Lust in the Dust

Dance-hall girl Rosie Velez, lost in the desert, is helped to safety by gunman Abel Wood. In the town of Chili Verde, at the saloon of Marguerita Ventura, word of a treasure in gold brings Abel into conflict with outlaw Hard Case Williams and his gang.

• Tab Hunter as Abel Wood
• Divine as Rosie Velez
• Lainie Kazan as Marguerita Ventura
• Cesar Romero as Father Garcia
• Geoffrey Lewis as Hard Case Williams
• Henry Silva as Bernardo
• Courtney Gains as Richard "Red Dick" Barker
• Gina Gallego as Ninfa
• Nedra Volz as Ed "Big Ed"
• Woody Strode as Blackman, Hard Case Gang
• Pedro Gonzalez Gonzalez as Mexican, Hard Case Gang

The title was taken from the nickname given to King Vidor's 1946 film Duel in the Sun.The Western will never bite the dust

Scott, Jay. The Globe and Mail; Toronto, Ont. [Toronto, Ont]July 7, 1979: P.29.

John Waters was asked to direct, but refused because he did not write the script.

Edith Massey was cast as Big Ed, but died shortly after her screen test.[https://swampflix.com/2018/02/13/lust-in-the-dust-1985/ Lust in the Dust (1985)], swampflix.com, February 13, 2018 Bartel was uneasy about casting her because he thought it would look too much like a John Waters film without John Waters.

The role of Marguerita was originally set for Chita Rivera.{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=m0jQr2HfvsoC&dq=lust+in+the+dust++++Chita+Rivera&pg=PA155|isbn = 9780671884673|title = Not Simply Divine|date = August 10, 1994|publisher = Simon and Schuster}}

Principal photography took place in Santa Fe, New Mexico.Latin from Manhattan danced to Hollywood

Thomas, Bob. The Globe and Mail June 22, 1984: E.4.

In the original script, Rosie was supposed to die but the filmmakers changed their mind during filming.

Variety described the film as "a saucy, irreverent, quite funny send-up of the Western" and said that it "takes some of the old-time conventions – the silent stranger, the saloon singer with a past, the motley crew of crazed gunslingers, the missing stash of gold – and stands them on their head with outrageous comedy and imaginative casting."{{cite web |author=Variety Staff |date=December 31, 1983 |title=Lust in the Dust |url=http://variety.com/1983/film/reviews/lust-in-the-dust-1200426056/ |work=Variety}} Kenneth Turan of California Magazine called it "raunchy but irresistible,"{{Cite news |last=Turan |first=Kenneth |date=March 10, 1985 |title=Lust in the Dust |pages=317 |work=The Los Angeles Times |url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/390647535/?terms=%22Lust%20in%20the%20Dust%22%20%22raunchy%20but%20irresistible%22&match=1}} while Stephen Schaefer of US Magazine said "Lust in the Dust is a wicked must" and described it as "a happy hoot", concluding that it "knows how to mine the gold quickly and leave 'em laughing."{{Cite news |last=Schaefer |first=Stephen |date=March 25, 1985 |title=Lust in the Dust is a wicked must |pages=76 |work=US Magazine}} George Williams of The Sacramento Bee described the film as "an irresistibly funny spoof on those Clint Eastwood-Sergio Leone movies called Spaghetti Westerns" and stated that the actors "all give us the feeling they're having a lot of fun — and we can't help but join in." Most of the mirth comes from the situations and the characterizations."{{Cite news |last=Williams |first=George |date=February 8, 1985 |title=Wild, lust peek into the dusty old west |pages=108 |work=The Sacramento Bee |url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/622574482/?terms=%22Lust%20in%20the%20Dust%22%20%22irresistibly%20funny%20spoof%22&match=1}} Peter Stack of the San Francisco Chronicle called the film "a gun totin' rootin-tootin' New Mexico-style cowboy yarn loaded with surprisingly good performances" and praised Kazan's acting in particular.{{Cite news |last=Stack |first=Peter |date=March 17, 1985 |title=Lust in the Dust is a wicked must |pages=299 |work=The Chicago Tribune |url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/388402729/?terms=%22Lust%20in%20the%20Dust%22%20%22a%20gun%20totin%27%20rootin-tootin%27%22&match=1}}

Sheila Benson of the Los Angeles Times Times said that the film's satire was "limp", and that it resorted to "dumb, sniggering sexual innuendo,"{{cite web |author=Benson, Sheila |authorlink=Sheila Benson |date=March 8, 1985 |title='LUST' GETS LOST IN ITS OWN DUST |url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1985-03-08-ca-32548-story.html |work=Los Angeles Times}} while Vincent Canby of The New York Times described the film's jokes as "witless and private".{{cite web |author=Canby, Vincent |authorlink=Vincent Canby |date=March 1, 1985 |title=SCREEN: BARREL'S 'LUST IN THE DUST' |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1985/03/01/movies/screen-barrel-s-lust-in-the-dust.html |work=The New York Times}} Critic Rex Reed opined that the film "produces the kind of green reaction you get from eating a rancid burrito." Addressing Canby and Reed's reviews, Peter Travers of People Magazine said: "Well, what did they expect from a whacked-out Western parody starring has-been '50s hunk Tab Hunter and 300-pound 136 kg female impersonator Divine—High Noon?" and that the film delivers "tacky, hit-and-miss hilarity" with moments that offer "more laughs than a barrel full of teenage sex comedies." He praised the performances and concluded that "those in search of a smattering of cheap laughs will find Lust in the Dust the perfect oasis."{{Cite news |last=Travers |first=Peter |date=March 18, 1985 |title=Screen: Lust in the Dust |pages=12 |work=People}}

{{reflist}}

• {{IMDb title|0089523}}
• {{Mojo title|lustinthedust}}
• {{rotten-tomatoes|lust_in_the_dust}}

{{Paul Bartel}}

Category:1985 films

Category:1985 comedy films

Category:1985 independent films

Category:1980s American films

Category:1980s English-language films

Category:1980s Western (genre) comedy films

Category:1980s parody films

Category:American Western (genre) comedy films

Category:American independent films

Category:American parody films

Category:English-language independent films

Category:English-language Western (genre) comedy films

Category:Films directed by Paul Bartel

Category:New World Pictures films