The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert (1994)

User Rating:

7.2/10   

Director:

Stephan Elliott

Writer:

Stephan Elliott (written by)

Release Date:

10 August 1994 (USA)

Genre:

Comedy | Drama | Music

Tagline:

It's the Australian film that blitzed overseas box offices. It caused a near riot at the Cannes Film Festival. It won an Academy Award (Registeration Symbol). It's fun, daring, over-the-top and unforgettable. It's a road movie with attitude and the occasional frock.

Plot:

Two drag queens and a transsexual get a cabaret gig in the middle of the desert.

Plot Keywords:

Drag | Desert | Bus | Drag Queen | Australian

Awards:

Won Oscar. Another 8 wins & 16 nominations

Cast

Hugo Weaving	...	Tick / Mitzi
Guy Pearce	...	Adam / Felicia
Terence Stamp	...	Bernadette
Rebel Penfold-Russell	...	Logowoman (as Rebel Russell)
John Casey	...	Bartender
June Marie Bennett	...	Shirley
Murray Davies	...	Miner
Frank Cornelius	...	Piano Player
Bob Boyce	...	Petrol Station Attendant
Leighton Picken	...	Young Adam
Maria Kmet	...	Ma
Joseph Kmet	...	Pa
Alan Dargin	...	Aboriginal Man
Bill Hunter	...	Bob
Julia Cortez	...	Cynthia

Runtime:

104 min

Country:

Australia

Language:

English | Filipino

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby

Certification:

Brazil:14 | South Korea:18 | Argentina:16 | Australia:M | Chile:18 | Finland:S | France:U | Germany:16 | Iceland:L | Netherlands:16 | Peru:14 | Singapore:M18 | Spain:13 | Sweden:11 | UK:15 | USA:R

Filming Locations:

Alice Springs, Northern Territory, Australia

Company:

PolyGram Filmed Entertainment

Trivia:

The line in the closing credits "Shown in Dragarama at select theatres" is a reference to some theatres using a mirror-ball and colored lighting during the "Finally" dance number.

Goofs:

Continuity: When Mitzi and Felicia wake up the morning after they left Bernadette and Bob to get drunk, if you look at the shot out of the bus window of Bob and Bernadette, Bernadette's face is next to the cake. Once Mitzi and Felicia are out of the bus, Bernadette's face is on top of the cake.

Quotes:

[First Lines]
[Tick is hit in back of head with beer can, falls]
Felicia: Are you Okay?...
[Felicia grabs mic]
Felicia: Oh that was fucking charming, you gutless pack of dickheads.

Movie Connections:

Spoofs Lawrence of Arabia (1962)

Soundtrack:

E Strano! Ah Fors E Lui

Toward the Acceptance of Diversity

This is a film that every straight person should see. The screenwriter created three drags queens from the cloth of everyday life — an older person (who happens to be transgendered), an average guy next door and a pretty muscle boy. You can say that this film is about "the great reach of little lives" (a comment originally applied by Donald Spoto to Tennesee Williams' "The Glass Menagerie.") We also see, in Anthony Bellerose's story, that sexuality is not a cut-and-dried affair. Underneath it all, we see that these people aren't much different from those we meet ion our daily lives. A screening of "Priscilla" would do more good than a hundred lectures to high school kids on the acceptance of diversity.