The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert

Plot synopsis:
Anthony "Tick" Belrose, using the drag pseudonym of Mitzi Del Bra, is a Sydney based drag queen who accepts an offer to perform his drag act at Lasseter's Hotel Casino Resort managed by his estranged wife Marion in Alice Springs, a remote town in central Australia. After persuading his friends and fellow performers, Bernadette Bassinger, a recently bereaved transgender woman, and Adam Whitely, a flamboyant and obnoxious younger drag queen who goes under the drag name Felicia Jollygoodfellow, to join him, the three set out for a four-week run at the casino in a large tour bus, which Adam christens "Priscilla, Queen of the Desert".
While on the long journey through remote lands bordering the Simpson Desert, they meet a variety of characters, including a group of friendly Aboriginal Australians for whom they perform, the less accepting attitudes of rural Australia in such towns as Coober Pedy, and are subjected to homophobic abuse, violence, including having their tour bus vandalised with the words "AIDS Fuckers Go Home".
When the tour bus breaks down in the middle of the desert, Adam spends the whole day repainting it lavender to cover up the vandalism. The trio later meet Bob, a middle-aged mechanic from a small outback town who joins them on their journey. Before they arrive at Alice Springs, Tick reveals that Marion is actually his wife, as they never divorced, and that they are actually going there as a favour to her. Continuing their journey, Adam is almost mutilated by a homophobic gang before he is saved by Bob and Bernadette. Adam is shaken and Bernadette comforts him, allowing them to reach an understanding. Likewise, the others come to terms with the secret of Tick's marriage and resolve their differences. Together, they fulfil a long-held dream of Adam's, which, in the original plan, is to climb Uluru in full drag regalia ("A cock in a frock on a rock"), although the location was changed to King's Canyon in the film (see below).
Upon arrival at the hotel, it is revealed that Tick and Marion also have an eight-year-old son, Benjamin, whom Tick has not seen for many years. Tick is nervous about exposing his son to his drag profession and anxious about revealing his homosexuality, though he is surprised to discover that Benjamin already knows and is fully supportive of his father's sexuality and career. By the time their contract at the resort is over, Tick and Adam head back to Sydney, taking Benjamin back with them, so that Tick can get to know his son. However, Bernadette decides to remain at the resort for a while with Bob, who has decided to work at the hotel after the two of them had become close.

Tags: comedy, sentimental, cult, flashback, humor, queer

Review:
PRISCILLA, on the other hand, constantly revels in its own bitchiness and catty humour, and has countless memorable, and in many cases unprintable, lines of dialogue, including stabs at the supergroup - "I've said it once and I'll say it again - no more f***ing ABBA"; "What are you telling me - this is an ABBA turd?"  Of course ABBA is merely one of MANY verbal targets for the film's three main protagonists, but far from this alienating us from any of them, we cannot help but be swept along by the sheer garish joy of the entire venture.The basic plot focuses on recently bereaved transsexual Bernadette (a magnificent, hardly recognizable Terence Stamp), who teams up with two younger drag artistes, sensitive Tick/Mitzi (Hugo Weaving) and screaming queen Adam/Felicia (Guy Pearce), so that they can travel half-way across Australia on board an all but dilapidated bus named "Priscilla", in order to perform a cabaret act at a remote casino run by an ex-partner of Tick's, soon revealed to be, horror of horrors, a WOMAN!
Along the way they encounter all sorts of absurd situations and individuals almost as strange and unconventional as they themselves are, whilst Bernadette, against her better judgement, falls for gruff mechanic Bob (Bill Hunter, who also features in MURIEL'S WEDDING) that they pick up en route, and in so doing he loses his "mail-order" bride Cynthia (Julia Cortez), who in one especially memorable scene does things with ping-pong balls you just don't want to imagine!The performances are really the thing here - Terence Stamp (who won numerous accolades for his cast-against-type labours) is amazing and totally credible as the quietly dignified transsexual, and it is hard to believe that Weaving and (especially) Pearce have not worked as flamboyant, lip-synching drag queens all their professional lives!
Not only are the actors wonderful but the dialogue keeps you watching the movie over and over again because you missed a great line the last time!
