O Baltimore, city of Edgar Allan Poe and H.L. Mencken, of Johnny Unitas and Brooks Robinson, of aluminum-siding salesmen and rampaging transvestites! How lucky thou art to have two sublimely eccentric moviemakers, Barry Levinson and John Waters, as native sons who sing your praises! Levinson set his two best movies, Diner and Tin Men, in the Baltimore of the late '50s and early '60s. Waters has made all eleven of his pictures, from the coprophagous comedy Pink Flamingos to the all-stinking Polyester (filmed in Odorama), in his hometown.
At first Waters worked on outlaw subjects and weeny budgets. Now that few...