How Australia Fell In Love with Priscilla, Queen of the Desert
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- čas přidán 2. 04. 2020
- In 1994, a broken-down bus named Priscilla departed Sydney’s gay enclave, carrying three glamorous performers to the rural heart of Australia on the most perilous journey of their lives. And although only three of them set out in the film, they were soon followed in real life by an entire drag army.
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Something that you (understandably) missed was just how important the casting of Guy Pearce as Adam was. At the time this was filmed, he was probably the biggest name in the cast as far as Australians, especially young Aussies, were concerned. In the 80s he had acted in a soap opera called "Neighbours", the same soap that made Kylie Minogue famous - hugely popular in Australia and phenomenally popular in the UK. Guy Pearce was a pin-up for teenage girls across the country; we literally grew up with him, as he started out playing a 16 year old high schooler, and grew up on the show. He was portrayed as *literally* the boy next door, the boy who, if he wasn't your brother, he was your best friend's brother you had a crush on. For my mum's generation, (boomers) he was the surrogate son. Australia loved, and I mean *loved* Guy Pearce. The character he played, and thus the person we knew, was sporty, but not too sporty, smart, but not too smart, had a tough life (the character was a foster kid with a violent father) but made good, who was loyal to his foster parents and his friends. He played, and was seen by many of us as, the ideal Aussie teenage boy.
For all that Australia is physically a huge country, we've got a small population, and even today, 95% of all successful Australian actors have acted on either "Neighbours" or a similar rival soap "Home and Away". In the 80s, a large number of Guy's cast mates, including Kylie Minogue, joined Stock, Aitken and Waterman to become pop stars, with varying degrees of success. Guy didn't, however, and he was seen as the break-out actor who was looking for serious, straight acting roles. He was Australia's blue-eyed boy, and then... he played a drag queen. A campy, annoying gay drag queen. Someone as far away from the roles we'd known Pearce in before as you could imagine.
I can't begin to impress on you how this impacted Australia. In a weird way, it was like we all suddenly had our brother or son come home and tell us he was gay. It would be like the Beaver, or Greg Brady, or David Cassidy, came out. It was *huge*. And I think it had an enormous impact on how Australia looked at gay men, because here was our darling boy camping it up, and then when interviewed and nervously asked "so, but you yourself aren't gay, are you?" his response was "none of your damn business, and what would it matter if I was?" In terms of Australia's changing stance on gay acceptance, Guy Pearce had a huge part in that, in a way I think it's hard to understand if you weren't here.
this is the most beautiful response to the casting of Guy Pearce i have ever seen. I love Neighbours, and yes Kylie was one of my first ever crushes (still is), and to see Mike from Neighbours take on a role with such conviction and emotion. the scene where he's assultated and Bernadette gives him compassion and advice, tore me to shreds when i saw it when i was 15. the line " Come on. Don't let it drag you down. Let it toughen you up. I can only fight because I've learnt to." because everyone who watched this, and had been in that situation, and let's face it, the 90's were hell. we had too.
You are so right when you said "it was like we all suddenly had our brother or son come home and tell us he was gay", and then this film showed in-between the music, and drama and ABBA, the harsh realities of what your life means to some if your Gay or Trans, or how you choose to identify.
so beautiful response, you said what i couldn't and thank you x
Very well said! This was absolutely my experience of the social change phenomenon at the time too and agree the casting of Pearce was integral to the film's positive social impact. Indeed, the year after it was released, I moved to the city from my small, regional, country town and 'came out' to my family and friends. I'd already had the privilege of working with a Les Girls troupe when they performed in our town a couple of years earlier, so was thrilled to see Australians responding positively to a film depicting queer culture outside the traditional city setting.
Thank you for that perspective on the casting that never would have struck me.
@ @@CrypticCharm I think everyone in the Commonwealth has a crush from Neighbours. Mine was Natalie Imbruglia. 😅 Cheers from 🇨🇦
I guess Neighbours must have never made it to the US, I remember watching it when I was very young here in the UK.
I can verify how universal Guy Pearce was back then -- my family was one of those who just never watched Neighbours, but we all knew who he was, and I remember being surprised and pleased when they cast someone who was SUCH a household name.
You forgot that Tick's son mentions that "Mum has a girlfriend." Eluding to the fact that his parents got married probably to convince their families they were straight, or to try and be straight. But at the end of the day they couldn't be what they weren't.
@Tyler Braden That’s a hot take
@@gxtmfa But pretty accurate, the three drag queens represent the spectrum gay-bisexual-trans.
@@gxtmfa There's that scene in the movie where Adam asks Tick if he's into men or women (his language is more crude though) and Tick seems to not know for sure. The scene could be viewed several ways. He could be genuinely unsure of his own sexual preference (this is my take because I consider it super rude to presume to know more about someone than they know about themselves). He could be bisexual and unsure about it because bisexuality was/is often not accepted by both gay and straight people. Or he could be still holding on to internalized homophobia and he thinks having a child with an ex wife means he could be straight. I actually liked that the movie showed an undecided character. Some people understand their sexual preference very young, others are unsure or their preferences change over time. That's ok.
You're right, I never noticed that. Good catch!
they got married with tick as the bride and his wife as the groom
This movie helped me finally come out and transition. Bernadette was so very much NOT a stereotype.
That's so great to hear. A lot of folks have told me that she was an inspiration, and I think a lot of credit also goes to Jan Morris, whose book Conundrum helped form the basis of the Bernadette character.
@@MattBaume ..Thankyou for your clear and concise words on this classic film ..like a lot of CZcams stuff I came across this video quite by accident ..films like Priscilla and Crocodile Dundee introduced Americans to a land most knew very little about...I remember the first time I went to the USA back in 1982 and the inane questions I was asked about Australia..(do you speak English..and..do you have the same moon as us amongst others!)..and also thanks for not glossing over our dark past in reference the gay bashings(or poofter bashings as they were called to use the British/Australian word for faggot)..just as an FYI..police in Sydney yesterday arrested and charged a man in reference to one of those murders(sadly he was an American who had moved to Australia)..hopefully this may lead to more arrests..Cheers and keep up your good work
This movie is the best...and healp me so much
@@terencemccarthy8615 I'm not sure what Americans you were around but most people in the States are not that dumb. Same moon....come on.
