Sordid Lives Trailer

[Bran Cardello]

SordidLives: The Series is an American comedy television series created, written, and directed by Del Shores, which is prequel to his 2000 film Sordid Lives. It is set in a small town of Texas and centers on the Ingram family, and stars Bonnie Bedelia, Beth Grant, Rue McClanahan, Olivia Newton-John, Caroline Rhea, Leslie Jordan, along with most of the original cast of the film.

In April 1998, family matriarch Peggy Ingram takes in the town bar singer Bitsy Mae Harling who has just been released from prison. Peggy's daughter LaVonda lives with Peggy's chain-smoking sister Sissy, while Peggy's good girl Latrelle maintains an image of seeming perfection. Latrelle's son Ty is an actor living in Los Angeles and struggling with several therapists to come to terms with his homosexuality.

Peggy's third child, Earl "Brother Boy" Ingram, is locked in a mental institution where he performs as Tammy Wynette. He plots to escape while he attends therapy sessions with Dr. Eve who believes she can de-homosexualize him. LaVonda's best friend Noleta lives in a trailer in Sissy's backyard with her husband G.W., a Vietnam veteran with two wooden legs. G.W. escapes regularly to the local bar in town amidst a small crowd of regulars including brothers Wardell and Odell, Bitsy Mae, and the bar's resident drunk Juanita.

A few years after Sordid Lives (2000) was released, Del Shores published an online novel called The Sordid Saga, serving as a prequel to the film. He wrote 22 chapters (one per week) before stopping after being hired to write for Queer as Folk. When Logo TV launched in 2005, Shores' then-husband Jason Dottley suggested he pitch the novel into a TV series.[1]

Many of the film's cast returned, however there were some changes. Dottley replaced Kirk Geiger as Ty.[1] Originally, Caroline Rhea signed on for guest appearance as a therapist, but after reading the script she wanted a bigger role. After Burke decided not to return, Rhea took over the role of Noleta.[2]

Rue McClanahan signed on as family matriarch Peggy. She said in an interview for the reason she accepted the role, "It was the funniest script I'd read since The Golden Girls. The same way I knew in Golden Girls I wanted to play Blanche, I knew I wanted to play Peggy. They're 180 degrees different, of course, except for one thing: They're both looking for love". She said to have been paid more for one episode of Golden Girls than for the whole 12 episodes of Sordid Lives.[3]

Principal photography took place on a low-budget in Shreveport, Louisiana, for 36 days between November 2007 and January 2008.[4][5][1] Shores stated the cast worked for less than their usual fees. To save time and since all episodes were written, Shores would "block-shot it, like a movie".[3] Leslie Jordan filmed his scenes in six days.[3]

Barry Garron from The Hollywood Reporter gave a positive review, "Sordid Lives plays out like a white trash daytime drama on steroids. In each episode, outrageous things happen to outrageous characters, often producing outrageous laughs". He described it as "Mama's Family meets Will and Grace".[10][11] The Boston Globe's Matthew Gilbert wrote that the series "has a decidedly amateurish tone, with shoddy production values and acting that shows some seams. But the tone works in the show's favor".[12]

"Father, show me the way as a spirit of justice." IFC Midnight has launched an official trailer for a wacky horror/action comedy titled Lowlife, which first premiered at both the Fantasia Film Festival & FrightFest last year. From director Ryan Prows, this is about the sordid lives of an addict, an ex-con, and a luchador that collide when an organ harvesting caper goes very, very wrong. Starring Nicki Micheaux, Ricardo Adam Zarate, Jon Oswald, Shaye Ogbonna, Santana Dempsey, and Mark Burnham. This looks all kinds of weird and wacky and absurd and crazy, and perhaps fun? I don't even know. Just watch the trailer.

The sordid lives of small-time criminals collide when an organ harvesting caper goes very, very wrong. A Mexican wrestler with rage issues, a felon with a regrettable face tattoo, and an ex-junkie in search of a kidney collide in this wild, blood splattered adrenaline rush. Lowlife is directed by American filmmaker Ryan Prows, making his feature directorial debut after a few short films previously. Prows graduated from the American Film Institute. The script is credited to: Tim Cairo, Jake Gibson, Shaye Ogbonna, Ryan Prows, Maxwell Michael Towson. This first premiered at the Fantasia Film Festival and at FrightFest last year. IFC Midnight will release Prwos' Lowlife in select theaters + on VOD starting April 6th this spring. Who's in?

