User Reviews

What an unexpected treat.Long before Pricilla and all the others, there was Craig Russell. His impersonations remains vividly embedded in my brain because besides the look and mannerisms, I perceived the soul of the characters in question. They are not caricatures but tributes. His Judy Garland is heartbreaking and his Mae West hilarious.As if all that was not enough we have a screenplay of such intelligence and wit that I'm surprised this film is not a classic. When Holly's doctor finds out she lives with a man, he tries to warn her about the risks (she's bi polar) of an emotional, sexual entanglement. She reassures him telling him "Don't worry, we sleep in separate worlds" Lovely.

It's low budget shows in its grainy print and poor sound, but the quality performances by the entire cast make up for the films shortcomings.

The late Craig Russell pulls out all the stops as he displays his talent for female impersonation. Hollis McLaren is the ideal nut case. And Helen Shaver, in one of her earlier roles, is ideal as the friend who is accepting of people for who they are, embellishing their positive traits.

My one criticism of the film is the costuming. Not Russell's drag apparel, which matched each of his impersonations perfectly. But other wardrobe choices in the film were distractingly awful, especially during the Christmas party scene. Russell's jumpsuit was about 3 sizes too small, and Shaver's dress was something out of Ringling Brothers' clown reject closet.

Still, students and lovers of independent film will admire this one for its style, its daring, and its overall effort.

The title of this small gem hasn't aged as well as the film itself, which is certainly different (refreshingly so), but hardly outrageous in this semi-enlightened age, The bittersweet story of a gay hairdresser and part time drag queen, who befriends a pregnant schizophrenic recently escaped from a Toronto snake pit, might seem to be stretching the limits of romantic comedy, but the film succeeds as an offbeat celebration of human individuality, warts and all. What makes it special is the way it refuses to pin down a unique relationship: Robin and Liza are simply indifferent to each other's differences. None of their friends (gay or straight) can understand them, but in retrospect they aren't really so odd a couple: one is schizoid by nature; the other by vocation. The message is simple: be yourself, even if half the time you're someone else, and the low-budget look adds a raw edge of realism to the scenario, blunting the sentimentality and giving the humor a grey lining of melancholy. The story loses focus only when the emphasis shifts away from the couple to Robin's stage career, a showcase for actor Craig Russell's pitch-perfect drag impersonations—from Mae West to Betty Davis to Ella Fitzgerald.

Outrageous is a very special film. Imagine you live in the 70s and you were in a club or theatre anywhere in Canada or the USA. The announcer says: Ladies and Gentlemen. Mrs. Judy Garland. You think by yourself. Judy Garland? I thought this woman is dead. But the women on the stage is not Judy Garland but Craig Russell (a Canadian), one of the best female impersonators of our century. Because he was not only able to imitate the look of his idols (many great actresses and singers from the 30s to the 60s). He could also imitate the voices of the women. In the film he plays a gay character (which he really was) who shares a flat with a schizophrenic woman and makes his unbelievable shows at the evening. Craig Russell died too early of AIDS and he made only two films: Outrageous and the sequel. Craig Russell was a unique person and after his death Canada and the world had lost one of its greatest idols.

Outrageous! is a truly remarkable film, and an attest to the genius of Craig Russell. The film opened in Manhattan during the early fall of 1977 without so much as a trailer or publicity of any kind...just word of mouth. Within one week people were queuing up in droves to see it! Not coincidentally, Craig Russell, the film's star, was staging his brilliant one man show "A Man And His Women" right around the block from the cinema. This masterful stroke of showmanship made him the toast of Manhattan. Outrageous! is a film about human relationships and acceptance...of loving, supporting and encouraging those people whom you care about. It's filled with character studies that are rich and evocative. Craig Russell was truly a genius. He was in my opinion the greatest female "impressionist" of all time. By utilizing his own vocal talents, facial expressions and simple make-up and costume changes, he would transform into Mae West, Talulah Bankhead, Bette Davis, Judy Garland, Carol Channing or Peggy Lee (to name but a few) so seamlessly, one would easily forget they weren't witnessing the genuine article. His one man show "A Man and His Woman" which played at "Theatre East"in Manhattan allowed audiences to see the true extent of his talent that was only touched upon in the film. Outrageous! is a film that dramatically changed and enriched my life. The film should be restored and reissued both theatrically and on DVD. It sends a profoundly positive message that should be passed on to future generations.

