I’m doing this Blogging A to Z thing for the month of April 2026. I did this 10 years ago, and it was pretty random. For this month at least, I’m going to focus on queer media – movies, books, TV, etc., by, for, or about queer people.
The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert is a 1994 Australian movie about three drag queens on a road trip from Sydney to Alice Springs in a silver, then pink tour bus dubbed Priscilla, Queen of the Desert.
To Wong Foo, Thanks for Everything! Julie Newmar is a 1995 American movie about three drag queens on a road trip from New York to Los Angeles in a yellow Cadillac convertible, who carry with them an autographed photo of Julie Newmar.
Each film includes an older, established performer who tends to be the adult in the room, a younger, immature, somewhat annoying performer, and…the other guy, who talked the more seasoned performer into allowing the younger one to come along.
In both films, the vehicle breaks down in the middle of nowhere in a town that seems to be 20 years behind the times, providing an opportunity for the travelers to get to know the locals while they wait for repairs to be made.
And both films include a scene where one of the drag queens kicks someone’s ass.
The films were apparently in production at the same time, and the remarkable similarities are just a bizarre coincidence. But despite all the similarities, the movies are actually quite different.
In Priscilla, the reason for the trip is ostensibly a four-week gig at a resort. We learn along the way that Tick (Hugo Weaving), who organized the trip, is married to the woman who runs the resort and they have a 12-year-old son that Tick doesn’t know. Terence Stamp plays Bernadette, a transgender woman in her 50’s, whose husband has just died, and who feels the need to get out of town for a while. Guy Pearce is Adam, who is new to drag, very campy and loud all the time, and clearly annoys the hell out of Bernadette, who at one point comments that he’s performing all the time.
While there is a lot of humor and ample opportunities to see the queens performing in truly spectacular drag, the road trip is just a vehicle (pun intended) for a story about three people at turning points in their lives. Bernadette, Tick, and Adam are three vastly different characters that show just some of the variety of queer experiences. The film is loosely based on the lives of three real drag performers who were initially set to play themselves, but the studio wanted more bankable, i.e., straight, stars.
One negative in an otherwise excellent film is a completely unnecessary subplot portraying a supporting character’s Filipina wife as a crazy, alcoholic, ex-prostitute and stripper. I’m tempted to say it hasn’t aged well, but it’s hard to imagine it was ever not offensive.
In To Wong Foo, Patrick Swayze’s Vida and Wesley Snipes’ Noxeema, tie for first place in a drag contest in NYC, and are travelling to L.A. for the national contest. John Leguizamo’s Chi-Chi Rodriguez (and yes, the golfer Chi-Chi Rodriguez did sue) tags along. We don’t really get to know the characters beyond that.
The reason for the photo of Julie Newmar is that it exemplifies the level of glamour they aspire to in their day-to-day lives. And they achieve it. The three stars appear in drag throughout the film, and their outfits are amazing, and other characters believe they’re women, which is absurd. But like Jack Lemmon and Tony Curtis in Some Like it Hot, not at all convincing as women, but we all just agree to suspend disbelief.
Patrick Swayze, probably because he was a dancer, actually did a pretty good job of embracing the physicality of the role, carrying himself completely differently than he did normally. Wesley Snipes in a dress, though, was just Wesley Snipes in a dress.
To Wong Foo is not a bad movie. It’s also not a very good movie. It’s fun to watch, but it’s kinda silly, very predictable, and doesn’t have anything to say.
But on the other hand, it doesn’t include any horrendous racial stereotypes, so there’s that.
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