Nicknamed the Prince of Puke, the Pope of Trash, and other similar appellations, John Waters prefers to be known as the King of Bad Taste. He revels in shockingly offbeat cinema still, even nearly 40 years since first gathering Baltimore oddballs to create indie film Hag in a Black Leather Jacket and nearly 35 years since first commercially releasing underground flick Mondo Trasho (The Gutter Movie). Early Waters films have featured such gross-outs as a raping scene by a giant lobster, rosary beads being stuffed into an anus, and Divine's classic dog shit eating climax to Pink Flamingos, but Waters' proudest moment in "bad taste" stands with his 15-minute improvisation titled The Dianne Linkletter Story.

Waters believes that films should capture the real world, and that there are plenty of current events that would make outstanding cinematic entertainment. He puts this theory into practice by filming a fictionalized account of Dianne Linkletter's drug induced suicide the day after the real Dianne Linkletter jumped to her death. We can only imagine the outrage that television star Art Linkletter felt, and undoubtedly the vast majority of Americans would be totally disgusted by Waters' film—not only due to its ill-timed immediacy but also due to Waters' casting a 300 lb. transvestite as the troubled daughter. Most people are thankful that the film is a rarity and very difficult to find; however, John Waters fans will certainly have to view this outrageous classic!

Credit Art Linkletter himself for much of the film's bad taste. Although his intentions were to educate young people against drug abuse through his daughter's example, Linkletter's maudlin recording of "We Love You; Call Collect" to attack the hippie culture ranks close to Waters' own bad taste, making him fair game for a counter attack. Representing middle America and the idea that drug tragedies could happen to any family, Linkletter literally waged war against the counter culture, and Waters takes full advantage of the situation by using Linkletter's recording for both the opening and closing of the film. What is even more ironic is that Waters' film may actually come closer to the truth than the mythology that Linkletter attempted to create following his daughter's fatal leap.

Substituting Linkletter's sincere sentimental dribble for satire, Waters creates wicked tongue in cheek humor with regulars David Lochary and Mary Vivian Pearce as the concerned Linkletter parents and Divine as their strung out daughter. Lochary and Pearce open the sketch discussing their wayward daughter, wondering what has gone wrong. After all, they are good parents. So they reason it must be the evil influence of those kids on the strip, especially Dianne's latest boyfriend Jim.

When they speculate about what is keeping their daughter out so late, that cues Divine to make her grand entrance. Decidedly drugged, Dianne just wants to hang out on the strip to get high and get laid—"Doing my own thing in my own time." Rebuffing her parent's wishes, she declares that Jim is “groovy” and that they don't understand her or any of her generation. Inevitable conflict springs loose, resulting in tragedy.

Viewed in 2003, more people should be able to see the rebellious humor in Waters' short three person drama, but undoubtedly most will still find the project in bad taste. They'll get no argument from Waters. It was his sole intention to create this film for its shock value. He loves his title as the King of Bad Taste, and this reputation is personified supremely by The Diane Linkletter Story. As often the case in any early Waters' work, stars are pointless ranking systems, totally irrelevant. So what if the production values are virtually non-existent, the acting amateurish, and the lines improvised—you already know if you're among the people that must see this film or not. Even if you're not a John Waters aficionado, fifteen minutes of this film far surpasses the plethora of boring productions that flood the local Cineplex. Bad taste trumps bad cinema any day!