OUTRAGEOUS!

Canada, 1977, 100 minutes, Colour.
Craig Russell, Hollis Mc Laren, Allen Moyle, Richard Easley.
Directed by Richard Benner.

Outrageous! is a Canadian film, the first film written and directed by Richard Brenner. It has the famous female impersonator Craig Russell portraying a homosexual in Canada. He has a great friend, a schizophrenic girl expertly played by Hollis Mc Laren. The picture of these two misfits is a very fine compassionate story as well as a story that throws light on social attitudes in Canada. It also gives Russell the opportunity of impersonating many famous women singers and film stars expertly. 'Outrageous' is not as its title suggests. It is a very fine and feeling character study.

1. The meaning and tone of the title? Did it apply to the film in content, style? Was the title apt or not?

2. The values of Canadian production? Setting, style, attitudes towards themselves, towards the United States?

3. The presentation of the outrageous in behaviour, manners, morals, madness and normality? The importance of the juxtaposition of madness and normality in the film? Of people stepping out publicly in society from generally unaccepted positions? What were the criteria in the film for the mad, the normal, the outrageous? How well would the audience share the
writer-director's presuppositions? How judging was the audience, how permissive, how compassionate? how judgmental was the film, permissive, compassionate?

4. The value of the film in presenting characters who were anomalies in society? The insight into their situations, personalities, strengths and weaknesses, abilities to cope? Their happiness, pain, loneliness? Where did compassion lie?

5. The importance of the pre-credits introduction? The mood, humour, judgment especially in terms of drag entertainment? The tone that this gave to the film? Its replaying during the film?

6. The attitude of the film towards homosexuality? Bypassing theories of its origins? Its presentation of homosexual men in the middle of their lives, presenting their behaviour, the world in which they live, their expectations and expectations of others, work, jobs, the gay bars, their apartments, entertainment? The milieu of the homosexuals in this film? The quality of their life, their ability to cope? Friendships, jokes, relationships, sexuality? The secrecy? The social attitudes, Robin's attitude towards his ability for impersonation, his role at the hairdressers, and the women not knowing about the homosexuality? The transfer from the Canadian scene to the more permissive New York scene? How sympathetically did the film present homosexuals for a homosexual audience, heterosexual audience?

7. Robin as the focus of the film? was he outrageous? Seeing him in his ordinary day-to-day life, his explanations of himself and his depressions and moods, his capacity for joy, his friends? His tight attitude towards himself and his becoming freer and letting it out, especially with his impersonations and talent? His friends, the boyfriends taken home? How was his life changed by the presence of Liza? The strange pair sharing the apartment? Friendship with Perry, Paul? Seeing him at work and the ambiguous attitudes of Jason and Jason's sacking him? The contrast with his dealing with life at home? His compassion for Liza and listening to her? His impersonation and its growing success? The humour and accuracy of his impersonations? Their placement throughout the film? The build-up to the auditions? New York and success and a career as a goal which activated him? The ambiguous hope and fear and doubt?

8. The motivation of going to New York to help Liza and her baby? The bringing together of Liza, and Robin at the end Liza having lost her baby but perhaps gained some sanity, her joy at Robin's success and the atmosphere of dance at the end? Robin who was successful, with a career but yet who could devote himself to rescuing Liza? The inconclusive ending but the positive approach taken? Audience response to the impersonations and the 'drag' acts? The initial shows, the songs, the many impersonators throughout the film, Perry and his humorous impersonations, for example of Karen Black, the nun? Robin's impersonation of the film stars and their accuracy? The New York scene and Mae West etc.? His finale and the variations on 'Diamonds are a Girl's Best Friend'? A form of entertainment and humour?

9. The presentation of the patrons of the gay bars, their response to the acts, their lives in themselves, friendship, breaking through loneliness? The personalities of such people as Perry, Paul, his work as managing Robin? The audience looking at the people in these bars?

10. Robin's change and development as parallelled with that of Liza? Audience sympathy for her? an attractive young girl, compassion for her schizophrenia? Her escape from the hospital, her drawing, her withdrawing, her arrival and begging from Robin and her response from him? The filling in of her background, the amount of medication, the nurse and her interview and the instructions, the doctor and his explanations and the emphasis on non-pregnancy? Her mother's visit and the indications of her mother being so much of the cause? The importance of the telephone call, Christmas, questions of blame? The details of her hallucinations and Robin's coping with these? Her stories? Her attempts at normal behaviour with the nurse, for example serving the tea? Her friendship with the women? especially the editor of her stories? How well could Liza cope with ordinary society? How much medication did she need, hospitalisation, seclusion? The basic drive for the pregnancy and her understanding of life within her?

11. Martin and his visit, his response to Liza and to Robin? The importance of the pregnancy and conceiving? Her mania and fears about the baby?

12. Her hallucinations and her fear of death, her understanding of life, the bone-crusher? Stuart and the pregnancy? The importance of the advice to get an abortion, the need for money and her having the baby, her sewing? The
Christmas party and the emotional tensions? Jo and her stories, Anne and her love (the lesbian background) and the death of the baby? Themes of life and death as affecting Liza?

13. How well did the film make the parallels of each story especially by the editing and the developments? The need for Robin to rescue Liza?

14. What had been achieved for each of them by the end of the film? Their own madness as they said but the fact that they were special? How true was this?

15. The world in which they would continue to live? the world of the Perrys, Pauls, the New York world of entertainment, gay society, social anomalous people?

16. How well did the film invite the average audience into understanding normality and the criteria for this, entering a different world and accepting the people within it and having compassion and understanding for their lives and their values?