Cheers,

R. Stephen Weber Burbank, CA

Outrageous is about a drag queen, his 'family' and his problematic niece as they juggles life problems around in them.

More of an interesting footnote, Outrageous is a well made slice of feature that shows early drag in a way that does not put it out as joke but the art of that it is -- of imitation. Everything about it is above average, with clear highlights both performance wise and acting wise from Drag Queen Robin Turner. The film threads a fine line between documentary with the performance being more of a showcase than a narrative device.

Though, the story could have been more workshopped to be more dramatic and have the two plots feels more connected (the Pregnancy and the Club rise story). Its practically two separate stories that begs to be in different movies.

Overall, a noteworthy drag adjacent film and well made dramatic feature.

The late Craig Russell is the star of Outrageous! It was a cult favorite here in the Boston area, playing for weeks at the late lamented Orson Welles Cinema. I had a bright red T-shirt with the movie logo on the front that I treasured for years.

First and foremost, the film is a document of his brilliant performances; he not only got the look and mannerisms of his subjects down cold, he also spoke and sung all the voices himself!

The plot, such as it is, is a tale about his attempts to become a successful performer, and about his schizophrenic friend and how he and she support and heal each other. It's not bad, but the performances are the heart and soul of the film.

Outrageous! was long out of print; happily for the world, it's available again. Get it while you can.

Both leads are spectacular. Unlike most early (pre-AIDS) gay films, this still hits the spot. I've been ruined for life by these (actual, not lipped) impersonations. All by themselves, the impersonations are worth renting/buying this film, but the rest of the story is also superbly done. This should prove to those who get their kicks out of ridiculing Canadian films that they were wrong.

Weird movie. One has to wonder how it gets such high reviews when it's actually not that good.

First of all the budget must have been three dollars and it looks as f it was filmed in 16mm and then blown up to 35mm.

The story is not compelling and the drag performers sort of stink.

Craig Russell looks horrible. He's really puffy and you have to wonder if he was having plastic work done. Further, he wasn't all that talented doing his impersonations! Except for Carol Channing.

I remember Russell on TV when I was a kid. He always claimed he was straight. In fact, he only lived with women. First a writer who story this movie is loosely based on and then he got married and had a daughter.

But, alas, he died of AIDS.

The basic issue with this movie, a part from how cheaply made it looks, is that there really is no story. They tried to make something out of the schizophrenic pregnant woman he lived with, but it really goes no where. Instead the film winds up only being a showcase for Russell's impersonations.

This has been a favorite for years and years... it's touching, and basic, and about love and acceptance: multi-layered, it professes a simple lesson. Hollis Mc Laren is AMAZING in her role: she rips your heart out. Definitely should be part of any "gay" movie collection. (I question the label... this is 2006, after all, and personally I am tired of labels. Why can't we all just love? Let's have a Whatever Pride Parade!) Craig Russell demonstrates the bravery inherent in the early proclaimers of the gay movement, but his message speaks to everyone: be yourself, and society be damned! This is an unforgettable film, and highly worthy of your attention.

Bittersweet story of a hairdresser in Toronto who becomes a drag star (sort of) and his friendship with a schizophrenic girl trying to start a life away from her mother and hospitals. As played by Craig Russell and Hollis McLaren we see two fragile-but-believable characters struggling to find themselves in New York City.

McLaren's character of Liza has been released after years in a mental ward. She's still defiant and wants to experience life. She moves in with Russell in Toronto and has ups and downs and ends up pregnant. Russell is drawn to performing in a local club and loses his job, giving him the excuse to pursue his drag act full time, eventually moving to New York. After Liza loses her baby, she follows Russell to New York and realizes that the "bone crushers" she often hallucinates have stayed behind in Toronto.

The main focus though is Russell as he prepares for and then performs his act. He channels Tallulah Bankhead at the drop of a hat and with a series of wigs and quick changes he impersonates Bette Davis, Joan Crawford, Carol Channing, Pearl Bailey, Ella Fitzgerald, Bette Midler, Ethel Merman, Marlene Dietrich, Mae West, Barbra Streisand, and Judy Garland. The Midler is not great but the others are pretty much spot on.

Best of all is is a full-dress Peggy Lee singing "It Ain't Easy." This is Russell's best act and the song is terrific (Paul Hoffert wrote it). It also bring us to the marvelous and surreal ending when Russell, still in full Peggy Lee drag tells Liza that she's not crazy, just special, and that she must simply be herself, embrace her madness and make it work for her. He tells her we are all mad and then teaches her to do a deep Bankhead laugh saying maaaaaad, maaaaad.

Also in the cast is the very funny Richert Easley as Perry, a would-be drag queen who has a passion for Karen Black. As he's begging Liza for the loan of a dress he grabs one out of the closet and she tells him "that's my best dress." He looks at her and opines, "This is your best?" Also in the cast are Helen Shaver as a lesbian friend and David McIlwraith as the cab driver/manager..

A word must be said for the wonderful music by Paul Hoffert, who in addition to "It Ain't Easy," also wrote "Step Out" sung by Cecille Frennette.

At first I reacted against the sentimentality of the madness-as-nonconformism theme, which is really mostly down to Hollis McLaren; as Craig Russell's heavily medicated roommate, she gets more than a little familiar when she expresses her downturns with hushed gibberish or staring through her fingers. But in between episodes she really gets to articulate the bill of outsiders' rights, and Russell is right there with her. No comparable clichés in this film's depiction of the Toronto gay scene, a diverse yet claustrophobic enclave that places transvestites on the bottom of a depressingly rigid hierarchy - an economic threat to closeted hairdressers, stealth patriarchs to the second-wave dykes. At a time when cinematic queerness was synonymous with effete self-loathing, this sympathetic and detailed depiction of a complex, vital skid-row subculture was decades ahead of its time, and has real time-capsule value today. All of which to say is that they're far from just marking time between Russell's impersonations, which are definitive even if he did steal them from Mae West herself. Put the two together and you've got a film that synthesizes social engagement and entertainment value with almost unprecedented verve.

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. One reviewer says Margaret was bi-polar, Margaret's way of removing the stigma of schizophrenia. The term did not exist 40 years ago! From her adolescence onwards, she had been hospitalized on a few occasions. During our marriage on several occasions Margaret went off her meds to prove she did not have schizophrenia with ensuing issues and short-term hospitalization to get her back on her meds. Comments by the other reviewers are interesting and mostly heartfelt. Craig became an excellent female impersonator. He would practise in front of a mirror, of course, and in front of his circle of friends. At the time I knew him, he never considered nor 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-overs for all of the singing of the female impersonator character. 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. 40 years ago is a long time to remember details.

I've seen this film more than 10 years ago and am thinking about it regularly. For me it is one of this films about what it means to be a human being and how precious every individual is. Like Dodes'ka-den from Kurosawa.

The acting was superb. A sleeper film if I ever saw one, more people should see it. It needs to be re-released and published for sale.

... has made me think of this movie thousands of times since I saw it (and marveled at Taylor) at the old Playboy Theater in Chicago on a particularly nasty winter night. This was when it (and I) first came out, and I've not seen it since, so pardon my fumbles on the details, but.... One character is *waaay* down in the pit of despair toward the end of the film, and second character basically delivers a get-over-it slap: "You're just like everybody else. You're alive and sick and living in Toronto...." The audience roared. Who needs "alive and well"? We all *are* alive and sick and living wherever. And alive and sick (or sick of heart, or sick of it all) and living lots of places since, it's slapped me back into a smile more times than I can count. It was quite a gift, in its sweet neurotic way.

Aside from truly loving this film, I must say it carried me through some difficult times. I was diagnosed schizo-affective ( a combination of schizophrenia and a mood disorder-Major depression in my case) around 24, and it also was around that time, post diagnosis, I discovered Outrageous!. I remember watching it on my TV in the middle of the night, laughing out loud for the first time in a while. All the characters made perfect sense to me, and I wished that I could have had them in my circle. :) I never considered my diagnosis a hindrance but, up until that point, I didn't know what to do with it. The characters made me see that I didn't need to; it was part of me. I couldn't change it, but I "could have a hell of a good time" with it. Like any good crutch, I used it to get through my "new world", and I will always be grateful. I showed to my best friend, and she loved it as much as I did, and she wasn't "touched", as I came to call it. Anyhoo 35+ years later, and now I'm searching for the sequel---more difficult than I would have thought. And, also, I would like to thank Margaret Gibson for her book of stories, "The Butterfly Ward". I tracked down a copy early on, and have it still to this day.

