Cult director Paul Bartel (Eating Raoul, Death Race 2000) tries hard to poke fun at a slew of Western-genre movie conventions--wandering cowpokes, aspiring barroom singers, gold-hearted hookers, and much more--but comes up as lame as a broken-down old mule. Bartel is no Mel Brooks, and Lust in the Dust (taken from the nickname star Joseph Cotten gave Duel in the Sun) is no Blazing Saddles. Built largely around the late transvestite (John Water's regular) Divine's unfunny antics (e.g., begging to be ravaged by a bunch of horny sodbusters), the wide image of this 1984 CinemaScope effort only amplifies the film's shortcomings. The disc includes a brief making-of featurette. Not recommended. (T. Rich)
Lust in the Dust
Anchor Bay, 84 min., R, $24.98 Vol. 16, Issue 4
Lust in the Dust
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