Cry-Baby



Cry-Baby is a 1990 film directed by John Waters. It tells the classic story of Star-Crossed Lovers — "Square" Allison Vernon-Williams falls for Wade "Cry-Baby" Walker, leader of the local "drapes" in their small Maryland town — and the upheaval their romance causes between the hillbilly drapes and the uptight squares. Did we mention it's a musical? It's also an Affectionate Parody of the whole genre of nostalgia teen films, good-naturedly mocking other entries like Grease.

"Mrs. Woodward: Your Honor, can we take Wanda the fuck home?"
 * Action Dress Rip: The motorcycle stunt at the end.
 * Adaptation Expansion: The stage musical transforms Cry-Baby's would-be girlfriend Lenora into a bona-fide Stalker with a Crush. It also claims that Cry-Baby's parents were and that  was responsible for it happening. It also includes scenes of Wanda, Pepper and Hatchet-Face in a girl's reform school, while Cry-Baby and Dupree are in jail.
 * Adrenaline Makeover: What the drapettes do for Allison. It mainly involves Letting Her Hair Down, and giving her a pair of skin-tight pedal-pushers and a bustier top.
 * Affectionate Parody: Of 1950s juvenile delinquent movies, and the jukebox musicals of the same time period.
 * All Girls Want Bad Boys: Quoth Allison, "I am so tired of being good."
 * Badass Grandma: Ramona Rickets and, eventually, Mrs. Vernon-Williams.
 * Be a Whore to Get Your Man: Averted, with Lenora, and Allison, who Cry-Baby thought was cute before her sexy makeover.
 * It's also heavily implied that while he certainly doesn't mind her nice body or the makeover, that Cry-Baby is mostly attracted to Allison's personality.
 * Camp: Well, it is John Waters, after all.
 * Car Fu: The "chicken" showdown at the climax.
 * Chick Magnet: Cry-Baby, of course.
 * Conveniently an Orphan: Both Allison and Cry-Baby; her parents were killed in two different plane crashes, while his father.
 * "Us orphans got special needs!"
 * Crowd Song: The Whiffles' cross-town performance of the bunny hop, "Please Mr. Jailer" and "High School Hellcats".
 * Dark Is Not Evil / Light Is Not Good: The drapes and squares, respectively.
 * Delinquents
 * Embarrassing First Name: Wade "Cry-Baby" Walker never goes by his first name.
 * Evil Cannot Comprehend Good: Well, more like White Cannot Comprehend Hip.
 * Face of a Thug: Mona, aka "Hatchet-Face".
 * The Fifties
 * Freudian Excuse: Cry-Baby has to do one rotten thing every day.
 * Generation Xerox: Cry-Baby's and Pepper's parents and grandparents could qualify for this. Milton's Straw Fundamentalist parents and Wanda's Stepford Smiler parents largely avert this.
 * Get a Load of That Square: Almost quoted word for word.
 * Girl Posse: The Cry-Baby girls, to a degree.
 * Heel Face Turn:  Lenora also sides with the squares for a shot at redemption.
 * Hey, It's That Guy!: Iggy Pop as Cry-Baby's step-grandfather and Willem Dafoe as a prison guard. And of course, Johnny Depp in the title role, along with the usual John Waters alumni, like Mink Stole and Ricki Lake.
 * Don't forget David Nelson (the oldest son of Ozzie and Harriet Nelson) and Patty Hearst as Wanda's parents.
 * "I Am" Song: "King Cry-Baby", "High-School Hellcats".
 * Jerkass: Allison's boyfriend, Baldwin, almost crosses the line into Complete Monster.
 * Kick the Dog: Many "square" characters do this to Cry-Baby and the other drapes, but only Baldwin seems to get real joy out of it.
 * Large Ham: Most of the cast, but especially Johnny Depp, particularly during his Freudian Excuse monologue.
 * Mad Bomber: Wade "Cry Baby" Walker's father was the "Alphabet Bomber", who bombed buildings in alphabetical order. He got the electric chair.
 * Make-Out Point: There's one at Turkey Point, where Allison learns to French-kiss. In the stage play, the set-up is used at the backdrop for the tender ballad "Girl, Can I Kiss You (With Tongue)."
 * The New Rock and Roll: The film's set in 1953, so it's not satanic yet, just trashy "race music".
 * Non-Singing Voice: James Intveld performed all the vocals for Johnny Depp, and Rachel Sweet did the same for Amy Locane.
 * Nothing but Hits: Largely averted, except with the country club's talent show performances of "Teenage Prayer" and "Sh-Boom".
 * Politically-Correct History: Sort of: most of the squares are openly prejudiced against black people, but the drapes appear to have no problem with them.
 * Sad Times Montage: "Teardrops are Falling" includes Allison drinking a jar full of her own tears.
 * Screen to Stage Adaptation
 * Seemingly-Wholesome Fifties Girl: Allison eventually develops into one of these. She remains more or less her sweet self, but now she's a delinquent's girlfriend, and more inclined to less conservative outfits.
 * Separated by the Wall: Allison and Cry-Baby gyrate on opposite sides of the glass barrier in "Please, Mr. Jailer".
 * Shout-Out: Breaking Cry-Baby out of jail and Pepper's kids out of the orphanage pays tribute to The Benny Hill Show. Johnny Depp's performance also evokes a young Elvis Presley.
 * Singing Simlish: The stage musical's song "Baby Baby Baby Baby (Baby Baby)" parodies the scat-like lyrics in rockabilly music.
 * "But I don't know the words!"
 * Single Tear: The secret to Cry-Baby's sex appeal. Aside from being played by Johnny Depp, of course.
 * Smoking Is Cool: Played straight with Cry-Baby, but averted with Hatchet-Face's parents, one of whom ends up in an iron lung.
 * Spiritual Successor: To Hairspray.
 * Spinning Newspaper
 * Spoiled Sweet: Allison.
 * Stalker with a Crush: Lenora. Made even more blatant in The Musical.
 * That Reminds Me of a Song: Almost all the songs start like this, particularly in the second half.
 * This Trope Is Bleep: Invoked in the original theatrical release, as Waters was only allowed one F-word so as to not compromise the PG-13 rating. Said scene was restored in the director's cut.

"Ramona Rickettes: You put the T in tough!"
 * Tropes Are Not Bad
 * Troubled Production: During the shooting of the movie, the FBI visited the set to search for co-star Traci Lords, who was being investigated due to her porn past.
 * Victoria's Secret Compartment:.
 * Vomit Discretion Shot: On one of the deleted scenes.
 * What Do You Mean It's Not Heinous??:
 * "Electricity makes me INSANE!"
 * "Are you aware that Negroes were present at tonight's disturbance?"
 * Who Names Their Kid "Dude"?: Pepper's son, Snare-Drum, and her daughter, Susie-Q.
 * Why Did It Have to Be Snakes?: Baldwin and the Whiffles' reactions to "colored" music and drapes, in general.
 * Window Love: "Please, Mr. Jailer", a song and dance number which the director says was inspired by peep shows and gloryholes.
 * Wounded Gazelle Gambit: Lenora pretends to be pregnant with Cry-Baby's child to split him and Allison up, and Baldwin does the same when harassing the drapes at Turkey Point: "They beat me and kicked me; all because I love you."
 * X Meets Y: IMDb puts it best: Take one part Romeo and Juliet, one part Grease, a little bit of The Outsiders, and a generous helping of Mad Magazine mentality, set it in the 50's and add some cool music and it comes close to Cry-Baby."
 * Yank the Dog's Chain: The prison guards to the drapes.
 * You Put the X In XY: