This is the original John Waters movie that was made into a Broadway musical that was then made into a movie. This is much better, I think. John Waters is at his best here, funny, charming, making fun of and yet nostalgically recreating with love an earlier time and place.

Not to mention the people starring in this version: Ricki Lake's first role, plus Sonny Bono, Deborah Harry, Jerry Stiller and (believe it or not) Pia Zadora, as well as Divine and Mink Stole.

There is still a lot of music even without the extra musical numbers they added to make it a Broadway show, and the music is really good: some composed for this movie, some original songs of the era.

And although the issue of integration is central to this movie, unlike the recent remake the viewer isn't beaten over the head with it, which (along with the much more charming lower production values) make the original much better than the big-budget 2007 version. Mr. Otter did buy that one, just for the songs, but I'll take the original every time.