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.

In the old west, virginal Rosie Velez (Divine) is raped by a group of bandits and they are worn out. She is brought to a dusty town by gunman Abel Wood (Tab Hunter). Marguerita Ventura runs the saloon. Hard Case Williams leads the local bad guys.

Director Paul Bartel brings his outrageous sensibilities to this wacky western comedy. In the end, this is essentially an one-joke comedy. The joke is that Divine is ugly. It's fine for a little while but it goes flat after that.

This sloppily written western spoof is filled with cliches and tacky characterizations, not very likable ones among the rough and tumbleweed characters here. The film starts with a sweaty and tired Divine (in a rare non-John Waters film appearance) lost in the desert and coming across the quiet but dangerous Tab Hunter. They end up at the bordello owned by Lainie Kazan where they learn about hidden gold in the area and the fact that a missing map is the key to finding it. The map turns up in the oddest of plalces (half on Divine's behind, the other on Kazan's),and repeated shots of Divine's buttocks are not pretty.

Some songs are thrown in for good measure, spoofing old westerns where the hard as nails saloon owner always entertained her clientele. Divine's number is only memorable for Kazan's reaction to it, and Kazan shows the talent that could have been on Broadway with her throaty voice singing "South of My Border", complete with filthy lyrics. Gina Gallego and Nedra Volz are Kazan's other girls, with Gallego (later of the soaps "Rituals" and "Santa Barbara") as the innocent novice and Noltz has the aging working girl who probably hasn't turned a trick in decades. Cesar Romero as a local priest, Henry Silva as a ruthless bandito and Geoffrey Lewis as a rustler also searching for the gold comprise the supporting casst.

Like his John Waters movies, Divine plays a character of such bad taste that at times, he becomes a bit too much. Kazan lacks the subtle good heart of other such business owners in similar westerns, and is equally reprehensible. The recurring gag of Divine accidentally breaking the becks of the men she has relations with (one an overly stimilated little person, the other a redheaded piano player simply known as "Red Dick") becomes the stuff that nightmares are made of. Volz, one of the busiest on screen old ladies of the 1970's and 80's, is too cute to criticize. This doesn't have the tacky charm of "Female Trouble" or "Pink Flamingos", and under the writing and directing of Paul Bartel, is a poor imitation.