DIRECTOR SCOUTS BROWNSVILLE

John Durst, the director of cult thrillers Three Pennies Too Many and Miss Smith's Rotting Cadaver, visited Brownsville with the intention of finding a suitable town for the filming of his new movie, Diarrhea Soup.

"I'm looking for a locale where desperation reigns and the inhabitants will do anything to survive," said Durst as he drank a beer and ate a hamburger at the Palm Lounge.

"Brownsville rates at the top of the selection list. The mayor told me we would never find a seedier town and he's absolutely right. In my travels throughout the nation I have never seen the look of hopelessness in so many eyes that I have seen in Brownsville.

"It's a dirty place, which is a requisite for the movie. I can't believe I'm in the United States when I walk the streets of this sad city. The standard of living, I'm sure, is much higher in Central America than here."

Durst's story centers on a community succumbing in droves to a rampant and virulent cancer as a result of corrupt politicians cutting a deal with a chemical factory that pours toxins into the atmosphere.

"I didn't think I could find a Third-World City in this nation to make my movie, but I was wrong," continued Durst. "I feel sorry for the people who live here permanently. There is so much misery. At least I'll be able to hire extras cheap."