I saw this on YouTube 6/8/2019 and found it a very enjoyable film that even made me laugh at times. Craig Russell is the lead "drag queen" in the movie. Russell was a man possessing an obvious, albeit eccentric, talent. His female impersonations in "Outrageous" come across as cinematic versions of Al Hirschfeld prints. Hollis McLaren effectively portrays furloughed mental patient Lisa. I was even surprised to hear some memorable lines in the scripted dialog. Russell deserves the praise he received for all those spot-on caricatures of Bette Davis, Joan Crawford, Carol Channing and many others. But Robin Turner may be his best "impersonation" of them all. I came away very much believing his portrayal of an interesting, likable human being possessed of considerable complexity. A strange, low-budget, high quality movie. Glad I found it.

I am not certainly the target audience for movies about drag queens because the subject simply doesn't interest me but if you are curious to know the reason why I saw OUTRAGEOUS you'd think I am nuts: it's the first movie Michael Ironside ever did but he appears very briefly towards the end as one of the nightclub drunks. Despite that tiny appearence, it was worth seeing the entire movie for it.

Robin Turner is an inept Canadian hairdresser that does hair and makeup for the drag shows but doesn't want to go on the stage himself. His best friend Lisa is schizophrenic but left the institution for being Robin's roommate. After some banter Robin tries various costumes until he wears one as Tallullah Bankhead and he has a success at the Halloween party winning the first prize and has the chance of performing regularly there. Robin debuts at the club dressed as Bette Davis mocking Joan Crawford's performances and singing live instead of play backing, the next time dressed as Barbra Streisand but after losing his day job he has to move to New York City. Once there he switches various personalitites: from Carol Channing to Marlene Dietrich, from Pearl Bailey to Bette Midler. And through all this he'll manage to make his sister accept their madness.

The main reason for seeing this is the music. Lots of classic american songs are covered, along with many impersonations of famous old-time actresses and singers that were also very funny. And despite the cast members are all no-names they were just good.

Not to be missed especially if you have great knowledge of old-time actresses and singers, and for the rest, to be seen for the music alone.

Robin Turner (Craig Russell) is a female impersonator living with a schizophrenic woman (Hollis McLaren). She gets pregnant (she's not sure who the father is). They live in Toronto but he finds out he can make it big in NYC...but can he leave her alone?

Great comedy/drama made on next to no budget. Most of it landed on the shoulders of Russell who was a female impersonator in real life. In the movie you see him do Bette Davis, Barbra Streisand, Mae West, Carol Channing, Marlene Dietrich, Ethel Merman, Bette Midler and Judy Garland! He's great as all of them. This film was a huge hit playing for over a year at most art house cinemas. Dated but fascinating.

["If a caterpillar was afraid of wings it would never become a butterfly, and people would say, 'Look, there's a worm on the tree....' But they'd never seen it spinning colors into the air......"]

I first saw "Outrageous" 22 years ago, (this will sound strange) I was so moved by it's greatness and at the time didn't have a VCR that I recorded it with a hand held tape recorder-audio-and that was how I 'watched' the movie for years til I got it on video. That is how incredibly touching, and GREAT this movie was and is! In it's unique way it almost reaches out and literally touches your heart if you let it. (And maybe even teach you a thing or two about life, love, people, and most important, FRIENDS!!)

Like others, over the years, I have watched and re-watched this delightful confection of a movie which possesses the rare combination of feeling almost like an indie/documentary/hand-held camera opus while also being very well made. Like art (or good wine) it wears/ages well, presenting a multi-level array of elements including a fun retro look at the gay/bar/fashion/hair scene of the '70's, the "easy to meet people", fun-loving, and not-yet-cynical attitude regarding social life and relationships, promiscuity as no big deal, and the message of self-love and self-acceptance over conformity. Craig Russell is perfect as the hairdresser looking for that "more" within himself and in life. He and his little coterie of friends create a warm, familiar, and almost cozy sense of affiliation/friendship despite the campy and sometimes abrasive repartee. This movie has a lot of heart and I "heartily" recommend it.