@@sandra-jones hi Sandra...it seriously was a legit question..at a NYE party in San Francisco...most of the people I talked to were genuinely fascinated as they had never met someone from Australia and wanted to know more..you have to remember that this was way before the internet and I suspect not a lot of foreign affairs(as it was called when I was at school) was taught in US schools...I’ve been to the states 3 times and I’ve found Americans to be (mostly) friendly and open but there still seems to be a lack of knowledge of other parts of the world..
"oh Felicia, where the f*** are we" is what I hear in my head every time I get lost. :)
Same!
me too haha
I've legit said this in the middle of a six flags, you know your in a trashy park when your told to 'shut up queer' and your just like, ah, yes, I'll be on my way
so do i
I hear Bernie's voice speaking that line in my head at last once a week. Classic!
Just a side note. The black and white clip of the two male tv presenters, introducing Les Girls. The one on the left is Graham Kennedy, an icon of Australian television. Loved by all. He died in 2005. It was only after his death that most Australians were informed he was gay, and survived by his partner. Found it sad this had to be “hidden”, but happy how much has changed in the meantime.
oh, everyone knew Graham Kennedy was gay, in the same way everyone knew Paul Lynde was gay. It was just never explicitly stated.
@@speedmastermarkiiiI've been bingeing on Matt's videos and I just commented on the Paul Lynde episode that our version of Paul was Graham. When he died I was looking after my young nephew & we were watching the news clips of the old shows he did. He saw him doing comedy with Bert Newton and asked me, 'Was that his boyfriend?' 😊
@@speedmastermarkiii No, I would say they did not know because he was not out in the sense that he ever spoke publicly about being gay.
When most people think of Hugo Weaving, they picture Agent Smith or Elrond. Both incredibly memorable, iconic performances. But Hugo in that sparkling green frock will ALWAYS be my first thought.
Same here. :) And that goes for the other two, as well. Guy Pierce will always be Felicia first and foremost in my heart.
@@QueenMegaera Yes! Fell in luv w/Guy even b4 Memento b/c of Priscilla!
You need to see The Interview(1998) if you can. Your world will be turned upside-down.
@@tintinaus I completely agree! Weaving & Martin play off each other so well. Excellent film.
I loveeeeee this movie!
my parents are from Broken Hill
it is heartening that there is now a drag festival called Broken Heel
That pun makes me so happy. Specially after hearing some puns that didn’t.
It's so weird in retrospect to think this movie had problems with casting, when Weaving and Pierce are such respected famous actors now (and Stamp already was).
Anneli Elisabet guy pierce was already a pretty well known actor in Australia. From his days on Neighbors
Pierce was pretty big in Australia in the late 80s, he was in Neighbours and a few other TV series
The Harry Potter manuscript was rejected 12 times. It's common for people not to recognize something that will be a success before it happens.
And the actors did not expect that society would increasingly accept homosexuality and with that the film would gain more and more cultural impact.
Weaving was already a very respected actor then - see my longer comment above.
@@mike-williams - I've looked and can't find your comment, but I was going to point out that he'd won an AFI for Proof and was not quite the obscure figure that this video seems to suggest...
What’s interesting to note is that the aboriginal community’s acceptance of them wasn’t a mistake or a show of “tolerance”. The aboriginal culture actually has a history of what I would say is gender fluidity but got repressed after colonisation.
I worked on the film and the most magical part was working with the local indigenous community for that scene. They really welcomed us and made it a party. I'll never forget the phone call I had with an elder about costume. He said do you want the usual traditional stuff with gum leaves and ochre as I said no. It's your party that we're crashing. Wear what you would wear to a party. He had never been asked to look real before. It was a great exprience.
@@MeatMate that’s so amazing!!! This really brought the feels for me. ❤️❤️❤️
Oh what a complete load of BS! Not true at all! Go literally talk to a tribal elder! This is nothing more than propaganda! They tried saying the same re traditional tribes in Africa! A journalist went out and actually spoke to these tribes with a translator, who have no power, no running water and still live in mud huts. The elders told him that the above notion you mentioned is not true and added that if someone were gay or gender ambiguous there's something wrong with them! I'm not saying there's anything wrong however I'm merely quoting the traditional tribes.
@@jauipop it's propaganda!
Same here in the States. Many native cultures around the world have always known bout trans/non-binary fold, only here in the States Native Americans call it being two spirit
James going “its lavender” how did I miss that
James has so much background gay energy going on it's easy to let it kind of slip into a sort of buzz
“It’s L A V E N D E R” 10:41+ 13:43
OMG
I would fight all three of them! Lavender is purpelish and certanly a "cold colour"! I've never seen a pink lavander flower in the nature! They coloured the bus pink and theres nothing wrong with it!
i...never put these two things together before
"A cock in a frock on a rock" is iconic, thank you for shedding light on this amazing film!
I love that line!!!
@@KattMurr - my favorite line was Bob: Wife? Bernadette: Yes, wife. We've just recently learned that young Anthony here bats for both teams. 😅😄🤣😂
I have always had this weird assumption that this movie was a mad max style affair only with drag queens. I am both let down and relived that it's not.
It kind of sort of is? They filmed in some of the same locations!
"yeah, [the gypsy woman] said it would be like some freaky parallel universe where John Waters directed the road warrior." -Cheryl/Carol from Archer.
To be honest as a kid I thought the bus was in Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome and just assumed there was some director/exclusive Aussie cut that had more footage with the drag queens and was named after the bus.
My kid mind saw nothing in conflict and I kinda still don't. Anyone wanna attempt a chimera supercut and trick a generation?
I now desperately need an all drag version of Mad Max.
Have you since watched this film?