Guy Pearce (of whom I had had a bad first impression when I discovered him in that travesty "The Time Machine"), Hugo Weaving (Agent Smith himself!!!), and Terence Stamp (whom I don't think I ever saw in any films, but whom I still knew a fair bit about)!
the costumes are great and gobsmacking, they perform very well in the musical numbers.I showed this to my mum, after the initial shock she was very amused and agreed with me that it was a very funny movie.I will watch this movie a lot in the future, why??
The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of The Desert gave us such classic lines as, "Just what this country needs, another cock in a frock on a rock!" and "Listen here you mullet, why don't you just light your tampon and blow your box apart, it's the only bang you're ever going to get, sweetheart"It is without exception the best and arguably the most successful drag queen movie of all time, breaking box office records and capturing the top of the charts in numerous countries around the world.
It is that vibrancy, that colour and that hopefulness that is so perfectly depicted in Priscilla.Stephen Elliott, the director and writer, who incidentally has a small cameo in the movie as a cute door boy in Alice, says he saw drag shows in other places, like the US and England, which were essentially men in dresses lip-syncing to other peoples songs.
It was this experience along with watching a drunken drag queen at the Sydney gay Mardi Gras, which gave birth to the movie idea, which took hardly any time at all to write.
However it's not all giggles, there are some key moments of high emotion - seeing the graffiti sprayed on the side of the bus in pink paint the morning after shocks the trio along with the audience and strikes a chord with those of old enough to have lived through a time of such prejudice and discrimination and how true those word seem when they ring in our ears, that no matter how tough we think we are, such things still hurt.There are deeply moving scenes, such as the gay bashing of Felicia and the confrontation between Mitzi and his son in Alice, which really seem seep through the comedy to dance in your heart and make you fall in love with the film.
Guy's superb performance takes the movie to new heights and is so good that the he has had trouble-convincing people he is actually straight in real life, even to this day.
i saw a small clip of it and it made me laugh so i bought the film and every time i watch it i sit there singing along to it and laughing so much that tears fall down my face.its hilarious the things that happen in it are great.
Two drag queens (Guy Pearce as bitchy Felicia, and Hugo Weaving as Mitzi) and a transsexual (Terence Stamp, marvellous as the widowed Bernadette) make a trip to Alice Springs in a pink bus called Priscilla.
This film is sooo special to me, I took my boyfriend Jun to see it & I must say that we hardly kissed at all as this wonderful piece of cinema was far too absorbing to take your eyes off the screen, not even for one of Juns sexy smooches.The costumes were the highlight, I was in awe of their delicious boldness & I continue, even to this day, to be inspired by this movies wardrobe ( or should I say 'closet' - tee hee ).On the man candy side, I couldn't get enough of Guy Pearce & his cheeky pout - what a saucy monkey.
The other actors were equally good, but they lacked the hot cheekbones & bulging muscles of the gifted Guy Pearce.I would recommend this film to any man, gay or otherwise, as it is truly remarkable.
The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert is a fantastic movie with a very well developed plot and an outstanding cast.
Terence Stamp keeps a serious demeanour throughout, Hugo Weaving's characterisation is fantastic, while Guy Pearce's wild and energetic personality is the highlight of the film for me.
Sweet, funny and meaningful, I would recommend The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert to anyone looking for a good comedy.
This is my favourite Aussie movie of all times - a classic hilarious comedy in Australian tradition.There are 3 aspects of the movie which make it such an outstanding entertainer.Firstly, it's the brilliant screenplay by writer-director Stephan Elliott about 3 drag queens - a gay, a bisexual and a trans-sexual - from Sydney going on a bus to Alice Springs, a distance of over 2000 Kms to the centre of Australia, for a public performance.
It's a road movie unlike any I have seen before, outrageously funny in one moment and poignant and touching the next.Second, the performances by the 3 lead actors are outstanding.
And seeing Guy Pearce, Hugo Weaving and Terence Stamp in this kind of roles is already great fun on itself.
The acting is really what holds this movie up, along with the good dialogue and the fantastic costumes (for which the film won an academy award).
Guy Pearce was not only very good looking in this role, but he was also very flamboyant and cheery character, so he was kind of the comedic relief of the film, not that the movie was making fun of his being gay or being flamboyant, he was just a very funny character, which was good because it's always good to have a balance of good touching drama with some comedy.
