Highway of Heartache

Highway of Heartache is a 1994 feature film that was billed as the first Canadian country-western drag queen musical. Written and directed by Gregory Wild, the film follows the misadventures of Wynona-Sue Turnpike (Barbara Chamberlin, who also write the film’s score) on a raucous and unlikely road to Nashville superstardom. Backed up by a pair of transvestite guardian angels (played by The Big Wigs), Wynona-Sue faces a variety of indignities including an abusive husband, the threat of life imprisonment and venereal disease. The film’s humor ranged from gross-out to surreal (the heroine’s gynecologist was an Elvis Presley imitator), and the entire film was shot on Day-Glo sets designed and built by Wild. [Film Threat essay [http://www.filmthreat.com/index.php?section=reviews&Id=1492] ]

"Highway of Heartache" was made in 1994 and had its theatrical premiere in New York in August 1996. Critical reaction was mixed: Stephen Holden in the "New York Times" complained of a “gratingly hysterical pitch [that] makes a John Waters romp look like a Merchant-Ivory reverie…what began as a screaming Day-Glo comedy turns into a sensory endurance test.” [New York Times review [http://movies.nytimes.com/movie/review?res=9907E3DF163BF935A3575AC0A960958260] ] However, Ken Eisner of "Variety" dubbed it “the weirdest feature yet to come out of Canada” and “consistently funny” [Variety review [http://www.variety.com/review/VE1117909101.html] ] and Sandra Brennan in All Movie Guide stated the “weird and funny Canadian film has all the makings of a cult classic.” [All Movie Guide review [http://www.answers.com/topic/highway-of-heartache?cat=entertainment] ]

"Highway of Heartache" was released on VHS video in 1999 [Amazon.com page for the film's VHS release [http://www.amazon.com/Highway-Heartache-Barbara-Chamberlin/dp/1584730021] ] , but to date it has not been released on DVD. This is the only feature film credited to Gregory Wild as a director and writer.

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External links

*imdb title | id=1170028 | title=Highway of Heartache
*" [http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/highway_of_heartache/ Highway of Heartache] " at Rotten Tomatoes