POV by an ancient straight American woman: I adore this film because it's about love, family and always being true to your fabulous self.
I'm not ancient, but am straight and yes, those are the things I loved the most about this film. The rest is just fabulous window dressing.
@@benjalucian1515 That shower shoe dress - fabulous and a total hoot.
You know this movie has a special place in my heart. I'm a bisexual man that grew up in rural Australia. I was 14 or 15 when this movie came out, I was still deeply closeted and being raised by my maternal grandparents. My mother lived a few hours away with my brother and sisters, we didn't really see each other much, and my father who I did see was... not a good man.
One day my mum came over for a visit and said "Let's go see a movie and get dinner, just you and me." She took me to this movie, we went and had Chinese food and it was a wonderful night. There were no deep conversations, no revelations, nothing like that.
Years and years later after I came out it dawned on me that this was my mother's way of telling me "I know, and it's okay, I still love you."
I asked her about it a few years ago, and yeah that was her plan, she knew if she tried to confront me about me about the whole thing I'd have denied denied denied (it was *not* safe to be a young queer person in 90s rural Australia. I was attacked once when I was 17 and I know others that weren't as lucky as I was.) and this was her way of easing me into it.
Funny thing is the movie itself isn't something I really think about, but it had a huge impact on my life.
I was 14 and in far west NSW. My parents gave me the VHS for Christmas that year. It took me another 14 years to realize my mum was sending the same message
Very good retrospective, but you forgot one crucial piece of information. This small Australian movie won Best Costume Design at the 1995 Oscars, which was a pretty big deal back then and still remains the only contemporary-set film to do so since then.
Was at the Sydney Olympic Closing Ceremony and saw the Priscilla float with its 50 Sydney Drag Queens! Was an amazing thing to include in a global TV broadcast!
It's almost impossible to find any video or audio of them! I think the cameras all fled as soon as they showed up.
@@MattBaumeIndeed, when the Australian coverage flipped to the Priscilla float the commentators went silent- they had no idea what to say! I noted below that the drag on the bus in the Olympics (Cyndi Pastel in silver) was the real life person the character Tick was based on!
As a Russian gay man now (and a Russian gay kid in 2000) it was a revelation to see that on live TV during Olympic broadcast. It was huge. And russian presenters were describing it and explaining what drag is. And they were more than ok with it back then. And years after that Priscilla was repeatedly shown on TV. I remember incidentally watching it a couple of times. And then in 2011 to 2013 everything went astray, went wrong and no more gay bars, no more safety, no more Priscilla on TV. It all feels just awful and scary. As if some of us had all the power in the world to reverse the progress and back all the bloody wars you can imagine... Thank god I at least had that Priscilla moments in the past. Thank you Australia.
@@freshname Hope you are staying safe right now… I can only imagine how bad things have gotten there NOW, after the war started. We can all tell: you have no love for Putin
In the usa tv broadcast they cut the Priscilla's float.8 remember watching the closings ceremony and I didn't see that.american haters
I always felt Cynthia was living/perfirming her idea of of Australian Wifehood. Australians saw her instantly as a "mail-order-bride" type character thus lent her a lot of sympathy straight up.
I think that's a context that's missing for US viewers -- it's just not so much of a thing for us here.
It was such a thing back then. I remember one of my school friends' mum died, and his elderly father turned around and got a mail-order bride.
@@MattBaume I also would like to add, as a gubba, that a lot of other, equally white Australians see any white man who marries an Asian, particularly one considered a "mail-order bride," as doing so because they are supposedly more docile, more tractable and both less assertive and less ambitious than "Australian" [ie. white] women.
So there is some interrogation there, of white Australia's racism against such brides.
I lived next to a guy with a Mail order Pilipino bride. She was lovely and so nice and kind, and her cooking was amazing! But he was not the nicest of men, and apparently it all fell apart when they moved to the Philippines. I'm happy that it it did, he didn't deserve her.
@@MattBaume
I don't understand why you assume that about us in the U.S. Few in my group saw Cynthia as anything but hilarious, a woman who got a raw deal but made do, until the _girls'_ arrival shook up not only the town but served as the impetus to have her finally leave that life and enter a new one.
Aw man, as an Australian, I'm so happy to see you cover this film. I honestly believe we have a fantastic but underrated film industry in this country, not to mention some of the best actors in the world.
As for Priscilla, I was 13 or 14 when it came out, and it genuinely played a large role in making me less homophobic. At that point it wouldn't be accurate to say I hated gay men (the concept of gay people who weren't men was beyond me), but I did unquestioningly accept that it was natural to hate gay men. The concept of 'gay bashing' was in the news a fair bit around that time, and I remember thinking that it was morally wrong to bash people up, while at the same time totally accepting that of course any 'normal' man would want to bash up any gay guy they came across.
This film, along with the fact I made friends with a gay guy in high school, went a long way towards turning that attitude around.
I would agree. My partner and I watch a ton of Australian films and few countries do comedy like you guys do.
"it wouldn't be accurate to say I hated gay men, but I did unquestioningly accept that it was natural to hate gay men"
I feel this was the Australian culture for a long time. This is how my dad tried to explain he was not homophobic to me when I was young (early teens). He felt he didn't mind gay people, but did mind them being gay around him. It's a difficult thing to change that mindset.
@@terbbert wow even in the united states today i see this sentiment all the time, though less and less as time progresses and people become more educated. similar to “i don’t mind if you’re gay, i just don’t want to see it” as if the concept of being gay is okay but actual gay people are not. always found it a very bizarre mindset but it’s just a variant of this same idea you guys are presenting
I think that's a great way of putting it.
Like you, I thought that being gay was an unnatural choice and that hating anyone who wasn't heteronormative was right and fair.
It was a couple of friends from college (both heteronormative) that started to open my eyes about a *tonne* of my bigoted beliefs and by the time I'd started uni, I had a much better view of the world and those who make it up.
This allowed me to make some incredible friends there, friends that I love and value to this day.
