Film Excess - Free Ukraine - Stop Putin - End the war NOW!!: The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert (1994)

9/11/2023

The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert (1994) - The outback gets a festive make-over

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The three stars in gorgeous costumes have their backs turned to us on the open road under a sweltering sky on this poster for Stephan Elliott's The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert

Two drag queens and one more or less honorable, aging transsexual decide to head way inland in Australia to stage shows, and they buy an old bus they name Priscilla for the occasion, which is regrettably not always trustworthy...

The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert is written and directed by Stephan Elliott (Frauds (1993)).

The three leads: Hugo Weaving (We're All Going to Die (2017, short)), Guy Pearce (Without Remorse (2021)) and (especially fabulous) Terence Stamp (Bitter Harvest (2017)), - as the three eternally bitching 'disco age' cliche gays are all in high-spirited form and give lots of life to their characters. Bill Hunter (Australia (2008)) is also outstanding as the gentleman Bob, who decides to join the trio on their adventures.

Whether the film is as funny and good as its similarly long-titled To Wong Foo, Thanks for Everything! Julie Newmar (1995) and also content-wise very similar American film that was made apparently coincidentally (incredible as it may seem) at the same time, is up to each audience member's individual taste. (Mine lead me in favor of the American saga.) In any case: Whoa, is Pearce in strapping form here!

Priscilla both shows a bright corner of an easier, less judgmental future while also brimming with the unbeatable spirit of the LGBT world. It gives a damn about realism in favor of concept and world-class glitzy costumes, wigs and makeup that is out of this world. It is a very gay-positive cult movie that wins on heart and good moments of which it has many.

Watch a trailer for the film here

Cost: 2 mil. $

Box office: 29.7 mil. $

= Mega-hit (returned 14.85 times its cost)

[The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert was released 30 January (Spain) and runs 103 minutes. Shooting took place from September - October 1993 in Australia. The film opened #14 to a 219k $ first weekend in 7 theaters in North America, where it grossed 11.2 mil. $ (37.7 % of the total gross). It earned 16.4 mil. $ (55.2 %) in Australia. The box office record is likely missing information, and the world gross is likely higher than reported here. The film won the Best Costumes Oscar. It also won 2/7 BAFTA awards, was nominated for 2 Golden Globes, among other honors. Roger Ebert gave it a 2.5/4 star review, translating to a notch under this one. Elliott returned with Welcome to Woop Woop (1997). Weaving returned in Exile (1994); Pearce in Dating the Enemy (1996) and Stamp in Mindbender (1996, TV movie) and theatrically in Tiré à Part (1996). The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert is certified fresh at 94 % with a 7.30/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert?

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Donald Sutherland has passed away

Born in Canada, Sutherland battled polio as a child. His first credit was in Suspense (1963, TV-series) and his first film was The Castle of the Living Dead (1964). Later credits in his remarkable career include The Saint (1965-66), The Dirty Dozen (1967), M*A*S*H (1970), Kelly's Heroes (1970), Klute (1971), Don't Look Now (1973), 1900 (1976), Casanova (1976), The Eagle Has Landed (1976), Ordinary People (1980), A Dry White Season (1989), JFK (1991), Outbreak (1995), Fallen (1998), Virus (1999), Fierce People (2005), Pride & Prejudice (2005), Lord of War (2005), The Hunger Games (2012), The Undoing (2020, miniseries) and many more. He passed away at age 88. R.I.P.

Roger Corman has passed away

Born in Detroit, Michigan, Corman had a sprawling, intellectually hungry life as a youth and young man before arriving with his first film in 1955, Five Guns West. He would follow that with titles such as Apache Woman, It Conquered the World, Attack of the Crab Monsters, Teenage Cave Man, A Bucket of Blood, House of Usher, The Little Shop of Horrors, The Pit and the Pendulum, The Intruder, The Raven, The Terror, The Masque of Red Death, The Tomb of Ligeia, The Wild Angels, The Trip, Bloody Mama and many more. As a producer he was behind almost 500 films. Arguably among the most important filmmakers of the 20th century, Corman passed away at age 98. R.I.P.

William Friedkin has died

Born in Chicago, Friedkin accrued TV credits prior to his advance to the big screen as the director of Good TImes (1967), The Birthday Party (1968), The Night They Raided Minsky's (1968) and The Boys in the Band (1970) before his major breakthrough, The French Connection (1971), for which he won his only Oscar. He followed it up with the even bigger smash, The Exorcist (1973), arguably the best horror film of all time, for which he was Oscar-nominated. Later credits include Sorcerer (1977), Cruising (1980), To Live and Die in L.A. (1985), Rampage (1987), Rules of Engagement (2000), Killer Joe (2011) and The Devil and Father Amorth (2017, documentary). Friedkin passed away at age 87. R.I.P.

