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The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert (1994)
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Reviews Counted:28
Fresh:26
Rotten:2
Average Rating:7/10
Synopsis: Stephan Elliott (EYE OF THE BEHOLDER) wrote and directed this tale of two drag queens and a transsexual that embark on a road trip to a remote resort town in the Australian desert on a bus... Stephan Elliott (EYE OF THE BEHOLDER) wrote and directed this tale of two drag queens and a transsexual that embark on a road trip to a remote resort town in the Australian desert on a bus christened Priscilla. When Anthony "Tick"/Mitzi (Hugo Weaving) is invited to perform in Alice Springs, he recruits flamboyant young stud Adam/Felicia (Guy Pearce) and the legendary, refined Bernadette (Terence Stamp) to join him. Mitzi, however, fails to disclose one important fact to his friends: his wife is the one who invited them to Alice Springs. With one big secret about to be revealed and another one up his sleeve, Mitzi is a little stressed. With long hours on the road ahead of them, the trio lip-synchs campy songs on the bus, creates fabulous costumes, and meets a multitude of colorful characters along the way. They party with friendly aborigines, are confronted by judgmental townspeople who are averse to drag queens, and meet Bob (Bill Hunter), a warmhearted mechanic and drag fan who joins them for the last leg of their trip when their bus breaks down in the middle of nowhere. Fantastic costumes and fabulous makeup abound, and fine performances are delivered all around. But perhaps most important are the implicit messages that families come in all forms, that friends can make a family, and that love really knows no boundaries. [More]
Starring: Terence Stamp, Hugo Weaving, Guy Pearce, Reb Russell
Starring: Terence Stamp, Hugo Weaving, Guy Pearce, Reb Russell
Director: Stephan Elliott
Director: Stephan Elliott
Producer: Michael Hamlyn
Composer: Guy Gross
Reviews for The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert
Where else are you going to see General Zod, Agent Smith and the guy from Memento as drag queens stranded in the Australian Outback?
It's too bad that the requirements of plotting require movies like this to crank up the event count, when actually what works is just the daily minutiae of Bernadette's life.
You may have Gloria Gaynor's 'I Will Survive' rattling through your head for a few days, but that's a small price to pay for an audience with true royalty.
The film builds an enormously affectionate tribute to a band of outsiders.
Outrageous, in a calculated way, the film's success relies heavily on the players, and fortunately, Stamp, Weaving and Pearce are up for it.
Bernadette -- formerly Ralph -- turns out to be an excellent role for Stamp.
The best things in this transsexual comedy-melodrama are Lizzy Gardiner and Tim Chappel's colorful costumes, which deservedly won the Oscar, and Terrence Stamp's delicate, non-cliched performance, snubbed by the Academy.
For sheer camp value, Priscilla is a lot of fun, even if it has next to nothing to say.
In this roaringly comic and powerfully affecting road movie, Terence Stamp gives one of the year's best performances.
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