As you say, everything around me, the media, friends and family, it all reinforced the views that I had growing up. I'm grateful that I moved past them. I'd have missed out on being friends with one of the best people I know, someone who not only saved my life on more than one occasion, but also has made that life so much richer.
@@terbbert It's not just Australia. I had a similar upbringing to this.
I think maybe there were voices in the media that stood against this, but largely, the idea of hating anyone who wasn't cis was reinforced.
The directors commentary on this film is quite funny. When Guy Pierce was painting a bus pink in the middle of a desert he asked the director “why would I be doing this shirtless? It’s really hot and I’d get burnt. It doesn’t make sense.” The director’s response “nah mate, it’s part of your character. Go with it.”
Being 32 in 1994, and an Aussie, I think one of the strengths of this movie at the time, was that in a post Aids world, it was one of, if not the first movie, to say to the world that being Gay was fun. It wasn't all death, gloom and Aids vigils.
Also i think that by that time being Gay in Australia was pretty well accepted in the main. I think we had garnered a fair bit of regard as to how we had gone about our Aids education here. We had been very upfront. I remember we had squads of volunteers who would go around the beats putting up Safe Sex guidelines in the toilets.
Post AIDS was not really a thing then nor it is now. The first approve retroviral treatment was not available until 1996. people were still dying of AIDS in 1994 and they are now but not in huge numbers as it was when it first hit our community by then they knew more about it, what it did and how it was transmitted so there weren't as many cases. I'm glad I had a couple of role models that taught me how to have protected sex EVERY time with plenty of water-based lube. Young people today are not as committed to making sure that you are protecting your self every time. I blame the porn industry for making barebacking a sexual fetish.
@@geekbaritone Yes, I have made a mistake in my comment regarding "post AIDS." In my mind I was thinking more in regards to the first years and the considerable number of friends and acquaintances that passed away. I was a volunteer from the initiation of the VAC, so was aware of the case loads, annual death tolls and the effectiveness of the safe sex campaigns.
What part of Australia however?
oh I beg to fucking differ, I've lived in rural Queensland for a long time, and I can't tell you the number of times I've been beaten up for being gay last time was a bit over ten years ago I'll admit but that's more due to getting older an wiser and knowing when to back out of a situation and who not to talk too... it may be classist or whatever, but if I here Australian strine I'm out its not everyone I'll admit but fool me 1-100 time shame on you but fool me 101 times same on me😅, kidding but I was a slow learner, partly because I kept hearing that everything is fine now its changed, well its changed but its not fine; maybe in Brisbane, Sydney and Melbourne, but is sure as hell isn't in a lot of country towns.
@@TsunamiJuri Voldara, you'd be surprised even in London. Thank you for your comment here.
"Tiny little town of 17,000"... As an Australian, I almost choked. This review/summary was really amazing, but honey, you really don't know what a 'tiny little town' is do you. All the love of course, it just caught me off guard.
Just wanted to let you know that I'm an American and I also think "tiny little town" doesn't go with a population of 17,000.
If that's a "tiny, little town," I can't imagine what he'd call my hometown of 600. 😂
@@emileebaker8520, I think it's a city-dweller thing more than anything. I've always lived in cities so a town of 17,000 IS tiny to me. The smallest community I've ever lived in had a population of 500,000 and the city of my birth and the place I spent almost my entire life in has a population of about 1.5 million people in it (though it numbered only about 800,000 at the time I was born). I graduated from a small single gender Catholic high school and the number of students at that school was at least 500; at the high school I would've attended had I gone to public school there were at least 3,000 students total.
@@ladyi7609 honestly I'm kind of glad you didn't get to experience that kind of isolation. I've lived in villages with 100-150 people, with a school serving all the villages in however-many miles radius yet only itself having 150 or so students total... I moved to cities as far as I could.
Though I had a while where I lived in the middle of the woods, and that was honestly far better than the village. I was just as cut-off from shops and people I cared about, but there was no one else to worry about annoying or judging me.
But yeah, I like a medium size city. Even a smallish city like Oxford is a wee bit too small for me. But city pop of 500-750k with a metro area of 1.5-2M pop is ideal for me. Not too crowded or expensive, but still dense enough to get culture and shows and good transport.
One of my favorite stories about this film is about Stamp. He had been about to quit movies at the time because all he got offered anymore were villain roles. His agent suggested he try this movie. Stamp actually thought this would be his last film.
Then the filming started. It was almost literally a shoestring budget. That flip flop dress in Broken Hill was made the day before for about $10 and started to fall apart almost immediately. And Stamp had never been in such a low budget movie before and was miserable until halfway through filming, when Bernadette meets Bob. That was the point he said fuck it and just went with the flow. It's still my favorite role of his.
This makes me think of something I remember from an interview with Terrence Stamp. He'd had a still shot of him in drag made into cards & sent them to friends as Xmas cards, with the line "Christmas is such a drag" printed in side. It aparently took a while before his friends & family realised it was a picture of him in drag on the front of the card. That he chose to do that I think shows how much he enjoyed the filming. Also, the director was careful to not let Stamp see the dailies. Terence Stamp had been considered one of the most beautiful men in the world when he was young, so imagined he would be a very attractive older starlet when in drag, or at least, prettier than he appeared.
@@damienkakoschke3099He still is beautiful. And he was beautiful as Bernadette. I love her character dearly
I'm gay and Filipino-American and I thought Cynthia was funny. For me it's not something to be ashamed of, just as I'm not ashamed of fellow gay men who dress up as women either as performance art or just being themselves. Everyone has the right to be themselves. My issue is with people who think characters they see on screen represent everyone else in that nationality or sex. It's narrow mindedness and prejudice I'm completely against.
I kind of have an issue with complaints about "problematic tropes". Those stereotypes are based on real people. That is part of what makes them recognizable and funny. So in a way complaining about stereotypes seems to me like a way of saying that everyone should conform and be like everyone else. As if there is inherently a problem with them they way they are.