Sordid Lives" is about a family in a small Texas town preparing for the funeral of the mother. Among the characters are the grandson trying to find his identity in West Hollywood, the son who has spent the past twenty-three years dressed as Tammy Wynette, the sister and her best friend (who live in delightfully kitschy homes), and the two daughters (one strait-laced and one quite a bit looser).

Stagy and coarse, this big ol' Southern-fried mess of strenuous eccentricity involves a Texas family whose skeleton-filled closets are ripped open when the clan gathers for the funeral of matriarch Peggy Ingram (Gloria LeRoy). Peggy's daughters are easy-going, good-time gal LaVonda (Ann Walker) and uptight Lattrelle (Bonnie Bedelia), who's mortified that mama not only had the bad taste to die in a sleazy motel room after tripping over her lover's wooden legs, but had become best friends with honky-tonk honey Bitsy Mae Harling (Olivia Newton-John), a lesbian ex-con who strums a mean guitar. Lattrelle and LaVonda butt big-haired heads most vigorously over the fate of their younger brother, "Brother Boy" Earl (Leslie Jordan), a gay transvestite with a serious Tammy Wynette fixation, whom their mother institutionalized 23 years earlier. LaVonda wants to bring him home, while Lattrelle would prefer he remain out of sight and out of mind. Though she'd never admit it, Lattrelle's determination to keep Brother Boy in the closet may be related to the homosexuality of only son, Ty (Kirk Geiger), an LA-based, former soap star.

Much of the colorful confrontation takes place in the home of LaVonda and Lattrelle's good-hearted aunt, Sissy (Beth Grant), who's trying to quit smoking but is driven back to butts by the incessant bickering.

SORDID LIVES

REGENT RELEASING RELEASE DATE: MAY 11, 2001

Meta Critic Meta Score 47

Summary: Sometimes it takes a death to bring a family together. In the film Sordid Lives, an all-star cast puts a comedic twist on a story of unconditional love, acceptance and "coming out" in a Texas family. (Regent Entertainment)

10/ 10 LexingtonD

Jul 6, 2007

No exaggerations. No pimping. "Sordid Lives" is likely the funniest movie in existence. Too hard to swallow that information? Then it's the best black comedy ever, bar none. Much like the other raters here, I have no idea what film the critics saw, because what I saw was a clever portrayal of difficult characters, who in the hands of a less capable team would come off as clichs or camp. I think the hidden strength of the film is in its believability, which comes ironically after a hyperbolic death. Every performance is perfect, even a jilted actress who would otherwise be wasted (or end up on the cutting room floor) is taken to the brink of psychotic without quite jumping off - an ideal portrait of unrequited love. By the way, I'm neither southern nor gay, nor have been any of the people who i have exposed to this movie, and it's 10s all around. I was lucky enough to find this in a dollar bin of used VHS, had a dollar, and had read this on a list of the 10 best black comedies of all time. What the review didn't say is that it is THE best. I plan on buying the DVD soon, because we're going to wear out the tape!

Watching writer and director Del Shores's Bible Belt parody, Sordid Lives, is like driving through the boondocks, finding only honky tonk radio and listening to one of those raunchy tunes; it's weird, it's funny and you find yourself humming along.

Given the plot, one might expect a freak show. Not so with these sordid lives. Writer Del Shores knows how to weave his satire with skillfully subtle touches of humanity. The result is a rollicking good time.

Though it's safe to say those laughing loudest are probably from the Bible Belt, grew up gay or have a pair of nylons tucked into their drawer between their boxers and briefs, people on Main Street are more likely to belly laugh than those on Castro Street. The crafty, if bawdy, humor pokes fun at everyone, including gays, which may be why Sordid Lives has hardly been a huge hit among those whose possessions are plastered with pink triangles.

The other sore point frames the narrative. Deeply religious Latrelle's son, Ty, (Kirk Geiger), an actor who is gay, struggles with his strict upbringing, though a gay play his mother detests is truly rotten. There are more subplots in Sordid Livesthan an episode of "Dynasty", including Delta Burke's wronged Noleta, Newell Alexander's bartender Wardell, and the perfect thread for Sordid Lives: Olivia Newton-John (Grease), strumming her guitar as a butch barfly named Bitsy Mae Harling.

Bitsy Mae sings the catchy title track and several other songs and gum snapping Newton-John manages to pull off the twangy ex-convict as someone Sandy from Grease might have become after she donned those skintight black pants.

**** Review by Jacob Wilson

What a weird film. Shot like a soap opera, where white trash people are both the butt of the joke and the the stars of an emotional, but darkly comedic film. I don't know what to think, but I know I enjoyed it.

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