History Film / TheAdventuresofPriscillaQueenoftheDesert

* EmbarrassingFirstName: [[spoiler:Bernadette's birth name was Ralph.]] Though more like insulting and hurtful first name; [[spoiler:her real name is Bernadette]].

* LaughingMad: Adam, running for his life from a pack of very pissed off hard men in Coober Pedy, laughs hysterically.

* PimpedOutDress: So. Many. Dresses.

* MsXPun: The theatre adaptation introduces a character called Miss Understanding, who performs Tina Turner's "What's Love Got to Do With It?" in the first act.

[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/priscillacap1_2109.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:350:Yeah, that about sums it up.]]

* AccidentalMisnaming: Adam's teasing of Bernadette, calling her [[spoiler:Ralph]]... until she finally snaps and beats him up.

* {{Transgender}}: Bernadette. At one point, she’s seeing taking hormone pills during breakfast.

* BerserkButton: Do not call Bernadette by her birth name of [[spoiler:[[MaliciousMisnaming Ralph]]]]. Just don't.
* UsefulNotes/{{Bisexual}}: Bob, a mechanic the drag queens befriend, was married to a Flipino burlesque dancer until she left him following an incident at a bar where she preformed a vulgar dance act that embarrassed him. After joining the drag queens to help them make sure ‘’Priscilla'' makes it to their venue, he starts to fall in love with Bernadette and ends up staying with her in Marion’s hotel.

* UsefulNotes/Bisexual: Bob, a mechanic the drag queens befriend, was married to a Flipino burlesque dancer until she left him following an incident at a bar where she preformed a vulgar dance act that embarrassed him. After joining the drag queens to help them make sure ‘’Priscilla'' makes it to their venue, he starts to fall in love with Bernadette and ends up staying with her in Marion’s hotel.

%%* PowerTrio

* {{Bisexual}}: Bob, a mechanic the drag queens befriend, was married to a Flipino burlesque dancer until she left him following an incident at a bar where she preformed a vulgar dance act that embarrassed him. After joining the drag queens to help them make sure ‘’Priscilla'' makes it to their venue, he starts to fall in love with Bernadette and ends up staying with her in Marion’s hotel.

* IHaveNoSon: After Bernadette underwent her operation, her family disown her.

* TheStinger: After the credits, we see a monk in a Japanese temple, where the kite and blowdoll seen early in the film finally land.

* YankTheDogsChain: Bernadette walks through the desert, gets swarmed by flies, and ends up finding a old couple to help fix the bus, which has broken down. But when Bernadette and the old couple drive to where the bus is, the old couple hightails it upon seeing [[MakesSenseInContext Mitzi in a fancy green dress and Adam, who’s shirtless and has breasts painted on his chest]].

* BiTheWay: Bob, a mechanic the drag queens befriend, was married to a Flipino burlesque dancer until she left him following an incident at a bar where she preformed a vulgar dance act that embarrassed him. After joining the drag queens to help them make sure ‘’Priscilla'' makes it to their venue, he starts to fall in love with Bernadette and ends up staying with her in Marion’s hotel.
** Marion is mentioned by [[spoiler:Tick’s son]] to have had a girlfriend after Tick and her broke up.

* BerserkButton: Do not call Bernadette by her birth name of [[spoiler:[[AccidentalMisnaming Ralph]]]]. Just don't.

%%* {{Burlesque}}: Cynthia. Ping pong balls are involved.
%%* CampGay: '''Adam'''. And Tick as well, but much less so.

%%* CoolAndUnusualPunishment: Adam threatening to sing.

%%* DirtyOldMan: [[spoiler:Adam's uncle in the flashback.]]
%%* DisappearedDad: [[spoiler:Tick.]]

%%* DragQueen: Take three guesses, you'll probably be correct on all of them

* FaintInShock: Bernadette faints in shock after discovering that [[spoiler: Tick has a son]]. She later complains of having a bump on her head during the show, for which she blames Tick.
%%* FlashbackCut: Used at various points for the main trio's histories. Also for Bob.

%%* GroinAttack: Adam does this to his CreepyUncle in a flashback.

** Tick is based on Cindy Pastel, a famous drag queen from Sydney. [[spoiler: Like Tick, Pastel was married with children but attempted to keep his bisexuality as secret.]]
%%* PimpedOutDress: So. Many. Dresses.
%%* PlotDrivenBreakdown

%%* RoadTripPlot
%%* SceneryPorn: The movie is full of it during the three protagonists' trip towards Alice Springs. Combines this and CostumePorn during the climb to Kings Canyon.

%%* StageNames: "Mitzi Del Bra" and "Felicia Jollygoodfellow", obviously.

%%* {{Transgender}}: Bernadette.