As both a gay man and a Filipino myself, I agree. My aunt is married to an Australian, and I'm pretty sure at some point they lived in Alice Springs (Uncle Allan was a contractor, travelled a lot). I'm pretty sure my aunt would find the Cynthia character really funny too!
As a white gay man, I never found the role to be offensive, but I understood why it could be an issue for some. We as gay men know this all too well from experience. I think the issue comes down to white straight people narrowing down a whole culture to a stereotype and then using it as a reason to hate and discriminate. There is absolutely nothing wrong with stereotypes. Those people exist and have every right to be represented. It's how others use it as a negatively.
I heartily agree as an aussie Filipino.
Thank you!!
Matt is actually being racist himself by being a White Male assuming that Filipinos would be offended by the Cynthia character. We aren't! Lol
It's typical of privileged white males to act paternalistic to other ethnicities and claim offense on behalf of another race and thinking that you know better than Filipinos and we must be too ignorant to not be "offended" by the Cynthia character lol
I will never forget when the bus suddenly appeared at the final of the Olympics in Sydney.
We had just said that the only thing missing now is the Priscilla bus. 😊
I can't begin to say how much this movie destroyed me as a young kid, too scared to come out trans, and how much this showed me that I was right (I still find it weird I never worried about coming out bi; just something everyone knew about me, thank you art school.). Terrance Stamp, love you forever. Now that I'm out and happy, I wonder what my reaction to it would be. I hope I would love it, instead of the absolute terror I felt.
I'm glad you did come out. Watching this again now, it fills me with so much emotion. I watched it for the first time as a kid (I'm lucky that my parents were very open-minded) and I always hated the scene where Adam gets beaten up but the strength or Bernie coming to his rescue always made me laugh. She was such a great character and I honestly don't think anyone could have portrayed her better than Terence Stamp.
I'm glad you happy now
Stamp's role for me and others was extremely important. No one I knew batted an eye at Stamp character being a trans woman and or a non passing trans woman. Everyone I knew accepted her for who she was. That character needed to be represented to the world. But I understand how everyone is going to have a different reaction to the role.
Are the characters in this movie trans or are they drag queens
That's a weird take on a movie that apart for a few scenes overwhelmingly showed the opposite of intolerance and fear. Hmmm.
One of my friends was targeted twice by such gangs, once out in the open and once in a back alley. Luckily he wasn’t alone. They used a “gay panic defence” to get off.
Ugh that's awful. Hopefully those days are mostly behind us.
Matt Baume I am astonished at how much things have changed here since those days, or how bad it was back then. I didn’t know how bad it actually was.
My trans-friend was shot after leaving a club she just performed at. She's one of the nicest people you can meet and it hurts me that the world is such a cold place sometimes. My friend recovered fast and without problems, she still is her beautifull self.
They won’t accept “male panic” from a female assault victim who fought back though…
What i love about Broken Hill/Heel is that it kind of reaffirms that the world can ABSOLUTELY change for the better. That its not just small victories and mini comforts.
I managed the Bridge Theater in SF when this movie opened there. To give you an idea of the impact this movie had in San Francisco, we sold out 5 shows a day, 7 days a week for the first four months. It was a 425 seat theater and it ended up playing for 9 months there
Grevillea = grah-vil-lee-ah
Also, added context, when we visited Broken Hill in 2007 for a geology field trip, our lecturer warned us that there had never been a successfully prosecuted rape case in BH. Even making this movie in 1994 was groundbreaking
Cynthia's ping-pong scene is one of the funniest in any movie. Totally unexpected.
especially the wink
This was the film that first made me think to seriously consider my sexuality when I was a teen. I was afraid and my country is not the most safe either. My mother accepted me, but she is terrified of violence until today. This movie made see I could be somewhat happy in any place I could get friends and support.
That's really sweet.. As a Brazilian I can relate A LOT with this sentiment.
Media and representation is so important.
Im just happy to hear someone else talk about Hugo Weaving. I fucking love Hugo Weaving. Oh and he wasnt really a tv actor, he was more of an independant film actor.
Especially recommend his acting in the film Proof.
@@hebbycakes Proof (1991) - 2 years before Priscilla.
I actually started crying watching the epilogue. To see the larger culture embrace and elevate a once abused minority into a sense of national and regional pride caused a wave of emotion I wasn't expecting.
Same
Maybe I'm just watching too late at night, but this made me cry a little.
Same! Particulary towards the end.
I cried when he was talking about the Broken Heels festival in Broken Hill.
Cynthia Verjovsky Marcotte me too!
lol i was crying when the aboriginal guy joins in with their show, and then it got worse
it is currently 8:31 pm and i cried a little
Terence Stamp, who was a legendary tough guy, was wonderful in this film. He has real depth.
Priscilla came out during a very interesting time in Australian cultural history, in the same year Priscilla, Muriel's Wedding and to a lesser extent The Sum of Us were all international hits. All of them had such a strong Aussie flavour, with the irreverent humour and love of camp especially evident in Muriel's Wedding and Priscilla. Starting in the 80s there was a real movement to celebrate Australian stories, and our larrikin attitudes. (Think "Starstruck" by Gillian Armstrong.) It was also the time when the gay neighbourhood of Darlinghurst was at its peak, even with the fears of bashers (which were very real). I remember many of my friends wore a whistle around their necks so that at the first sign of trouble we could attract attention and hopefully stave off attacks. For all of that, it was also a time of a very strong and vibrant gay culture, and well before the film came out every bar and nightclub had drag shows, often with great production values. Priscilla felt like a gentle piss-take and very much a love letter to what was happening.
Don't you mean... Maaariel? 😁
God I love Muriel’s Wedding. And both that and Pricilla feature songs by ABBA. Maybe that’s why we like those movies because Aussies fucking LOVE ABBA.
And also "Strictly Ballroom"
I feel like non-Australians miss so much of the humour and so many of the references in Priscilla.
I'm an Australian what did you not understand?
@@mikewilliams6237 I'm Australian too; in effect I was saying Americans seem to not get our humour too well.