Not only you get to see Hugo Weaving as a drag queen but also Guy Pearce and Terence Stamp.
Fans of Hugo Weaving, Guy Pearce and Terence Stamp must watch this film to believe it.
It should - the least - provoke a wave for re-evaluating the doctrines of Priscillian, the early Church heretic, or martyr depending on your appreciation of controversial matters, who was the first person in the history of Christianity to be executed for heresy: he mostly lived in the desert like Adam, Bernadette and Tick, but being a strict ascetic, had failed to watch the film and be converted.It is a sly achievement to which one gives up and surrenders intelligently, when you realize that the film is a tender plea for man's precarious status, his always tenderness-seeking or wildly avoiding identity: the women in the film range from the bully in the bar to the inane, almost extra-terrestrially squeaking runner, to the unintelligible vagina performer, and when in the and at last we encounter a human being, Tick's wife, the rich ambiguities are neither explained nor skimmed: we now understand that these women with their full range of caricature and sexual being, are there to put into relief the three characters' embattled manhood (Tick trying to sell the odious face-creams totally drunk in that bar, by his drawl rightfully pronounces the product: woe-man): Bernadette still clutches to some core of enjoyment in what concerns her pre-operation self, as her rage whenever Adam calls her by her earlier name (and this somehow counter-contrasts, to call the effect by that name, with Adam's counter-molestation flash-back), Ralph, erupts, Tick has an amazingly human face charting all delicate and anxious hesitations concerning what is to be a father, drawing a line to procreation, and this, in turn, has an uncanny resonance to and with the fact that Adam seems peculiarly parentless.
Perhaps it is this difficult to grasp effect that from the three performances the one that stayed with me was Pearce's with all its reckless abandon.Terence Stamp has not demonstrated that he is from another solar system that well even in Pasolini's "Theoreme" - it is surely a system of stellar poise and dignity, and we rarely see that around here; and how difficult it is to have Hugo Weaving's strong, unmissable face playing a humane character without something leaking into false notes.
The costumes are outrageous and the Australian outback scenery is fun to view, but there is an edge to this story - a mean edge - about drag queens.
Geez that was so funny-this film is on my top ten of all time...every actor was fabulous...the clothes were wonderful....the story was fantastic and it left me with such a happy feeling...I wanted to yell at my friends who were TERRIFIED to come out-to DO it!Terrence stamp made me cry....and later on in the film I wanted to cry with happiness....you have to love the kid near the end of the film...and of course the Mom-who reminded me of mine before my Ma was lost into the depths of Alzheimers....she encouraged me to be what I am...not what society said I should be....if anyone wants to come out for their kids and are not sure how to----take a break....sit down and watch this film with them.It is fabulous....a fun,kind,sweet movie.Buy it!.
Characters shouldn't laugh at their own gags.Writer/director Elliott also feels the need to pile on the pleasingly incongruous shots of flamboyant drag costumes against stark desert backgrounds like so much cheap make-up.
Its ultimately a film about acceptance, extremely positive, and almost everybody I know who has seen it loved it.My personal favourite moment is when Tick is playing the butch man for the benefit of his son, and realises not only that his son knows that he is a gay man and a drag performer, but that he totally accepts this as normal.
The three main leads, who are all in drag throughout basically the entire movie, are being played by Hugo Weaving, Guy Pearce and Terence Stamp.
'Being a man one day and a woman the next is not an easy thing to do.' The constant out there jokes (cue Abba turd) get me every time - so do the scenes between Mitzi and Benj - and Bernadette and Bob. I think it's amazing that a movie with such a different storyline and odd jokes could have a soft, sweet side.I recently went to see 'Pricilla Queen of the Desert - The Musical' and i was absolutely blown away - the costumes and the music were so great - i which i could see it again - but the movie was just a bit better, in my opinion - and thats only because the actors in the movie seemed so real - and had real feelings and emotions.The choice of music was great - and kept the lively vibe from the movie going to the very last 'Mamma Mia' scene.
Stephen Elliot showed the drag queens, transsexuals and gay population in all their glory - kudos.All in all - this is my favourite movie and a classic film and has changed the way that people think forever..
