Lust In The Dust

What do you get when you take some of the John Waters players and have them directed by the man who brought you Death Race 2000 and Eating Raoul? You come up with the 1985 western spoof Lust In The Dust.

Poleyester stars Tab Hunter and Divine reteam as a gunman named Abel Wood and a dancehall girl named Rosie Velez. The two meet in the desert after Abel rescues Rosie from an attack. The two are both heading to the small town of Chilli Verde. Abel is in search for a buried treasure, but so is Hard Case, Geoffrey Lewis, a dangerous outlaw.

When I first saw this, I was expecting it to be more fun, but it has definately grown on me over the years. Definately not as sharp or as polished as Blazing Saddles or Rustler's Rhapsody, but there's still a lot of laughs to be had. Paul Bartel handles the paody with an expert hand, and Divine and Hunter seem to be having a blast. As does the rest of the cast that includes Lanie Kazan, Courtney Gains, Henry Silva, Cesar Romero and Nedra Volz.

The studio really wanted this to feel like a John Waters film. They even approached him about directing, but he passed on it since he didn't write it. They even cast Waters regular Edith Massey in the Volz role but she passed away before shooting began. Bartel was a little concerned about having too many Waters people in the movie because he wanted it to feel more like a Bartel film. Can't blame the guy.

Lust In The Dust doesn't have the big laughs that other western spoofs do, but it's still a lot of fun.

It's available on dvd.