Louise Fletcher has passed away

Born in Alabama to deaf parents, Fletcher got her first credits in late-1950s TV-series.She took a 10 year-long sabbatical to devote her time to motherhood after the release of A Gathering of Eagles, but then came back and soon saw her career's most important part, as Nurse Ratched in One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (1975), for which she won her sole Oscar. Later credits include Exorcist II: The Heretic (1977), The Lucky Star (1980), Brainstorm (1983), Two Moon Junction (1988), Cruel Intentions (1999), A Perfect Man (2013) and many more. Fletcher passed away at age 88. R.I.P.

Jean-Luc Godard has passed away

Born in Paris, France, Godard lived much of his life in Switzerland. He wrote for French film criticism magazine Cahiers du Cinema and became foundational for the New French Wave that inspired new waves in scores of other countries across the world with his Breathless (1960). Later credits include A Woman Is A Woman (1961), Vivre Sa Vie (1962), Le Petit Soldat (1962), Contempt (1963), Alphaville (1965), Pierrot le Fou (1965), 2 or 3 Things I Know About Her (1967), Weekend (1967), Every Man for Himself (1980), King Lear (1987), Century of Cinema (1995, documentary), Goodbye to Language (2014) and many more. Godard died of assisted suicide at age 91. R.I.P.

Wolfgang Petersen has died

James Caan has died

Caan was born the son of Jewish immigrants from Germany in New York. He got his start on TV in the early 1960s. His credits include El Dorado (1966), The Rain People (1969), Brian's Song (1971, TV movie), The Godfather (1972), - for which he earned his only Oscar nomination, - Slither (1973), The Gambler (1974), Funny Lady (1975), Rollerball (1975), Silent Movie (1976), Hide in Plain Sight (1980), - the only film he also directed, - Thief (1981), Misery (1990), Honeymoon in Vegas (1992), Bottle Rocket (1996), Eraser (1996), Dogville (2003), Elf (2003), Las Vegas (2003-07), Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs (2009) and many more. Caan passed away at age 82. R.I.P.

Jean-Louis Trintignant has died

Born in Vaucluse, France, Trintignant's theatrical debut as an actor was in If All the Guys in the World... (1955). Later credits include ...And God Created Woman (1956), The Seven Deadly Sins (1961), Inferno (1964), A Man and A Woman (1966), My Love, My Love (1967), A Man to Kill (1967), The Great Silence (1968), Z (1969), The Assassination (1972), Three Colors: Red (1994), Amour (2012), Happy End (2017) and many more. He also wrote and directed two films in the 1970s. Trintignant passed away at age 91. R.I.P.

Ray Liotta has died

Adopted from an orphenage at a young age, Liotta got hooked on acting in high school. He had various TV credits in the late 1970s and early 80s, with his film debut in The Lonely Lady (1983). Later credits include Something Wild (1986), Field of Dreams (1989), Goodfellas (1990), Cop Land (1997), Hannibal (2001), Blow (2001), Narc (2002), John Q (2002), Identity (2003), Observe and Report (2009), Youth in Revolt (2009), The Details (2011), Killing THem Softly (2012), The Place Beyond the Pines (2012), Shades of Blue (2016-18), The Simpsons (2018, TV-series), Marriage Story (2019), The Many Saints of Newark (2021), Black Bird (2022, TV-series) and many more. Liotta passed away at age 67 in his sleep while on production in the Dominican Republic. R.I.P.

Philip Baker Hall has died

Born in Ohio, Hall didn't start acting until he was 30. His long list of credits include Zabriskie Point (1970), Miami Vice (1987, TV-series), Midnight Run (1988), Ghostbusters II (1989), Cheers (1993, TV-series), Hard Eight (1996), The Rock (1996), Air Force One (1997), Boogie Nights (1997), Seinfeld (1991-98), Rush Hour (1998), The Insider (1999), Magnolia (1999), The Talented Mr. Ripley (1999), Bruce Almighty (2003), Dogville (2003), The Zodiac (2005), Zodiac (2007), Curb Your Enthusiasm (2004-09), Mr. Popper's Penguins (2011), Modern Family (2011-12) and many more. Hall passed away at age 90. R.I.P.

Film Excess - Free Ukraine - Stop Putin - End the war NOW!!

Eagerly anticipating this week ... (15-24)

9/11/2023

The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert (1994) - The outback gets a festive make-over

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Eagerly anticipating this week ... (14-24)

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