Welcome back to our queer film retrospective, “A Gay Old Time.” In this week’s column, we revisit the 1977 comedy Outrageous!, one of the first mainstream films to focus on a drag performer.
Drag is perhaps one of the oldest performance acts in history. From gender-bending characters in Shakespearean play to impersonation numbers in vaudeville acts, all the way to Lip Syncs For Your Life on primetime television, it’s been one of the most consistent presences in entertainment.
Although its visibility has obviously become more evident and varied with the years—far more common in alternative and independent circuits—drag has been portrayed on screen in one form or another for almost as long as the medium has existed.
Some films like Some Like It Hot (1959), Victor/ Victoria (1982), and Mrs. Doubtfire (1993) used drag as a pivotal plot point of mistaken or acquired identity, and eventually queens became protagonists themselves, like in The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert (1994), To Wong Foo (1995), and Kinky Boots (2005). It may have started as a comedy tool or acting resource, but drag has gradually made its way into mainstream cinema, showcasing the expanding identity and world of the art form. It’s been a slow but steady change.
However, well before that shift came the rare movie that against all odds made its way out of art house obscurity and into the mainstream (or as mainstream as it could get in the ’70s). This week we’ll be taking a look back at one of those rarities; the 1977 Canadian movie Outrageous!, which was one of the first-ever queer-themed movies to get a wide theatrical release in North America.
The Set-Up
Outrageous! follows the story of a disillusioned hairdresser in Toronto named Robin Turner (Craig Russell), who is lacking excitement and “razzle-dazzle” in his life. One day, his childhood friend Liza (Hollis McLaren) escapes from a mental hospital where she’s been recovering from a schizophrenic breakdown, and moves in with him.
With Liza’s help (and her sewing skills), Robin discovers that what he has really longed for was to take his impersonation skills and turn them into a full drag act. He slowly gains prominence in the local bar scene, until he takes his act on the road all the way to New York City.
Drag In The Spotlight
To be honest, Outrageous! is far from a perfect film. It is awkwardly paced, the performances are uneven, it has a depiction of mental health that is tricky at best and offensive and misinformed at worst, and the storylines between Robin and Liza feel so disjointed it often feels like two different movies happening at the same time. But it is, at its heart, a movie that shamelessly celebrates the art of doing drag.
It’s not a movie that features drag queens as mere comedic sidekicks, or has characters doing drag to trick other people or as part of a comedy routine. It is a movie about the joy, nuanced technique, and emotional fulfillment that drag plays not only in a person’s life, but within the entire queer community.
Local Girl
The movie opens with Robin watching a drag queen perform in a neighborhood bar. It’s not a flashy performance. It’s not RuPaul coming down the ceiling on a swing in To Wong Foo. It’s not splits and death drops. It’s simply a queen in a frumpy dress and cheap wig doing an imitation act (which any fan of drag will tell you is often some of the best drag out there).
From then on, its depiction of drag remains as something small-scale and local. As something that is not flashy, but personal. As something layered and nuanced that resonates mostly to the queer community, for only them to decipher and enjoy—almost like a private joke. Even as Robin gains some fame, he never tries to become a worldwide superstar, or incorporate flashiness into the act. He just wants to entertain.
Snatch Game
A big part of it comes from the fact that Robin’s act hinges on astonishingly accurate and funny celebrity impersonations. The act that gets him discovered and eventually takes him on the road to New York, is a medley of imitations that would take the win at any Snatch Game: Bette Davis, Tallulah Bankhead, Barbra Streisand, Carol Channing, Marlene Dietrich, Ethel Merman, Ella Fitzgerald, Pearl Bailey, Bette Midler, Judy Garland… Robin can do them all, and do them well.
He can tap into the mannerisms that make each of those divas distinguishable, and makes a show out of them. He (and by extension the movie) understands the appeal of such specific gestures, and how they resonate deeply and singularly with a crowded room of gay men.