Well, as an American, I can say I never made the costume connection to the flower, the emu, the fringed lizard or the Sydney opera house, all of those just went right over my head. I just thought "oh they have weird costumes".
I always thing drag humor & Aussie humor is very similar though. The sarcasm and "reads" feel very Australian to me.
If you mean American say American.
“I feel like people who haven’t been taught stuff don’t know stuff.” Bloody ‘ell mate. The rest of us just watch you lot trying to set up a drop bears versus snipe fight like we don’t know what you’re doing.
god seeing that update about broken hill made me cry. i've always loved the film (it and To Wong Foo, which i hope you'll make a video about as well maybe?), and so seeing an update like that made my heart swell with so much happiness that i had to cry!
Yes I've been thinking about a To Wong Foo video for a long time -- lots to say about the cast of that one!
I had the same reaction about Broken Hill! It warms my heart so much to know that we've come so far.
I burst into overwhelmed tears at that update, too.
Matt Baume I love Too Wong Foo so much. Patrick Swayze is amazing in this movie.
Based on this video, it seems like Too Wong Foo is actually a sort of spiritual successor to this film.
Brilliant episode Matt! If I could offer a suggestion, there’s a great episode of *M*A*S*H* (S2E22) called “George” from 1974 that deals with a gay man being admitted to the unit and the efforts to thwart his outing to higher command by our protagonist surgeons. It’s a very heartfelt episode and very progressive for its time. I thought of you immediately as I was watching it and thought it was right up your alley.
Yes I touch on that episode of MASH in this video: czcams.com/video/LpuJb9MnZDE/video.html
This film was SO powerful when it came out, and I think it still holds up.
Just 2 years freshly out of the closet enjoying my youth in 1994 went to see this movie with my boyfriend at the dream theatre in Monterey,CA. Loved it living in a small town in my own bubble.
Oh what a perfect date movie. Well done!
I will never forget the hearing "get his legs apart!" when those horrible men attacked Felicia. It was so terrifying.
I knew the Costume Designer for Priscilla growing up, she was an amazing woman. This movie always has a special place in my heart💜
I'm Filipina and she is the reason I even want to watch this movie. Ma Beks informed me that everyone knows a Cynthia. Some of us are Cynthia. I once went to a rural island--isolated as anything and the "guest home" for all visitors was the house built by a Cynthia with money she made as a mail-order-bride. She is over the moon and her husband loves her. I am so curious about how this character will read.
This is one of my most beloved movies of all times. Bernadette is a character I look up to and want to always have present with me. When a character is able to come up to life in your brain, that is one of the biggest gems in Art.
Flamboyant Guy Pearce is the thing I never knew I needed in my life 😍
He's surprisingly good at it!
I'm so glad I got a notification that someone liked this comment because I'd since forgotten about fabulous Guy Pearce, and again, I NEEDED THIS 😭❤️
Then, he turns around and does the steely cop in L A Confidential. The man can act buildings off the ground. Plus, he's very sweet eye candy.
Not Australian, but Priscilla is an all-time fav. Thank you for the back history. Love this cover and appreciate this movie so much more for it.
First heard of this film through the Drew Carey Show as a little kid. In hindsight, I'm amazed that a primetime show was willing to dress up a dozen of their characters in (pretty decent) drag and duke it out between Priscilla and Rocky Horror fans, complete with a competitive dance number.😄
I recently rewatched this flick in a while. No matter how many times I watch, it amaze how well it shot despite of working on shoes string budget considering what kind of gadgets we had back then to make film. Every exterior shots are gorgeous to look at.
Hey, just wanted to point out, it's not only Grevillia (pronounced gra-vill-ia) in the end scene. The yellow outfit represents Wattle (a beautiful yellow tree that blooms in spring, has nice, cheery yellow blooms, but causes much pollen for sufferers of allergies like myself). The pin-kish one resembles a Bottlebrush. All very beautiful native flowers.
My youngest daughter (now grown up) was devastated when the Grandin Theater wouldn’t let her into the special showing that was free if you were in drag. She was 4. She was in full drag.
She begged and begged to get her hair cut like Guy Pierce. So we cut it. We bought the movie and wore it out. The best love story we ever saw.
Hugo was famous in Australia for indie films
Yeh I was surprised to hear that too, Weaving definitely wasn't an unknown over here! I loved Jocelyn Moorehouse's Proof (1991). If i recall correctly Priscilla was one of Guy Pearce's first film roles? So I guess it put him on the map more so than Weaving seeing as Pre-Priscilla he was primarily a local soapie actor. A few years later Pearce was in Hollywood too so I guess it helped them both.
Beth SN yes I loved proof as well and do you remember the series body line he was in that as well as the English cricket team captain
Yea I was thinking Hugo was really well known in Australia at the time. I was more surprised when he started springing up in big American films.
The Cooper Pedy scene was scarier than you realise when in the time frame this was set backpackers where literally being murdered up their, their bodies dumped down old mine shafts or going missing never to be found. This was a freaking scary part of the country.
Man, seeing this unlocked a core memory for me. My parents had the Priscilla Queen of the Desert soundtrack on CD when I was a kid and man, I loved it. Never even knew there was a movie it came from since the case just had the name of the movie on it. Now I have a movie to watch.
One of the BEST films ever. And from what I would say is the golden age of Australian cinema (Muriel’s Wedding, The Castle, Strictly Ballroom, Cosi... even Head On was maybe just after). Great summary of a film I’ve probably watched over 50 times.
I've never seen this movie, but To Wong Foo was a staple growing up. I am a little surprised at how similar they are. To Wong Foo was clearly heavily inspired by Priscilla. I'd love to see you cover that movie (even though you covered most of the main points in this video lol).
