Too Outrageous!

A sequel to the 1977 film "Outrageous!" It involves the further adventures of Craig Russell and his mentally ill friend.

"Outrageous!" didn't need a sequel and this came 10 years after the original. At the point most people had forgotten about it. This is better made--they had a bigger budget, a better cast and Russell has a VERY attractive boyfriend here...but there's no real reason for this to made (other than to show Russell do more impersonations which aren't very good). Also they deal with AIDS in this one--it had to be dealt with but it's so out of place with the rest of the movie.

This played (briefly) at mainstream theatres in 1987 but quickly disappeared. It's never had a video or DVD release (as far as I know). Basically if you've never seen it, you're not missing a thing. "Outrageous!" stands on its own heels--this wasn't needed.

Ten years after making their first, brave stand against an uncaring world, fellow misfits Robin and Liza (a professional drag queen and a runaway schizophrenic) are reunited in what should have been a timely sequel to the poignant and funny 1977 sleeper 'Outrageous!' But this time around writer director Dick Benner exhausted all his creativity on the cute title, leaving not much else to look at besides an embarrassing show business soap opera, with Robin poised on the brink of drag stardom but finding his integrity jeopardized by the demands of fame and fortune. Hardly an outrageous (or even original) concept, and to make it worse the film unfolds with all the conviction of a substandard TV drama. Benner wants to portray gay life without the usual silver screen stereotypes (psycho-fag killers, swishy comic relief), but the effort forces him into cardboard clichés and overwrought theatrics, to the point where even the ongoing tragedy of AIDS is reduced to the level of a grade school melodrama. In the end Benner does to his own scenario what the talent agency does to Robin's stage act in the film: flattening it into two very drab dimensions.

Like most sequels Too Outrageous doesn't live up to the original in any way. It is definitely a failure as a movie. Now that being said there are a few good things to recommend someone giving this movie a view-the drag. Craig Russell has done some of the best "outrageous" drag in the past and a couple of his impersonations are right on while a couple of them are way off the mark. He did about the best Mae West impersonation there was out there- other than the lady herself and in this movie he is right on the mark with Miss West again. Also Peggy Lee. And so is his Judy Garland a fine impersonation. But he is not up to impersonating Tina Turner, Janis Joplin or Eartha Kitt in this movie- those would have been best left to somebody else. What else recommends this movie is the charming relationship between the schizophrenic Liza and Robin- it's rare that the mentally ill are given any realistic treatment in film.

I am the co-author of the original short story that Outrageous was based on. We never expected nor intended a sequel be considered when the original first few books of short stories were published. Comments by the other 3 reviewers are interesting. Craig became an excellent female impersonator. At the time I knew him, he never discussed serious acting. He liked performing. This explains why, in the TV programme Streets of San Francisco, Craig did not act. He did the voice over for all of the singing of the female impersonator. With regards to his impersonation of Mae West, Craig was her personal secretary for a period of time. This was well before his drag career, late teens or early twenties. 40 years ago is a long time to remember details.

I loved OUTRAGEOUS (1977), a funny and sweet story abut two misfits (Craig Russell, Hollis McLaren) who find each other in a crazy world and who bond together against that world. The film also showcases Russell's great tributes to several great ladies.

This sequel comes ten years later and we find Russell and McLaren still together, with Russell's Robin Turner trying to break into the big time.

The overall plot gets messed up with an unlikable female TV executive and slight nod to the AIDS plague (which would kill Russell in 1990) via a minor character.

David McIlwraith returns as Bob as does Rusty Ryan as Jimmy. It's a huge loss that Richert Easley didn't return as Perry. The major problem, however, is that the structure of the film doesn't allow Russell to perform his ladies.

We get snippets rather than a full act and, sad to say, many of his voices are off. While he does well with Peggy Lee, Mae West, Sophie Tucker, Tallulah Bankhead, Bette Davis, Judy Garland, and even Eartha Kitt, his salutes to Barbra Streisand, Bette Midler, and Ella Fitzgerald are not very good.

Still, when he's good he's very good. It's too bad it took so long to mount a sequel and that the joy and exuberance of the first film has been lost.

But let's not forget Craig Russell. He was a pioneer and a true artiste.