HAIRSPRAY (1988) ¢ ¢ ¢ ¢
D: John Waters
Ricki Lake, Debbie Harry, Sonny Bono,
Jerry Stiller, Leslie Ann Powers, Ruth Brown,
Shawn Thompson, Ric Ocasec, Pia Zadora,
Colleen Fitzpatrick, Mink Stole, John Waters
Hey, kids. Remember the pony? The twist? The bird? The mashed potato? The fly? John Waters does, and they're all in this movie about the teen dance scene in Baltimore in 1963. Ricki Lake plays Tracy Turnblad, an infectiously cheery bundle of adolescent energy whose fondest dream is to be a star on "The Corny Collins Show", a sort of localized "American Bandstand". It's a throwback to a more innocent time, or it would be, if the time was really more innocent. (Segregation was a thing back then, and the movie, for all its silliness, doesn't shortchange that.) According to IMDb, this is the only John Waters film to get a PG rating, but that doesn't mean it's not funny. In fact, it's (sometimes literally) a scream. Waters makes a cameo appearance as a crazy doctor, Debbie Harry models a colossal beehive, Pia Zadora recites Allen Ginsberg, and Divine plays two roles, only one of them female.
