Lust in the Dust

I sat down to watch the 1984 western comedy "Lust in the Dust" late in 2019. I hadn't even heard about the movie before now. But seeing it was a western comedy and given the movie's title, of course I ended up sitting down to watch this movie from writer Philip John Taylor and director Paul Bartel.

Turns out that "Lust in the Dust" was actually more entertaining than I had initially anticipated it to be. While this movie is listed as a comedy, it is not the type of comedy that will have you breaking out in tears from laughing so hard. Nah, the comedy in the movie is more subtle, but it is used well enough.

What works for the movie is the storyline, the characters and the dialogue. There was just something interesting and appealing to these aspects of the movie.

The movie does have an interesting assembly of casted performers, which includes the likes of Geoffrey Lewis, Lainie Kazan, Divine, and Courtney Gains. So there definitely are some familiar faces on the cast list here. And I will say that they performed quite well in the movie and brought something unique to the movie in each of their own ways.

"Lust in the Dust" is type of western that makes you feel good, because it is light-hearted and it is well-paced. I enjoyed it more than I had expected actually.

My rating of "Lust in the Dust" is a six out of ten stars rating.

This movie aims for low humour, and it hits its target. Against all odds it entertains from beginning to end. The key to its success is that it proudly steers clear of anything resembling class or good taste. As far as cheap laughs go, you could do a lot worse. Oddly enough, by the end of the movie I was convinced that Divine should star in every single movie ever made.

Divine, the alter ego of Glen Milstead (1945-1988), first burst onto an unsuspecting public with such notorious John Waters films as the infamous PINK FLAMINGOS, dishing up bad-taste humor in proportion with her truly ample size. But there was more to Divine than drag queen humor, and LUST IN THE DUST offers her a less extreme playground, pitting her against a lone gunman (Tab Hunter), a vicious saloon floozy (Lainie Kazan), and a host of desperadoes in a flyweight send up the spaghetti westerns so popular in the 1970s and 1980s.

Directed by Paul Bartel, best known for his 1982 black comedy EATING RAOUL, LUST IN THE DUST is essentially the very slight story of a search for gold--a search that leads Able Wood (Hunter), Marguarite Ventura (Kazan), and Rosie Velez (Divine) to the isolated old west one horse town of Chile Verde. There, with support from the likes of Cesar Romero, they snap, snarl, break up furniture, sing bawdy songs, show their tattoos, and... well... lust in the dust. What else? I may be overly generous in granting this film five stars. The film is occasionally slow and there's nothing greatly inspired about plot, script, and so on--but the performers make the whole thing a lot of fun. Divine wallows, Kazan hisses, and Hunter sweats with the best of 'em, and when it comes to one-liners the movie overflows with both the obvious and very unexpected. Yes, it's all very silly stuff, but everybody puts it over with flair and a sense of fun; you'll grin in spite of yourself. The DVD offers a reasonable, if not pristine, print of the film--and there's even a bonus package: the film trailer and an entertaining little "making of" documentary.

If you're already a Divine fan, LUST IN THE DUST is a must; if you've never encountered Divine, this would be a good place to start, for it lacks the truly jaw-dropping (and frequently off-putting) content of Divine's work for John Waters. Two tons of fun.

GFT, Amazon Reviewer

A delirious comedy about a treasure hunt in the wild west. With a cast led by the infamous Divine, it has several interesting actors, with emphasis on the interpretations of Lainie Kazan, magnificent in the role of Marguerita and also of Geoffrey Lewis, as the bandit Hardcase, nemesis of the hero Abel Wood, clearly inspired by the lonesone Clint Eastwood in Sergio Leone's movies.

Divine, in her flashy and suburban style, might seem out of place from the western universe, but the contrast is happy, even constituting a rival to the height of the exuberant Marguerita, manager of the local brothel.

An original and entertaining film that has aged well and could have been directed by John Waters.

Paul Bartel's western-musical-sex farce may not be quite on par with his earlier black comedies, but it still has the good taste not to have any good taste. Plus, it's one of the few places where you can see a Divine performance outside of John Waters' oeuvre -- and boy, does he give a performance.

If you get the DVD, be sure to check out the bombastic trailer. It is quite a hoot.