Outrageous! also knows and respects how fundamental this type of drag is for the queer community. For Robin, it’s a matter of wanting to continue to exist. He puts everything on the line to make this happen: his jobs, his friends, his reputation. Drag is an extension of his persona; he often carries these imitations into parties and gatherings. The movie knows that drag does not end when he takes off the wig and stops putting on an accent.
Cinema Herstory
Although it was one of the first movies with a mainstream release, the cultural imprint of Outrageous! was not the biggest. Few people know about it, and even fewer know that it had a sequel, Too Outrageous!, that came out a decade later (and that we might be covering very soon here).
Its depiction of gay life—and the role of drag inside it—felt out of time then and in many ways still does now, a time when the focus has rightly turned into taking the art into bigger platforms. But it’s nice to remember that drag often shines the brightest not in the tallest, sparkliest stage, but in the dark corners of a dive bar, during a midnight show, where all that is needed to make a crowd get on its feet is good lip sync skills, an ultra specific cultural reference, and an outrageous attitude.
Outrageous! is available to stream via Kanopy and Tubi.
dbmcvey
He was amazing! Outrageous is such a good movie.
barryaksarben
it is still a seminal film for me. I was so young and caught it on a one night performance fat the Dundee theatre. Craig Russell was a flash of brilliance, not so much outrageous too. I loved that he took in the insane girlfriend and remember when the gay community embraced all hurting people. Now it seems we want no part of trans or women or poc and it breaks my heart that we stopped loving everyone who was an outcast
Man About Town
A memorable scene is when he realizes his cab driver is gay and asks “Is anybody straight anymore?” The cab driver says “Yeah, my father in Montana.”
Urban Geezer
As someone who was intimately connected with the production of this film, I am happy to see the coverage on this website. I have feared for sometime because its director Richard Benner was lost to AIDS and had a promising career cut short and was no longer around to represent the film, that it was about to drift into undeserved obscurity. Having watched the film in its first long running engagement in NYC with a packed house of both gay and straight and seen the impact and delight this film had in that moment in time, I can attest to the films success with all audiences that saw and embraced it. The film was a hard won triumph for it’s writer director and for its two stars. I once again saw the film for a one night revival with another packed theatre approximately 2 years ago. There was both the delight in the discovery of the film and an emotional response to a time gone by. It is a film that absolutely deserves a place in the history of gay film. Thank you Queerty for calling attention to it. And for those who might like to know more about Craig Russell and his somewhat tortured life, please look at Brian Bradley’s book Outrageous Misifits which includes quite a bit of material on the making of Outrageous and its sequel Too Outrageous.
dbmcvey
So cool! What a great movie!
mildredspierce
I remember seeing Russell at Komerads in the 80s. I found it sad that, after such critical acclaim around the world he was reduced to a gig at a gay dance bar. However I believe that at this point, his professional reputation was marred by some very real outrageous behaviour. He loathed himself so much.
jp47
I’ve never seen the movie, but I saw Craig Russell several times live and he was an incredible impressionist. If he was a drag queen, he was more on the order of Jinkx Monsoon than anyone else. He was a good singer and his mannerisms were spot on to the characters he was playing.
Winsocki
Saw the movie when it was released with lots of friends. Became a classic. Got a copy. It is a Christmas tradition to play Outrageous and remember when we were young. ( all in our 70s now ). Saw CR in Ptown, his show and walking Commercial in heeled boots.
oaksong
Loved the movie. Late in his life his performances began to suffer, which was quite sad.
monty clift
Rupaul queens could never have this level of skill or presence.
dbmcvey
Look at monty, still commenting out of ignorance.
Paris in Santiago
I agree with Monty. Craig Russell & Christopher Peterson are drag legends. So is RuPaul, especially in the early New York years. But Craig & Chris are miles ahead of what we have today. They never lip-synched, remembered words to every song, and wrote their own material. The kids today do not compare.
dbmcvey
Please, a few minutes with Bianca del Rio or Bob the Drag Queen and you’d be shivering on the floor in the corner.
Paris in Santiago
@ dbmcvey :
*yawn* meh.