A big gay Valentine that is certainly no drag.

Rating: 8/10 (5 March 2019)

I can't believe it's the 25th anniversary of this Australian comedy classic, filled with music, joy, fear, love, longing and plenty of sparkles. It's timely still in many ways, yet not much has changed in certain ways either. Three completely different people get together for a long voyage through the Australian Wilderness, going from there safe gay community of Sydney into the outback to visit the ex-wife of one of the three female impersonators (one of whom is transgender), facing all sorts of adventures and dangers, some homophobic and a few surprising pleasant experiences along the way. Terence Stamp headlines the cast as the transgendered Bernadette, having recently lost her much younger boyfriend and desperate for a distraction from her grief. Joining her are Hugo Weaving as the sensible "Mitzi" and Guy Pearce as the flamboyant "Felicia", a drama queen who requires tons of attention and patience.
Throw in the tough looking Bill Hunter as a tired, aging adventurer in a torturous marriage, rescuing them when the titled bus, Priscilla, breaks down and creating a unique bond with Bernadette. their goal is to get to the casino owned by mitzi's ex-girlfriend where they have been asked to perform their show, leading to a huge surprise in regards to Weaving's past. Their goal is to climb in complete drag up to the highest point in Australia, surrounded by lizards and kangaroo's and lots of eccentric characters.
In addition to Hunter's very temperamental gold digging wife, there's a tough outback female whom Stamp strongly chastises for her homophobia, a macho country dude who can't tell that Pearce is a man in drag and reacts violently upon discovering the truth (also taken to task by Bernadette) and a little boy whose understanding of the gay lifestyle is way ahead of its time. In addition to some great costumes and music, there's great location photography of the Australian outback, and touching moments between the three performers that is a combination of sarcasm and tenderness that shows the truth about human relationships when tossed together in a challenging situation.
Creating a Nostalgia for the music (and various other classic artists), this lead to the huge success of "Muriel's Wedding", possibly influenced the creation of the big Broadway hit "Mamma Mia!", and even a fairly successful Broadway version of this film. While all three leads are superb, it is Terence Stampwho steals every minute that he is on screen with his brusque personality that hides a huge heart. Pearce, a victim of some of Bernadette's best snipes, finds out about that heart in a tense situation. That however doesn't stop him from calling Bernadette with her birth name, a transgender no-no today. The mixture of the snark and the love that grows between the three turns this into a gay classic that will delight generations to come.