The subject matter has been dealt with very simply -- no philosophizing, no apologies, no going into traumatic childhood kind of thing (although there was a scene where there was a flashback of Adam and his stepfather in the bathroom -- but that was more hilarious than traumatic).I loved the costumes, the treatment of the Wo-Man makeup products and got a real kick watching Hugo Weaving throwing handbags as an improvised game.
I have seen this movie maybe twenty times, and every time, I see something new, something funny.Guy Pearce of L.A. Confidential makes an astounding change of pace as a very effeminate drag queen, and So does Hugo Weaving from his straight role in Proof.
That's when Peace can begin to reign across the globe.The scenery, the humor, the music, the costumes, and, last but not least, the story are all worth revisiting The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert over and over, making it a Classic for all times..
i think that this has got to be one of the best films that i have seen, it may not have had the highest budget or the best sfx but it makes up for it in storyline,acting and comedy.guy Pearce, Hugo weaving and Terrence stamp are at their best in this film playing some of the best characters ever created.
LOL I thought that this movie has been one of the better things that i've seen come out of Australia in a while, i liked "muriels wedding" but to be honest, i didn't really identifie with a fat girl and a love of  Abba :( Sad, but true.
Beyond the campiness of the ABBA tunes, the outrageous costumes, and the superficial drag queen/transsexual jokes is the story of three different stages of life as we encounter them.We meet Tick/Mitzi, Adam/Felicia, and Bernadette (don't call her Ralph) heading out to the Outback in Australia for a gig.
Wonderful, hilarious, campy fun.Two drag queens, Felicia (played by Guy Pearce) and Mitzi (Hugo Weaving), and a transsexual, Bernadette (Terrence Stamp), leave Sydney for Alice Springs in order to play a series of shows.
All the background devices in the film are precise, which makes The Adventures of Priscilla not only an interesting character study but a royal feast for the eyes.The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert also features some of the most compelling and uproariously funny work from Pearce, Stamp, and Weaving, three veteran character actors who continue to expand their horizons with the variety of roles they take.
Like a drag show, the film steps out with a bold, unflinching amount of confidence and persists to exploit every ounce of entertainment and humane element that it can handle and, in turn, delivers terrific entertainment for most of its runtime.Starring: Terrence Stamp, Hugo Weaving, Guy Pearce, and Bill Hunter.
This first of all is a really fun movie it's not great but close to it, it won the Oscar for costume design in 94 but that shows how well this film is put together.
Since it follows three drag queen performers who perform songs like Shake Your grove Thing,Finally,I Will Survive by three terrific actors Stamp, Weaving and Pierce and that's the main reason why the film is so good since they all work great together and all but the movie dealt with LGBT rights and a a lot of films did not handle them at the time.This movie was bold and came from it was a Broadway show and a lot of cult success well deserved cause of it.
The first thing that i saw of "The adventures of Priscilla, queen of the desert" was the great "I will survive" scene.
"The adventures of Priscilla, queen of the desert" is an incredible composition of different topics like gay proud, homophobia, ABBA music, and the being like you think.Although the plot doesn't express excellence, the movie has a rich expression.
Professional female impersonators, Tick Belrose (Hugo Weaving), Bernadette (Terence Stamp) and Felicia (Guy Pierce) are booked to play at a new resort in the Outback of Australia, to which they travel in a pink bus christened "Pricilla, Queen of the Desert"This is a new twist on the well worn buddy movie genre.
Hugo Weaving, Guy Pearce, and Terence Stamp combine to form one of the best comedy trios I myself have ever seen.
Before I saw it I was a bit wary of a film about 2 drag queens and a transsexual but then I discovered Guy Pearce.
The second I heard Guy Pearce and Hugo Weaving were in it, I was just like, I have got to see this movie.
The Best Australian Drag Queen Movie I've Ever Seen.
Mitzi (Hugo Weaving) and his two buddies (Guy Pearce and Terence Stamp) head for the deep outback to perform at a holiday spa doing their drag routines.
This film is about two drag queens and a transsexual woman's journey into the middle of nowhere in the Australian desert.
This is the story of two drag queen friends (Hugo Weaving and Guy Pierce) and their transsexual friend (Terrence Stamp) who get the idea to travel to some isolate town in Australia and perform at a hotel in a cabaret show.