Both of these films are obviously very similar in story - three drag queens do a cross country drive and end up in the back of beyond, but my questions are these:
Which film did you enjoy the most and why?
Which characters do you think were the equivalents of each other - obviously John Leguizamo and Guy Pearce's characters were similar (young, exuberant, extra camp, OTT) but what about the other four?
Which actors do you think did the best jobs?
i think that Priscilla Queen of the desert was te better of the two.
there was more entertainment in priscilla. ifelt that the ending to to wong foo was very unbeleivable, i mean chi chi wasnt even put into the finals so how could she win. i think they maybe tried too hard with to wong foo to make it funny and have just enough of a story to pull it off, where as in priscilla the director and everyone did not expect it to be a hit so it was just a simple story line that was carried though out the film effectively.
i agree that the characters played by guy pearce and john leguizamo were similar. i felt that there were certain similarities between the characters played by patrick swayze and hugo weaving as they were the people who took charge of the trip and were the main characters but werent at the same time, you knew more about them than the others.
Priscilla was definetly better. It was funnier...without trying so hard to be. I found To Wong Foo to be an American rip off...and a bad one at that...
And you can't beat Guy Pearce.
Why are you wearing that Stupid Man Suit?
Priscilla!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
sharePatrick Swayze's character was Bernadette all the way, so demure and composed. I enjoyed both of them. I watched "To Wong foo..." many years ago and I find that (oddly) its title in spanish was way better: "Kings or Queens". I had so much fun with that. I JUST watched Priscilla and I think it was good although it runs a little too long. It should have ended when they arrived to their destination, that final bit was a stretch and it didn't add that much.
But God! Terence Stamp is incredible...he was the best of the three for me, albeit not such a good dancer.
Priscilla all the way. It's a million times better. TWFTFEJN was just a load of dribble and an american hollywoodised update of Priscilla as they quickly tried to rake in as much dosh as possible after the success of Prscilla.
My teenage ansgt has a body count
Priscilla--MUCH better and funnier. Also the Priscilla soundtrack can't be beat and we see the guys prefgorm in Priscilla--not To Wong Foo. And Wong Foo goes out of its way to play everything safe--Priscilla doesn't.
sharewhile i like both, i like wong foo better. pricilla was too artsy for my taste, besides, i love how they cast swayze and snipes so against type. it was inspiried.
shareI may be the only one who disagrees but I happened to see Priscilla after "to wong foo" and I found it much "greyer" than the latter one.
I may be wrong cause I just watched them to enjoy and don't know anything about the culture behind it, but in my imagination "to wong foo" it's my favourite cause it gives me a much colorful feeling, which I expect to get from a movie about drag queens.
I feel that Priscilla, on the other hand, feels more real and tells the story with a much more "real" feeling, but that's maybe just for it's colorful unbelievableness that I liked "to wong foo" more :)
Just my point of view by the way :)
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"To Wong Foo" seemed like it was made for "the masses": the people in areas that aren't familiar with drag queens/gay people. "Priscilla" is more of a character driven story and didn't rely on goofy he/she drag queen jokes. I almost cried at the end of "Priscilla"- I found the storylines touching. The only serious part that was ALMOST touching in "To Wong Foo" was the scene about "Vida" driving past her/his parents house.
shareTo Wong Foo, although amusing, feels sanitized and fake to me...veering towards exploitation/minstrel show territory.
How many queens do you know who walk around in drag 24/7? And how many of them would drive across the USA in full drag? In a convertable with the top down?!?
The USA that I live in is one where you can get beaten to within an inch of your life just for looking at the wrong guy for a moment too long. I know that in '95, while Clinton was in office, we were optimistic about gays entering the mainstream and gaining ground among the masses but really...this is too much.
I feel similar mixed feelings about "Will & Grace". I mean - seriously - a cute, rich lawyer with a fantastic apartment in Manhattan who can't find a man for years??? ARGH!!!!
Anyway, rant over, give me Priscilla anyday. =)~
Give me 'To Wong Foo............. anyday. It's more uplifting, better acted; and not as crass or crude!
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I thought Priscilla was definitely the better of the two films. That said, To Wong Foo has some really good acting and some great lines, especially by John Leguizamo. It's not really a rip-off of Priscilla except for the basic idea. The concept of "drag queens go off on cross-country trip, having to deal with rednecks along the way" is really the only similarity; other than that, the two films have completely different storylines.
Each film had its scenes of drag-queens-in-danger. Actually, To Wong Foo upped the ante a bit by including domestic violence into the mix. However, I just knew that, with this film, everything would turn out alright at the end. To that extent, it did feel a bit Hollywood-ized. I liked the fact that in Priscilla, you really did not know what was going to happen next. It grabbed my attention more as I prefer more character-driven films.
The main problem I had with To Wong Foo was the Sheriff Dollard character was handled wrongly in my opinion, especially in the bar scene where he had this long, belabored monologue about drag queens. It looked as if the intention was to imply that the idea really turned him on deep inside, that only emerged to the surface when he was drunk and that he was normally ashamed of it. While that accurately represents what lurks inside a homophobe's heart in the real world (being secretly gay and unable to accept it), it does a disservice to this film as it stops the film cold and creates an excruciatingly awkward moment immediately following when a guy comes up to Dollard and, before mentioning to Dollard that he saw the drag queens he's after, the sheriff is looking him up & down & smiling at him like he is about to jump his bones.
Overall, I like both films, just Priscilla a LOT better!
The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert: 9/10
To Wong Foo, Thanks for Everything, Julie Newmar: 6/10
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I am an American living in Japan. I have not seen Priscilla, the movie. I haven't seen TWFTFEJN in a couple of years, at least. However, I returned from a trip to Sydney 3 days ago. I saw a live musical of Priscilla at Star City Casino. I was extremely entertained. It was amazing. The friend that accompanied me has never seen To Wong Foo. I rented it for us to watch and compare, but I have the feeling we will both be hugely disappointed after the wonderful show we witnessed on Tuesday night. The costumes were amazing. The songs were great. The talent was very impressive. I am currently looking around to find a copy of Priscilla so that I can witness the movie and make an actual comparison.
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