Queer Film Comedy

The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert

(2011) 

A surprise hit in America, this 1994 Australian comedy is anchored by Terence Stamp as a transsexual who, in the company of two drag queens, travels to a remote desert location to put on a lip- synch performance--to the amazement of the locals.

Getting there on a pink bus named Priscilla, the trio stop and play for people all over the Outback, getting the same homophobic, bewildered responses. The weak link in the film is dialogue, all bitchy and cliché-ridden, but fortunately salvaged by strong acting.

The most fun comes whenever the three are performing; fans of Abba will be particularly pleased.

Starring:Hugo Weaving, Guy Pearce, Terence Stamp, Rebel Penfold-Russell, John Casey

Writer and Director:Stephan Elliott

Running Time: 104 minutes, (1 hour, 44 minutes)

The Rocky Horror Picture Show

(1975)

"The Rocky Horror Picture Show" is a 1975 horror-comedy. The film is based on the 1973 musical stage production "The Rocky Horror Show", with music, book, and lyrics by Richard O'Brien.

The story centres on a young engaged couple whose car breaks down in the rain near a castle where they seek a telephone to call for help. The castle or country home is occupied by strangers in elaborate costumes celebrating an annual convention. They discover the head of the house is Dr. Frank N. Furter, an apparent mad scientist who actually is an alien transvestite who creates a living muscle man in his laboratory. The couple are seduced separately by the mad scientist and eventually released by the servants who take control.

Some Like It Hot

(1959) 

Maybe "nobody's perfect," as a billionaire character in this masterpiece declares. But some movies are perfect, and "Some Like It Hot" is one of them.

In Chicago, during the Prohibition, two skirt-chasing musicians, Joe and Jerry (Tony Curtis and Jack Lemmon), inadvertently witness the St. Valentine's Day Massacre. In order to escape the wrath of gangland chief Spats Colombo (George Raft), the boys, in drag, join an all-woman band headed for Florida.

They vie for the attention of the lead singer, Sugar Kane (Marilyn Monroe), a much-disappointed songbird who warbles "I'm Through with Love" yet remains vulnerable to yet another unreliable saxophone player.

The bulk of the slapstick is handled by an unhinged Lemmon and the razor-sharp Joe E. Brown, who plays a horny retiree smitten by Jerry's feminine charms. For all the gags, the film is also wonderfully romantic, as Wilder indulges in just the right amounts of moonlight and the lilting melody of "Park Avenue Fantasy." Some Like It Hot is so delightfully fizzy, it's hard to believe the shooting of the film was a headache, with an unhappy Monroe on her worst behavior.

Starring:Marilyn Monroe, Tony Curtis, Jack Lemmon, George Raft, Pat O'Brien

Writer and Director: Billy Wilder

Running Time: 120 Minutes (2 hours)

To Wong Foo, Thanks for Everything! Julie Newmar

(1995)

"To Wong Foo" is often called the American version of "Priscilla, Queen of the Desert".

Wesley Snipes, Patrick Swayze and John Leguizamo star as three "girls" who just wanna have fun in a hilarious comedy about repairing broken hearts, broken dreams and broken nails.

En route from New York City to Hollywood for a drag queen beauty pageant, the three are forced to take an unwelcome detour when their 1967 Cadillac convertible breaks down. Stranded in the tiny midwestern town of Snydersville, the three try to make the best of their unfortunate circumstance. And when their glitz and glamour wake up the sleepy local citizens, the stage is set for an outrageously funny weekend.

Starring: Wesley Snipes, Patrick Swayze, John Leguizamo, Stockard Channing

Running Time: 109 Minutes (1hour, 49 minutes)

In 1934 Paris, Victoria Grant can't get a job as a singer and is having trouble making ends meet. She doesn't even have enough money for the basics of food and shelter.

Gay cabaret singer Carole 'Toddy' Todd may befall the same fate as Victoria as he was just fired from his singing gig at a second rate club named Chez Lui. To solve both their problems, Toddy comes up with what he considers an inspired idea: with Toddy as her manager, Victoria, pretending to be a man, get a job singing as a female impersonator.

That alter ego they decide is Polish Count Victor Grazinski. The Count auditions for the city's leading agent, Andre Cassell, who, impressed, gets "him" a gig performing in the city's best nightclub. In the audience on the successful opening night is Chicago nightclub owner and "businessman" King Marchand, a stereotypical macho male who falls in the love with the woman he sees on stage, which doesn't sit well with his current girlfriend, Norma Cassady. King is shocked to learn that that woman is a man named Count Grazinski. While King tries to reconcile his romantic feelings for "Victoria ,his business associates won't tolerate his change in sexual orientation. Although feeling emancipated being treated as a man, Victoria, as herself, in turn falls in love with King.

To pursue something with him as a woman would mean giving up this lucrative career. But the career may also come to an end in a jail term if the authorities find out that Victoria and Toddy have committed fraud in this impersonation.