Chapter 49: Acknowledgments and Thanks (same on all tracks)

Audio Track #2

Chapter 1: Opening/Logos
Chapters 2-42: The Movie ("Shock Value" audio book audio NOT AVAILABLE ON DVD/OUT OF PRINT)
Chapter 43: Supplement Opening (same audio on all tracks)
Chapter 44: No Smoking in This Theater (original audio; also heard on track 1)
Chapter 45: Polyester Production Scrapbook (with Vincent Peranio and Van Smith commentary)/Whatever Happened to Showmanship? (Pat Moran commentary) (NOT AVAILABLE ON DVD)
Chapter 46: Memories of Dreamland (same audio on all tracks with John Waters, Vincent Peranio, and Pat Moran)
Chapter 47: Love Letter to Edie (original audio; also heard on track 1)
Chapter 48: From the John Waters Collection (John Waters' Brief Tour of Baltimore/Baltimore's Craziest Entertainers audio) NOT AVAILABLE ON DVD!)
Chapter 49: Acknowledgments and Thanks (same on all tracks)

Audio Track #3

Chapter 1 Opening/Logos
Chapters 2-42: The Movie (audio commentary NOT AVAILABLE ON DVD)
Chapter 43: Supplement Opening (same audio on all tracks)
Chapter 44: No Smoking in This Theater (audio commentary NOT AVAILABLE ON DVD)
Chapter 45: Polyester Production Scrapbook (with Vincent Peranio and Van Smith commentary)/Whatever Happened to Showmanship? (Pat Moran commentary) (also heard on track 2)
Chapter 46: Memories of Dreamland (same audio on all tracks with John Waters, Vincent Peranio, and Pat Moran)
Chapter 47: Love Letter to Edie (Pat Moran Commentary NOT AVAILABLE ON DVD)
Chapter 48: From the John Waters Collection (Van Smith commentary about Divine NOT AVAILABLE ON DVD)
Chapter 49: Acknowledgments and Thanks (same on all tracks)

NOTES ON THIS EDITION:

Originally the laserdisc only had excerpts from the "Shock Value" audio book, and they were all contained on side two, which means the corresponding audio track on side one was completely blank. So I did some digging around and found the entire audio book and decided to make a modified audio track that features the entire book rather than what was originally on the disc. So it's an expanded version what it was originally released. To fill time I also included a song by Edith Masey that follows the audio book.

The Audio Commentary with John Waters is INDEED different from the one on the New Line DVD.

The laserdisc occasionally will refer to the audio tracks as being on the stereo or analog tracks. It's handy to remember that the "stereo" track(s) they refer to are contained on this DVD's default track (#1). Analog 1 is track 2, and Analog 2 is track 3.

Also note there's no menu, much like the laserdisc before it. Just use your audio button or change the audio tracks on whatever computer program you use.

The chapter stops are based on the chapters placed on the actual laserdisc, though somehow they got lost in translation, causing them to get slightly out of sync in the final product. I fixed this issue for chapters 43-49 just because their exactness counted on the functionality of the way the disc is laid out. It was a tedious process, which is why I didn't bother with it for chapters 1-42.

The stuff on Chapter 48 is odd… There were some space issues I guess, so Criterion opted to put two videos on the same screen with audio you can switch. Take a look at the screen captures to get a better idea of what I mean.

Also, it's 4:3. The movie is letterboxed, most of the extras are in full-screen. If you want an anamorphic version of the movie, stick with the retail DVD. It looks better than this, anyway.

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