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To Wong Foo, Thanks For Everything, Julie Newmar

American comedy film, made in 1995, and largely inspired by the Australian film The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert, which had been released the year before.   The film starred Patrick Swayze, Wesley Snipes, and John Leguizamo and featured Stockard Channing,  Robin Williams, Blythe Danner, Jason London, Christopher Penn, and, ofcourse, Julie Newmar.   The opening segment of a drag beauty contest also features cameos by Quentin Crisp , RuPaul (as "Rachel Tension"), and numerous members of the New York drag community.   Swayze, Snipes and Leguizamo play three drag queens who, like the protoganists in Priscilla, are on a cross-country trip - in this case, to a national drag competition in Hollywood - travelling in a convertible with a signed and inscribed photo of Ms. Newmar (whose inscription is the source of the film's title) as their mascot.   On the way they run afoul of a redneck, homophobic cop and are stranded in a small, dying Midwestern town when their car breaks down.   Over the course of the movie, they bring new life to the town, rescue Stockard Channing from her abusive husband, inspire love between two teenagers, cure an old woman of her numbing depression, get the town lush to dry herself out, and convince the town gossip and the local cafe owner to overcome their fear of other people's opinions and pursue their secret love for one another in an inter-racial romance.   The townsfolk in turn fix the car and rescue the drag queens from the vengeful cop.   A happy ending occurs as Leguizamo is crowned winner of the national contest by Julie Newmar, while an updated version of Cyndi Lauper's "Girls Just Wanna Have Fun" plays in the background.

Like Priscilla, To Wong Foo features a soundtrack of classic, campy, and memorable songs, including Tom Jones' "She's a Lady" and the theme song to the 1970s Wonder Woman television series, and fabulous costumes are worn by the three protagonists.   Unlike Priscilla, the movie received mixed reviews and box-office returns, as many compared it unfavorably to its Aussie predecessor.   To Wong Foo also took a much more humorous look at homophobia and gay-bashing than Priscilla, making the bashers look like buffoons, and spoke more about the drag sub-culture than gaydom in general.   Much has been said about the impressive transformation of the lead actors into feminine and flamboyant ladies, particularly action star Wesley Snipes in his role as Noxzema Jackson ("daughter of Jesse").   The fact that the movie was made at all during a time when much was being said about the extreme homophobia in Hollywood in particular and America in general is certainly worthy of consideration.

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