I wouldn’t even say inspired, it’s straight up an American remake of this movie, they even say it in the opening credits. T
This has always been an emotional movie for me and for that reason I had put off watching this review. I love Matt's reviews but this one I suspected would make me cry. Well, I finally watched it, 9 months after he put it up. Sure enough, it did make me cry but I think this is one of his best reviews. He hit on all of the reasons I've loved this movie. A lot of the attitudes found in Australia, as the movie portrayed it, could be found in the US as well. The movie hit a lot of issues from general gay-bashing to AIDS stigmatization, to alienation. But here we also see so much acceptance. Acceptance that many of us only dreamed of. Great review of an amazing movie.
I'm not drag myself, but I am fascinated by the aesthetic and culture, so this is probably something I'll have to check out.
Do it! It's lovely. I might see it through rose-tinted gladdes because I first saw it at 13yrs old, but really. See it. 😍
The first Drag Queens I met was when I was in college at a Denny's after a night of drinking, about 3 a.m. and this group comes swirling in as I was exiting, I stopped and looked up, way up-I am 5'4" and they were all 6' or more.
I swayed drunkenly, then dropped a curtsy and said, "Your majesties!" I walked out with free tickets to their next show.
I actually live down the road from the Imperial hotel. Its in a suburb of Newtown in Sydneys inner west bout a 10min drive from the inner city..and they still do drag shows to this day
tbh I'm just waiting for the sequel about Cynthia's road trip
As a queer Filipino-Australian I have a lot of weird feelings about Cynthia. My mother is Filipina and there is definitely a stereotype of Filipina women being strong-willed, shrill and combative. And my mother was definitely all those things but she was also in a marriage with my father that was incredibly uneven in its power dynamics and I know that she just wanted to be heard and not talked over. Seeing how Bob talks over her definitely gave me flashbacks to my parents and my father's dismissiveness of my mother. It did make me flinch a bit when she spoke in broken English, definitely felt less like a critique of Asian stereotypes and just a reinforcing of it but it was cathartic to see her leave Bob and find her own happiness. There is already a stereotype that Asian women who can't speak English very well are unintelligent, I've also just had white Australians scream racist slurs at me and ask me if I can even speak English so that's always fun.
What a delightful Culture Cruise, one of my favorites (and there are so many, many good ones). May I point out the film won the Academy Award for Best Costume Design at the 67th Academy Awards, so it did alright even in its day. I must have seen it 20 times when it first came out.
Oh yes, with the designer wearing a dress made of credit cards! That dress was supposed to appear in the Broken Hill scenes but they couldn't get permission from any companies.
Thanks Matt. In a way, it wasn't just three queens that went on a journey across the desert; it was the entire nation, maybe the world.
Homophobia was real back then here and Priscilla helped the process of breaking it up - sadly in Australia we still need work but it IS getting better -- I truly love Priscella :)
Unfortunately intolerance will always exist best to limit exposure
Wow - this popped up on my CZcams Recommended list a few minutes ago. Can't watch it now but I'll set it aside for tonight. What fun! Thank you for doing this, Matt.
Aw yay, glad it caught your eye! Hope you enjoy it. :D
Oh how delightful. Now I wish I could watch the movie again. So many things didn't make sense the first time I saw it. Did I already say thank you? Well, then, I'll say it again.
And it got the Academy Award for BEST costume design that year at the Oscars! Which it so richly deserved. I still want a stiletto heel crossing sign. Oh AND it was one of the first contemporary films to have great credit gags, Filmed in Drag-o-Rama!, along with a post scene - a Buddhist monk catching the sex-doll kite. Will always love this movie.
I saw this movie when it came out. I was in high school. I owned the VHS copy until it wore out! The costume designer won an Academy Award for her work, and I remember she showed up to the award ceremony in a dress made out of gold American Express cards, one of the presenters made a joke that they needed to hurry the show along because her gown was about to expire. Lizzy Gardiner was hugely influential in my decision to go into costume design. One of my favorite movies of all time. I never felt like I couldn't have just as easily been a character on that bus, in those costumes, going through the same shit they did. I guess there's an entire section of the human population who struggles with defining "home" on their terms, rebuilding it through their lens and letting go of other peoples' distorted and wrong ideas, and it transcends gay or straight, cis or trans. To me that's the real power in the story. The fact that they're drag performers just gives it a fabulous backdrop.
Agreed. One of my friends in Los Angeles had a couple of the pieces from the film. The Strawhat made of straws, and one of the plastic dresses. They looked very cheap in person, but fantastic on the big screen.
what taught me the most about this film, apart from being fantastic was the character of Bob.
At this point in the story, we've had so much hostality (and great moments), his character being so warm and accepting of all of them was just so heartwarming. he had been to Sydney and saw the Lei girls, and wanted them to put on a show to show everyone else what they were about. the outcome wasn't great, but the sincerity was there. Bob then told them to stay put because he know they could get hurt, and they meaning the loose canon Adam, he bonded with Bernadette on a deep level, and accepted her, for who she was. He treated her like a lady, and courted her like it was an old fashioned romance, which is what she needed.
Bob was awesome.
As a transwoman, my favorite part of the movie.
Bob and her romance was one of the best plots especially after the death of her chaser boyfriend who treated her more like an accessory
My friend did a gap year in Australia in 1994, when she returned to our small town in Canada she told us, “I have to take you to this movie!!” when Priscilla came to our local theatre’s foreign film night that following Winter. I was 20 and I still love this film 27 years later. Thanks for this great breakdown, Matt!❤️
I absolutely love this film - have watched it countless times over the years and it never gets old. can't believe it's already 30 years old!
This is more heartwarming than I expected.
I was 15 when this came out and I have been obsessed with it ever since. Bernadette was always my favourite character as she has my kind of humour. Watching the behind the scenes stuff is interesting too, the amount of work that went into the Kings Canyon scene is astounding.
Priscilla is the only movie that I have paid to see again and again in a movie theater. I was in high school when it hit the US and I made the cross-town trek to see it six times! Definitely shaped me as a person.
I watch this movie once a year since its release. One of my best comedies ever, performed by 3 amazing actors. The costumes and the music are fabulous. It's full of love and tenderness. Special mention for Cynthia's scene and her ping-pong balls 🤣
This movie is so iconic. I saw it when it came out back in the 90ies, and since then about a hundred times!
