Priscilla, Queen Of The Desert, Found
April 11, 2024 3:54 PM   Subscribe

 
Very cool :-) So often, we discard things that we later miss. I'm glad Priscilla has been found and will be restored.
posted by dg at 4:05 PM on April 11 [3 favorites]


That’s such a nice story. Thank you for posting this.
posted by AlonzoMosleyFBI at 4:06 PM on April 11 [2 favorites]


The bizarre thing is that as instantly recognisable and culturally important as this bus is, it’s not even the most famous bus from a movie in 1994
posted by Fiasco da Gama at 4:34 PM on April 11 [7 favorites]


The bizarre thing is that as instantly recognisable and culturally important as this bus is, it’s not even the most famous bus from a movie in 1994

But Spice World came out in 1997.
posted by alex_skazat at 4:43 PM on April 11 [17 favorites]


YAY!
posted by humbug at 6:00 PM on April 11


Tank Girl was 1995...
Was there a bus in the Crow?
posted by kaibutsu at 6:07 PM on April 11


OMFG it's Speed, isn't it!

Gotta admit I would *never* have guessed that (I googled). I kept thinking, do you mean the bus in Forrest Gump? Or perhaps was the bus Red takes to Zihuatanejo in Shawshank Redemption famous? Or maybe there was a bus in Pulp Fiction I clean forgot about?

Man, 1994 was a hyperbolic year for Hollywood.
posted by MiraK at 6:21 PM on April 11 [4 favorites]


I love this story.
Although I recollect very little of the film today, e.g. completely forgot Hugo Weaving was in it!? I clearly remember there being a teen film critic contest run by the Chicago Tribune. This was the film I chose to see and review for my submission to the contest. Dear Readers,I saw it, I chiseled down a review into 200 words, I did not hear back.
The fact the Australia has been contending with fake Priscillas for decades, and is now triumphing at her true glorious acquisition implies that this movie, in fact, has had lasting historical import which I managed to latch onto 30 years ago. Tribune be damned.
posted by Cold Lurkey at 6:48 PM on April 11 [3 favorites]


You guys are such dorks and I love you for it.
posted by seraphine at 7:00 PM on April 11 [7 favorites]


I remember seeing that movie and loved every minute, even though it was not a kind of movie I normally watched (action, fantasy and sci-fi almost exclusively then). Terence Stamp was a huge surprise, but Hugo Weaving really stuck with me. I was interested to see him in The Matrix because it was soooo different from Priscilla. I'm glad they found Priscilla and are restoring it.

Now, if someone would fix up the Herkimer Battle Jitney in my lifetime, I can go to my grave a happy man.
posted by JustSayNoDawg at 8:20 PM on April 11 [4 favorites]


Strewth!
posted by gottabefunky at 9:22 PM on April 11 [1 favorite]


And here I though this would be about another Desert Bus, but that was 1995 apparently.
posted by maximumbob at 11:17 PM on April 11 [2 favorites]


I mean The Matrix is another famous movie about being trans.
posted by constraint at 1:18 AM on April 12 [1 favorite]


From ABC News: Mr Mackie said the trust bought the bus, and "now it's got a long journey and we'll be raising money for its restoration as we go".

He said the cult film was part of a vibrant era in Australian cinema that sparked cultural conversations, amplified queer identities and helped launch "the international careers of Hugo Weaving and Guy Pearce".

"As a gay man who was coming into my identity through the HIV-AIDS crisis of the 1980s and early 1990s, the advent of The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert absolutely transformed my sense of my place in the world," Mr Mackie said.


I love this story. Thanks for posting, Fiasco da Gama!
posted by Bella Donna at 2:40 AM on April 12 [2 favorites]


Great story! This got me wondering about the fate of other famous movie buses. I could not find the current location of the bus from It Happened One Night, but I did find Buses on Screen, which is in the tradition of the Internet Movie Car Database and the Internet Movie Firearms Database. Weirdly, Buses on Screen does not have a page for Priscilla! However if you want to know the details of every bus featured in a Monty Python sketch they've got you covered.
posted by Ishbadiddle at 3:29 AM on April 12 [2 favorites]


How wonderful.

I saw the film recently when it popped up on late night TV, first time in years. It suddenly gave me such a visceral sense of the passage of time; it still feels so recent and contemporary in my mind, but watching it again took me back decades to my student days and the world of that time. Watching it, and realising it was made 30 years ago, made me really feel the years. Still a fantastic film.
posted by penguin pie at 5:01 AM on April 12 [2 favorites]


Now we need a giant shoe on the top.
posted by rmd1023 at 7:35 AM on April 12


this movie did a lot of good work in the world

and who didn't fall in love with Guy Pearce? between this and Ravenous, he will be cemented in my personal A-List
posted by elkevelvet at 8:08 AM on April 12 [2 favorites]


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