Three notorious, noxious and beloved 1970s comedies �" Pink Flamingos, Female Trouble, and Desperate Living �" will be screened at an upcoming John Waters retrospective at the Roxie Theater, 3117 16th St. in San Francisco, April 4-10. Known as "the trash trilogy," the films are being screened "the way they're meant to be seen: late at night, in a dark theater, in 35mm," Roxie acting executive director Dave Cowen told the Bay Area Reporter in an interview. "Combining high camp with low comedy, featuring shocking sex and class commentary, these films remain as powerful, offensive and hilarious today as they were during their initial release," Cowen wrote on the Roxie website.
"We're expecting a packed house," said Cowen, noting that online ticket sales are brisk, and that half of the $30 passes have already sold out. Another Waters film, Polyester, drew a sold-out crowd on a recent Wednesday evening in February, a record attendance for a Roxie screening since Cowen took the helm last year. Roxie staff arranged for Warner Brothers, the film's distributor, to print the infamous scratch-n-sniff "Odorama" postcards that audience members used to get the sense of scents depicted on the film.
Waters, who lives part-time on Nob Hill, has had many live performances in the Bay Area over the past three decades. He's a member of the Roxie's advisory board and is filming an introduction to the evening.
"I've been very surprised," noted Cowen, "that with John's following in San Francisco, there have been very few screenings of his films in recent years." Local film buffs definitely adore Waters. Filmmaker and impresario Marc Huestis devotes an entire chapter to Waters in an upcoming memoir. When Huestis began his career, he writes, "John Waters was my hero. I idolized him."
Huestis, who calls Female Trouble one of the best films of all time, recalls seeing it for the first time at the Roxie in the 1970s. "I thought I had died and gone to heaven," writes Huestis. "The bravery, hilarity and balls of that film hold up to this day," he said. Huestis returned to the Roxie every day that week, and, over the years, saw the movie on home video "at least 50 more times," he said in an interview with the B.A.R. "My friends and I have memorized many of the lines verbatim," he said. "I especially love 'Pretty, pretty,' which is so appropriate when we see someone who's gotten a bad facelift."
Twice Huestis produced A John Waters X-Mas, which sold out at the Castro Theatre. Huestis said his own early film work was inspired by Waters' "trashy, bargain-basement aesthetic and subversive slant."
Filmmaker Joshua Grannell, aka drag queen Peaches Christ, is also a fan. Grannell, who wrote and directed the 2010 cult film All About Evil, said Waters came to the set one day for lunch. "I felt as though the Pope had arrived to bless the production." wrote Grannell.
"It's a bit surreal becoming friends with a personal god like John Waters," said Grannell, who was one of the guests at Waters' Baltimore Christmas party last year. "It's never going to be a totally normal friendship for me, because first and foremost I'm a fan," he said. "Being a lover of all things horrific, I've enjoyed countless legendary moments of horror, repulsion, and violence courtesy of John Waters," he wrote.
In addition to the upcoming Waters retrospective, the Roxie schedule contains some other "rare treats," said Cowen. On April 7, the theater will screen the documentary Beautiful by Night, a film that follows three older drag entertainers at the legendary Aunt Charlie's bar. Cosponsored by the Tenderloin Museum, which had a sold-out screening of the film recently, the Roxie event will also include live drag performances by film stars Donna Personna, Collette LeGrande, and Olivia Hart, and a discussion with director James Hosking and cinematographer Vanessa Carr.
Cowen, previously director of information technology at Oakland's Kapor Center for Social Impact, has also expanded the Roxie's membership program, which has a variety of plans that offer free or reduced price screenings. There are over 170 members. The Roxie has also begun to sell beer and continues its laissez faire policy of "looking the other way" when patrons carry in their own food.
"We want people to have fun," he said, "and we are always looking for ways to make that possible. We do hope they'll support us by visiting our snack bar," he added.
The Roxie, the longest continually running movie theater in the U.S., opened as the C.H. Brown Theatre in 1909. In its early years, the theater shifted its emphasis from second and third runs of Hollywood films to German-language films in the late 50s and early 60s. From 1968-75, it featured porn. In 1976, the Roxie Cinema was born, and since then it has featured independent films.
Recently, Roxie's community programming director Isabel Fondevila has focused on bringing Spanish-language films to the Roxie. In an interview with the B.A.R., Fondevila said she's especially excited about several upcoming screenings: a Guillermo Del Toro double feature of Pan's Labyrinth and Devil's Backbone (April 14); Neon Bull, a Brazilian feature by Gabriel Mascaro (May 6-12); and a week of early Pedro Almodovar films (May 20-26).
Local film programmers appreciate the Roxie as well. Jeff Ross, founder and director of IndieFest and DocFest, said, "San Francisco is losing historic businesses left and right, and we absolutely all need to step up and help the Roxie stay on solid footing. Unique films presented in a unique style is so rare in filmmaking."
Advance tickets ($8-$12) for John Waters' Trash Trilogy screenings (April 4, 5, 6, 8, 9 & 10) are available at roxie.com.