Easily my fav episode so far. Was really eye opening on the topic of problematic characters too
I was so surprised by what I heard from the people I spoke to!
Priscilla,Muriels Wedding and The Sum of Us are all fabulous films not just highlighting gay and camp humour but also Aussie humour,it's stereotypes and it's way of life.
Australia is a continent of great parallels. One of the best years of my life was living in Sweetie Darlinghurst in a huge terraced house with 2 gay men who were a lovely couple in the late 90s. So happy to see this come up on my recommended viewings. It brought back some fond memories.
So many great Aussie films then!
@@etherealtb6021 absolute classics! Oz in the 90s was a great country
Just found this video. This movie is one of my favorite movies of all time. The shoe scene, iconic. I saw this when I was like thirteen for the first time, and I remember thinking, I hope to find someone that will make my heart sore and have the deep chemistry that Bob and Bernadette had. And the scene with the rock. Well, there's no place like home, is there?
This film was massively life- / POV-changing to me. I had only just moved west from a fairly insular smaller east-coast US town to the SF Bay Area and it (as well as visits to the Castro) was eye-opening in so many ways. (I always loved the bit with the indigenous folks accompanying "I Will Survive" with didgeridoo, and was SO disappointed when that version wasn't on the soundtrack.)
Edit to add that the bit about the Broken Heel drag celebration just about broke me (no pun intended) in the best way. Tears of happiness and hope for humanity, after all. Thanks, Matt, for another excellent video.
This is my favourite movie of all time. I am in the UK but I came out and fled to Australia and the first bar I went to was the Imperial. It had such an impact
This film is brilliant, one of my favourites ever. Hugo Weaving was brilliant and such a scene stealer.
11:07 This is actually the moment that brought me to tears: two marginalised groups of people, driven to the edges of society, bonding over shared experience and music.
FYI - Australia actually made one of the world's early queer film. It's called The Set and just came out after been unavailable since it's 1970 theatrical release. It has positive representation of a whole range of sexualities. It's wild.
really, i've never heard of it until now. maybe Matt could do an episode on it
OK but how has Australian representation on soaps like gotten worse since the 60's
"sorry guys, only one or two minorities per tv show plss" -austrailian media
Probably because Australian TV is stricter in content than the movies. Or too many conservative people there not seeing the point of representation...especially if it doesn't add anything to the character and only there as a mouthpiece or a cheap token. It's pretty much the same problem in America.
Soaps in general target an older and more conservative audience than they did decades back.
Have you watched 'Neighbours'?
(I only stopped because the character 'Elly' was so. bloody. irritating! Inconsiderate, selfish, entitled, perpetual victim, whose problems (usually caused by not keeping her knickers on so she could feel some form of validation) were totally someone else's fault, poor her
@@KristiContemplates Honestly I'm not convinced anyone watches neighbours
I love that broken hill does that drag festival.... dam now im tearing upppp 😭😭😭
Such an iconic film that helped spread love and acceptance around the world.
This is my absolute favorite drag movie.
It's pretty much the best.
Good video as always. Hugo Weaving was a much bigger name in Australia than you imply. Bodyline, The Dirtwater Dynasty, Bangkok Hilton, and movie Proof, were very high profile. Weaving had big roles in them too.
But Number 96 itself really needs a full video.
One of the presenters in the black and white footage (the one who doesn't speak) was Graham Kennedy. Look HIM up.
Thankyou for covering this. It's been a long time since I've seen this movie, and there was a lot that was lost on me years ago. Terrence Stamp was great in the roll of Bernadette that I don't think Tony Curtis could have achieved. It never occurred to me that Cynthia was a racial stereotype, I simply saw her as a woman who had married to improve her lot in life, and was unhappy with how it turned out.
The whole city stops for Mardi Gras...even my Catholic aunt told me to go. It’s huge
This was one of my Mom’s favorite movies, along with Dirty Dancing and What’s Love Got to Do With It.❤
Oh my goodness, I got all teary when you were talking about the lasting impact in AU & the Broken Heel festival; really needed that uplifting bit this week
OMG me too! That made me so happy.
I actually cried at the end there. Beautiful
I have always loved this movie. I still do. The pathos, dramady, fabulous costumes AND a new look at Cynthia. What a great video. All three leads stood out in the roles and I have pretty much followed each of them over the years. Of course Guy Pearce caught my eye the most. He was like some sort of weight training champion and boy did it show. Whew! Lot of eye candy of him in this movie. I'm glad to see Australia has come to embrace this movie. Long live Priscilla!
Ozzie's weren't the only ones to fall in love with it. I'm a Kiwi and I couldn't stop watching it.
Absolutely love this movie. All the actors went on to make other great works, meeting them as actors was a joy & followed their careers to this day. 💖💖😊
I love that movie! A local independent theater used to play that movie on Friday night at midnight and Rocky Horror on Saturday night at midnight every week for years.
Stumbled on this two years since seeing it and I'm bawling my eyes out again. A proud Aussie with such faith in my countrymen... How about Broken Heel? Brilliant
Hi from Montreal! 🏳️🌈🇨🇦
Thanks for telling the story of one of my favorite movies of all time. 🤩
I think the reason Australia embraced it so much is because it’s a LGBTQ+ pride AND an Australian pride film, exemplified by the Alice Springs show. There are strong parallels between all types of identity pride.
6:00 It was originally supposed to be Uluru, but the local nation objected (for good environmental reasons, not homophobic ones). So King’s Canyon was plan B.
8:00 I believe it was how she should use a hygiene product in an unorthodox manner! 🤣
And now, Uluru is finally completely closed to climbing. It’s good that way back in 94, the film’s crew actually respected the request not to climb. Especially if you see the footage and photos of October last year, for the last week in which it was legal to climb- people came from all over the world to stomp all over the dignity and beliefs of an already oppressed people, just so they could say they did it. Absolutely atrocious, it was.