* AgentPeacock: Bernadette
* AllMusicalsAreAdaptations: The stage musical.
* AmicableExes: Tick and Marion.
* AngerBornOfWorry: Tick yelling at Adam for flirting with the violent and homophobic desert dwellers.
* AsLongAsItSoundsForeign: Cynthia speaks Tagalog but her cassette tape has Japanese written on it...

* AustralianMovies
* BedouinRescueService: The Aboriginal camp.

* BrickJoke: When the trio launches ''Priscilla'', their going-away party drowns out a ceremony announcing a girl who plans to run across Australia. The girl shows up twice later in the film, once just after the bus takes a short cut, and again when she runs ''right past the group'' and takes no notice of them.
** Early in the film they found a hideous dress among the luggage, put it in a blowdoll and tie it to a kite they fly to pass the time, after the credits we see the kite, blowdoll and all, landing on a Japanese temple near a monk.
* {{Burlesque}}: Cynthia. Ping pong balls are involved. (Let's leave it at that.)
* CampGay: '''Adam'''. And Tick as well, but much less so.
* CastFullOfGay

* CoolAndUnusualPunishment: Adam threatening to sing.

* CutHisHeartOutWithASpoon: Bernardette (Of course) once makes the threat "I will punch in your face so hard yo'll need to stick a toothbrush up your ass to clean your teeth."
* DeadpanSnarker: The above quote is just one of many of Bernadette's wonderfully bitter and snarky lines.
* DirtyOldMan: [[spoiler:Adam's uncle in the flashback.]]
* DisappearedDad: [[spoiler:Tick.]]
* DoubleStandardRapeMaleOnMale: Subverted. [[spoiler:Just the suggestion of Felicia being raped by a homophobic man is horrifying. Luckily, Bernadette saves him with the GroinAttack.]]
** Played with in a flashback, where Adam's uncle tries to molest him. The build-up isn't played for laughs at all and is genuinely disturbing... cue an ingenious GroinAttack by young Adam, and cut back to the bus where Adam and Tick are cackling their heads off.
* DragQueen: Take three guesses, you'll probably be correct on all of them

* FlashbackCut: Used at various points for the main trio's histories. Also for Bob.

* TheFullNameAdventures

* GroinAttack: Not only funny, but one of Bernadette's many [[SugarWiki/MomentOfAwesome Crowning Moments of Awesome]].
** Adam does this to his CreepyUncle in a flashback.
* [[TheHecateSisters The Hecate Drag Queens]]. Felicia is the girl, Mitzi is the mother, Bernadette is the crone.

* ImpracticallyFancyOutfit: And lots of them. It's really quite impressive seeing Felicia outrun the thugs for a while in that tight dress and high heels (and on drugs, no less).

* {{Jerkass}}: Adam has his moments.
* LandDownunder: Down to a travel to the Outback.
* LargeHam: Felicia and Mitzi.

* NoBisexuals: Averted: [[spoiler: Tick's wife Marion, and Tick himself (though he says he's unsure).]]
* NoCelebritiesWereHarmed: Bernadette is quite obviously based on transsexual former Les Girls performer Carlotta.

* PimpedOutDress: So. Many. Dresses.
* PlotDrivenBreakdown

* PowerTrio
* RoadTripPlot
* SceneryPorn: The movie is full of it during the three protagonists' trip towards Alice Springs. Combines this and CostumePorn during the climb to Kings Canyon.

* StageNames: "Mitzi Del Bra" and "Felicia Jollygoodfellow", obviously.

* StraightGay: Tick falls somewhere between this and CampGay.
* {{Transgender}}: Bernadette.
* TravelingAtTheSpeedOfPlot

* WholesomeCrossdresser: If you can call these three "Wholesome;" they're not {{Creepy Crossdresser}}s, at least.
** Well, two. Bernadette is a trans woman, therefore it's not really crossdressing.

* BadassGay: Bernadette, who hints she's had some military in her past life.

* BiTheWay: Played with. [[spoiler: Tick and his wife, Marion are both bisexual. He's unsure about it though (When Felicia asks about it he replies "I don't fuckin know".]]

* LandDownunder

* NobodyOver50IsGay: Averted in universe. Bernadette is obviously not that young, nor really is Mitzi. Hugo Weaving was only 34 when the movie was made, but [[PrematurelyBald male pattern baldness]] made him look considerably older.

* NoBisexuals: Averted: [[spoiler: Tick's wife Marion, and Tick himself (though he says he's unsure.]]

* {{Transsexual}}: Bernadette.

This 1994 dramedy from Australian writer-director Stephan Elliott stars Creator/HugoWeaving, Creator/GuyPearce, and Terence Stamp as a spectacularly camp trio of drag performers who travel across Australia in a converted school bus named "Priscilla, Queen of the Desert". Weaving plays Anthony "Tick" Belrose, a.k.a. Mitzi Del Bra. Pearce plays Adam Whitely, a.k.a. Felicia Jollygoodfellow. Stamp plays Bernadette Passenger.