Guilty Pleasures: Lust in the Dust

1984 Comedy Western

From New World

Directed by Paul Bartel

Starring

Tab Hunter

Divine

Lainie Kazan

Geoffrey Lewis

Henry Silva

Cesar Romero

Nedra Volz

Courtney Gains

Gina Gallego

Woody Strode

This is Tab Hunter's risqué, little western parody through and through.  He didn't direct it or write it (well, ok, he tinkered with it a little) but he is one of the producers and is star-billed.  It was his baby.  It had been tumbling around in his handsome head for several years before it saw the light of day.

I met him at a book-signing and I quickly mentioned that I like this movie and that's all it took... the new author was off on a tear about a movie he loved.   I remember talking of Divine, Lainie and Woody Strode.  He was so pleased that I liked the movie and appreciative that it caused me some belly laughs.

People think it's a John Waters flick which it is not.  Waters was offered a chance to direct it but declined because it was something he'd not written.  The confusion partly and rightfully comes out of the fact that Divine is considered a Waters star and at one point Hunter even made the Waters movie Polyester with Divine.

If big chunks of society didn't see it, it's presumably because Lust in the Dust is not a mainstream movie.  Far from it.  But it is not quite as out there as a Waters movie either. 

Hunter, one of the golden boys while the Golden Age was still glittery, by the time I met him would have probably agreed his glory days were long gone.  His appearance in Polyester in 1981 was something of a breaking news story because mainstream stars just didn't do Waters movies.  But it allowed him to stop doing television guest roles and return to the silver screen.

Then it was a couple of not-so-good-films and finally he and business and life partner Allen Glaser got all their ducks in a row to make Lust in the Dust.  The original title, by the way, was The Reverend and Rosie.  Ultimately it became what it is because Lust in the Dust was famously the nickname for 1946's Duel in the Sun and using it here would certainly give the movie some traction.  Hunter, of course, knew having Divine roll around on the ground would make things pretty dusty.  They were on their way.

The story is rather uncomplicated.  It concerns the hungry quest of a town of weirdos to locate hidden gold.  Hunter is a mysterious stranger who wanders into the sleepy, one-horse village of Chili Verde in the company of an ox of a bawdy woman (Divine) he has just met.

They arrive at the cantina/bordello run by a buxom and equally bawdy Kazan.  She employs a young whore (Gallego), an old one (Volz)-- they're not getting her on age discrimination-- and there's a young, horny, piano player named Red Dick (Gains).  There's also Silva who always has the cash for Kazan.  There's a priest (Romero) who seemed a little suspicious to me.

Into the constantly full cantina comes the Hard Case Gang, led by Lewis, whose mission is also to snatch the gold.  Hunter and Divine were the only ones to not know of the stash but once they find out they want it as well.

It comes to light that the puzzle to the location of the gold comes as the result of reciting a certain limerick and a map tattooed on a buttock of each of the two leading ladies.  Yes, yes, be patient... you get to see it. 

Of course a story like this demands a rip-snorting, cast-all-present type of ending.  Had there been a sequel, not many of the them would been in it.  As Jennifer Jones dragged herself up that mountainside in Duel, so, of course, must Divine.  Hey, it's kind of a half-assed tribute.  Jennifer was a lot prettier but Divine is far funnier.  

Let it be said the humor is silly, constant and often very naughty.  Those are three things I love about humor so of course this goofball movie is for me.  I am well aware there are other opinions.   It's hard to keep count of the double entendres.  I would absolutely love to go into detail of a couple of scenes that make me laugh myself stupider but on closer evaluation, perhaps not.

There is a wonderfully funny brawl (a la Destry Rides Again) between two women that ends up being four women.  Of course the men are a-whoopin' and a-hollerin.  Divine and Lainie Kazan are made up (by George Masters no less) to look like sisters and they work incredibly well off one another.  They are both a riot on their own but the good stuff comes from watching them interact with one another.  They, of course, are wisely given the most outrageous things to say.

Oh I slept like a log last night, Divine says to Kazan who responds why not?  You look like one.

On finding the gold Kazan says to Divine... you think you can just breeze into town and take it?  Some of us have looking for it for years.  Divine purrs it shows.

It's kind to say Divine is zaftig so we'll say her zaftig look is the subject of much of the humor.  I liked it when she says to the 4'10" Volz do you have something I could wear?  

Divine wants to be a singer in the cantina and bulldozes Kazan into giving her the chance to belt out These Lips Were Made for Kissin' with some bumping and grinding while the dirty old men go nuts.  Later Kazan puts her pipes to good use for the spicy South of My Border. 

Hunter, who looks and acts as if he's just come on set from playing in a Sergio Leone spaghetti western on an adjacent soundstage, plays a near-mute stranger named Abel Wood.  (Oh Tab...)  He stands around in a wide-brimmed hat, a serape draping his big shoulders and a face that is handsome, sweaty and tan.  I like my men hot and sticky, Kazan drools out.

I have no doubt much of the cast and crew are gay.  The humor may be blue but it's a little lavender, too,.  My team has always cracked me up. 

Glaser handled pretty much everything about getting the film off the ground.  He was the go-getter, something that is essential for independent films.  He and Hunter hired Paul Bartel because he'd been around the indie film community for awhile and having helmed Private Parts and Eating Raoul, it was felt he could handle a raucous western. 

Pardon the pun but Hunter was like the straight man... he gave all the good lines to Divine and Kazan and others.  If one was looking for a 300-pound transvestite, who better than Divine methinks?  I think I've seen four of Divine's flicks and this is definitely my favorite.  The choice of Kazan is also inspired and I can't imagine that she's not a better option than the originally intended Chita Rivera.

The remaining cast all came through with flying colors although Nedra Volz as Big Ed, an ancient cantina cutie, kinda stole my heart.

Filming took place around Santa Fe, New Mexico, a great choice but Divine apparently had a hard time breathing in the upper desert air. 

The reviews were fairly unkind but the public embraced it and obviously understood it to be the saucy, good-natured fun the filmmakers intended.

Here's a trailer:

Next posting:

Staying in the Old West