Hairspray (1988 film)

Plot

Tracy Turnblad (Ricki Lake) and her best friend, Penny Pingleton (Leslie Ann Powers), audition for The Corny Collins Show, a popular Baltimore teenage dance show based on the real-life Buddy Deane Show. Penny is too nervous and stumbles over her answers, and another girl, Nadine, is cut for being black (there is a Negro Day on the show on the last Thursday of every month, she is told). However, despite being overweight, Tracy is a strong enough dancer to become a regular on the show, infuriating the shows reigning queen, Amber Von Tussle (Colleen Fitzpatrick), a mean, privileged, beautiful high school classmate whose pushy stage parents, Velma (Debbie Harry) and Franklin Von Tussle (Sonny Bono), own Tilted Acres amusement park (based on Baltimores Gwynn Oak Amusement Park, where racial problems occurred). Tracy steals Ambers boyfriend, Link Larkin (Michael St. Gerard), and competes against her for the title of Miss Auto Show 1963, fueling Ambers hatred of her.

Tracys growing confidence leads to her being hired as a plus-size model for the Hefty Hideaway clothing store owned by Mr. Pinky (Alan J. Wendl). She is also inspired to bleach, tease, and rat her big hair into styles popular in the 1960s. At school, a teacher brands her hairstyle as a "hair-dont" and sends her to the principals office, from which Tracy is sent to special education classes, where she meets several black classmates who have been put there to hold them back academically. The students introduce Tracy to Motormouth Maybelle (Ruth Brown), an R&B record shop owner and host of the monthly "Negro Day" on The Corny Collins Show. They teach Tracy, Penny, and Link dance moves and Penny begins an interracial romance with Motormouth Maybelles son, Seaweed (Clayton Prince). This horrifies Pennys mother, Prudence (Joann Havrilla), who imprisons her daughter in her bedroom and tries to brainwash her into dating white boys and oppose integration with the help of a quack psychiatrist, Dr. Fredrickson (director John Waters). Seaweed later helps her break out of the house and run away. It is implied that she will never return, as she has finally broken free from her mother.

Undeterred, Tracy uses her newfound fame to champion the cause of racial integration with the help of Motormouth Maybelle, Corny Collins (Shawn Thompson), his assistant Tammy (Mink Stole), and Tracys agoraphobic, slightly overbearing, and overweight mother, Edna (Divine). After a race riot at Tilted Acres results in Tracys arrest, the Von Tussles grow more defiant in their opposition to racial integration. They plot to sabotage the Miss Auto Show 1963 pageant by planting a bomb in Velmas bouffant hairdo. The plan literally blows up in Velmas face when the bomb detonates prematurely, resulting in the Von Tussles arrest by the Baltimore police after it lands on Ambers head. Tracy, who had won the crown but was disqualified for being in reform school, dethrones Amber after the governor of Maryland pardons her; Tracy then shows up at the competition, integrates the show, and encourages everyone to dance.

Cast

Production

John Waters wrote the screenplay under the title of White Lipstick, with the story loosely based on real events. The Corny Collins Show is based on the real-life Buddy Deane Show, a local dance party program which pre-empted Dick Clarks American Bandstand in the Baltimore area during the 1950s and early 1960s. Waters had previously written about "The Buddy Deane Show" in his 1983 book Crackpot: The Obsessions of John Waters.

Principal photography took place in and around the Baltimore area during the summer of 1987. The school scenes were filmed at Perry Hall High School with set locations including the library, a first-floor English class, and the principals office. In the scene set in the principals office, the Harry Dorsey Gough (see Perry Hall Mansion) coat-of-arms that once hung in the main lobby can be seen through the doorway. The scenes set at Tilted Acres amusement park were filmed at Dorney Park in Allentown, Pennsylvania.

The film was Divines final film and his only film with Waters in which he didnt play the lead. Originally, Divine was considered to play both Tracy Turnblad and her mother Edna. Executives from New Line Cinema, the films distributor, discouraged this concept, and it was eventually dropped.

Deleted scenes

A handful of scenes were cut while in post-production, some of which explained certain elements seen in the film. One involved Tracy breaking into the Von Tussles home, stealing Ambers hair bleach, and bleaching her hair in Ambers sink, thus explaining Tracys change of hair color later in the film.

Another deleted scene involved live roaches crawling out of Tracys hair (presumably placed there by Amber), which becomes a significant plot point throughout the rest of the film. When discussing his decision to ultimately cut the scene, Waters explained "Bob Shaye, the head of New Line, probably correctly, said, This doesnt work. What is this, a Bunuel movie? [...] And he was probably right." An alternate scene is instead included in which Amber claims to have seen a roach in Tracys hair, but she is presumed to be joking and/or lying.

The final deleted scene was a musical number which involved the teens performing an obscure 1960s dance called "The Stupidity" at the auto show just prior to Tracy being released from reform school, but again, Waters ultimately decided it wasnt appropriate, stating, "[B]asically, I thought, you know, you dont want your leading man to look stupid right in the big finale."

Critical reception

Hairspray received three stars from critics Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert.

The film currently holds a 97% "fresh" rating on Rotten Tomatoes; it is Waters second-highest-rated film (behind Multiple Maniacs); the sites consensus states "Hairspray is perhaps John Waters most accessible film, and as such, its a gently subversive slice of retro hilarity."

Box office

Hairspray opened on February 26, 1988 in 79 North American theaters, where it grossed US$577,287 in its opening weekend. On March 11, it expanded to 227 theaters, where it grossed $966,672 from March 11–13. It ended its theatrical run with $8,271,108.

Awards

The film was nominated for six Independent Spirit Awards, and the Grand Jury Prize at the Sundance Film Festival.

Broadway musical

In mid-2002, Margo Lion teamed with writers Marc Shaiman and Thomas Meehan to turn Hairspray into a Broadway musical production. The show opened on August 15, 2002 starring Marissa Jaret Winokur as Tracy and Harvey Fierstein as Edna. The show went on to win eight Tony Awards, including Best Musical, in 2003. The show closed on January 4, 2009.

2007 adaptation

In 2006, New Line joined forces with Adam Shankman to adapt the Broadway show into a movie musical. The film was released July 20, 2007, starring John Travolta as Edna, Michelle Pfeiffer as Velma, Christopher Walken as Wilbur, Amanda Bynes as Penny Pingleton, Brittany Snow as Amber Von Tussle, Queen Latifah as Motormouth Maybelle, James Marsden as Corny, Zac Efron as Link, and newcomer Nikki Blonsky as Tracy. The film had a $75 million budget and earned over $200 million worldwide.

Soundtrack

The soundtrack was released in 1988 by MCA Records. The album featured one original song by Rachel Sweet and eleven other songs mostly from the early 1960s by Gene Pitney, Toussaint McCall and The Ikettes, among others. Two songs, "You Dont Own Me" and "Mama Didnt Lie" came out in 1964 and 1963

Other songs appear in the film, but are not on the soundtrack, due to licensing restrictions, because many of the songs listed were on the Cameo Parkway Label, a recording label owned by Allen Klein.

Home media

Hairspray was issued for the first time on VHS and LaserDisc in 1989 by RCA/Columbia Pictures Home Video. New Line reissued the film on VHS in 1996.

The film was released on DVD by New Line in 2002. The disc included an audio commentary by John Waters and Ricki Lake and a theatrical trailer. It was released on Blu-ray on March 4, 2014.