Squid Flicks: The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert

Title: The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert

Director: Stephan Elliott

Original Release Date: May 15, 1994

My Overall Rating: 4 stars out of 5

via Wikipedia

Not long ago, our child watched To Wong Foo, Thanks for Everything! Julie Newmar, a 1995 Hollywood hit film about drag queens starring Wesley Snipes, Patrick Swayze and John Leguizamo. They loved it. I told them yes, that one's good but the movie you really need to see is The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert, an Australian smash released the year before.

I'd watched both decades earlier, I think even before my wife and I were married.  I saw Priscilla first and was absolutely blown away.  Thanks largely to RuPaul, social acceptance of drag queens was on the rise in the mid-'90s but a major film production like Priscilla was still daring.  While it's technically a comedy, it hit the sensitive spots just hard enough to bring poignancy.  The queens' dresses were plenty fabulous.  The queens' actual lives?  Not so much.

Tick (Hugo Weaving in his international breakout role), a drag queen in Sydney, is offered a job in far away Alice Springs.  He invites transgender Bernadette (Terence Stamp, RIP) and the beautiful but obnoxious Adam (Guy Pearce).  They buy a converted bus, which Adam names Priscilla, and they hit the road.  They face hardships - mechanical difficulties, hostility, abuse and even assault (thankfully averted just in time) - but also joys.  An friendly indigenous tribe takes them under wing for an evening.  They meet their savior, the amazing Bob (Bill Hunter, who was in the midst of a string of Australian international hits).  They find love.  

And running throughout is an undercurrent love letter to the Australian Outback.  Costumes and makeup are amazing, as one would hope.  But just as stunning is the scenery.  Acting is wonderful and the writing pitch-perfect.  The soundtrack is stellar.  The ABBA show is definitely worth the wait.

One blemish costs Priscilla a star in my rating.  The character Cynthia, Bob's Filipina wife, plays on ugly Asian stereotypes.

Apart from that misstep, it's a wonderful movie, and definitely better than To Wong Foo.  Perhaps I'll cover that one another time.