RuPaul Is: Starbooty!
Encyclopedia
RuPaul is: Starbooty! is an low-budget underground film
trilogy
starring and co-produced by then-unfamous drag queen
RuPaul
. Because it was produced on a very low budget, various posters, advertisements and video covers alternate the spelling between "Starbooty" and "Starrbooty".
of 1960s blaxploitation
films. RuPaul stars as Starbooty, a crime fighting federal agent who disposes of villains while getting entangled in romantic liaisons. At the time, RuPaul was still participating in a type of drag known as genderfuck
; as such his appearance generally is of a man with feminine makeup and clothes, but no padding or taping to make the body look female.
Outside the canon of the actual films, a sketch on RuPaul's VH1
talk show continued the storyline of the character of Starbooty with a preview for an alleged new film called "Starbooty in: Take That You Honky Bitch".
In 2006 RuPaul used his blog to discuss a film he was in the process of making which he called "The Untitled RuPaul Movie". The film was initially titled Starrbooty: Reloaded but ultimately is just called Starrbooty
. The film follows similar plot lines from the previous ones, but contains more sexually explicit content.
When originally produced, cheaply manufactured video cassettes were passed out on the streets and at clubs. Currently they can be purchased together on one video cassette and DVD at the website of Funtone Records, a trademark established by Jon Witherspoon, the man who paid to produce the films originally.
of President Ronald Reagan
’s son, Ron Reagan
, in an affluent Atlanta neighborhood by the Evil Twins, one male and the other female. The word is spread quickly. Max, a secret agent
, calls Star Booty, an ex-model turned secret agent to alert her of the situation. Star Booty is then revealed in the conversation to be a patriotic American
citizen. She is grateful that her employment with the United States government has turned her life into something positive, something she keeps repeating in the film. Hiding in a house, the Evil Twins reveal that they plain to infect the world with the AIDS
virus, which they have samples of bottled in a jar. When the Twins discover Star Booty snooping around, they decide to dump the virus through the water pipes. Star Booty breaks in and thwarts the plan. The Twins start to fight her and as they fight, Star Booty finds heroin on the male twin. As both twins are lying unconscious Star Booty gives a heartfelt monologue
about her mission to purge drugs from society. The Twins wake up and try to escape, but Star Booty's quick reflexes stop them. Star Booty throws Twins from the second story to the ground and they die. Later, Max calls Star Booty to congratulate her on her success. While he is speaking, Max and his secretary are fondling and doing heroin, which may suggest a conspiracy.
Star Booty II: The Mack is the sequel. RuPaul reprises her role as Star Booty. The film opens with Cornisha, leaving her pimp Mack's hideout and renouncing her harlot ways. Mack is furious and beats her down. Cornisha, injured, manages to escape and reach a payphone
to call Star Booty. As she is talking, Cornisha dies, as a result of her injuries.
A helicopter arrives with Max. Max is shown from the back and played by a different actor and his face is never revealed. He meets Star Booty in downtown and gives her information about Mack. Star Booty vows to avenge her sister's death and to kill Mack.
On the streets of Atlanta, a whore named Lizeth, and two unnamed ones, hustle
for their breakfast. Star Booty, undercover, comes upon these girls with a swagger and a confidence that they don't have. She inquires whether they have a pimp or not and she urges them to be self reliant and join her. Lizeth is revealed to be pessimistic and emotionally codependent on Mack and claims he treats her right and is reluctant to do so. Eventually, she befriends them and before long, they are running the streets together.
Mack sees Star Booty on a street corner and takes her to his bar hideout. Mack is smitten by Star Booty and gives her a puff of his cigarette
. Their canoodling is interrupted by a phone call. The caller who is revealed to be Lizeth, who warns that, Star Booty is going to kill him. While Mack is speaking on the phone, Star Booty starts snooping around for evidence and discovers files that show evidence of her sister's murder
, alcohol, and exploiting of women. Mack catches Star Booty and she reveals who she really is and why is there. Star Booty escapes and meets with the other girls and discovers that Lizeth is the traitor and Star Booty and the other girls go find her. Unbeknownst to them, Lizeth is searching for Star Booty to kill her.
Star Booty and the girls encounter Lizeth who pulls a knife on them. A fight ensues and Lizeth is killed. Star Booty searches for Mack and finds him in a parking lot. A scuffle ensues and during the fight, Mack pulls a Tommy gun that Star Booty manages to knock out of his hand before he can shoot. Quick thinking and fast reflexes, she picks up the gun and kills Mack. Star Booty meets with Max, gives him searches for Mack and finds him in a parking lot. The films closes with a song called “The Mack”.
Star Booty III: Star Booty's Revenge is the third installment. The film opens with Max, telling Star Booty of her new assignment. The Singing Peek Sisters have kidnapped Larry Tee. This time the film takes us from Atlanta to New York city. There's an opening montage of shots that show Star Booty undercover throughout the city. Star Booty arrives at the hideout of the Singing Peek Sisters where they have tied Larry Tee with dynamite and apparently are angry with not having a recording contract while their rivals do. Star Booty encourages them to trust her and to follow her plan to success. They let Tee go and with Star Booty's help, they hit the recording studio and start promoting themselves in New York city and eventually make it to number one on the Billboard charts. In the end, Star Booty says, "I knew they could do it".
RuPaul released in 1986 along with the movie RuPaul Is: Starbooty! an Original Motion Picture Soundtrack with 8 songs. It was released by Atlanta-based label, Funtone Records.
Underground film
An underground film is a film that is out of the mainstream either in its style, genre, or financing.-Definition and history:The first use of the term "underground film" occurs in a 1957 essay by American film critic Manny Farber, "Underground Films." Farber uses it to refer to the work of...
trilogy
Trilogy
A trilogy is a set of three works of art that are connected, and that can be seen either as a single work or as three individual works. They are commonly found in literature, film, or video games...
starring and co-produced by then-unfamous drag queen
Drag queen
A drag queen is a man who dresses, and usually acts, like a caricature woman often for the purpose of entertaining. There are many kinds of drag artists and they vary greatly, from professionals who have starred in films to people who just try it once. Drag queens also vary by class and culture and...
RuPaul
RuPaul
RuPaul Andre Charles , best known as simply RuPaul, is an American actor, drag queen, model, author, and singer-songwriter, who first became widely known in the 1990s when he appeared in a wide variety of television programs, films, and musical albums. Previously, he was a fixture on the Atlanta...
. Because it was produced on a very low budget, various posters, advertisements and video covers alternate the spelling between "Starbooty" and "Starrbooty".
Plot
Filmed on a zero-dollar budget, the movies are a pastichePastiche
A pastiche is a literary or other artistic genre or technique that is a "hodge-podge" or imitation. The word is also a linguistic term used to describe an early stage in the development of a pidgin language.-Hodge-podge:...
of 1960s blaxploitation
Blaxploitation
Blaxploitation or blacksploitation is a film genre which emerged in the United States circa 1970. It is considered an ethnic sub-genre of the general category of exploitation films. Blaxploitation films were originally made specifically for an urban black audience, although the genre's audience...
films. RuPaul stars as Starbooty, a crime fighting federal agent who disposes of villains while getting entangled in romantic liaisons. At the time, RuPaul was still participating in a type of drag known as genderfuck
Genderfuck
Genderfuck refers to the conscious effort to mock or "fuck with" traditional notions of gender identity, gender roles, and gender presentation. It falls under the umbrella of the transgender spectrum.-Genderfucking:...
; as such his appearance generally is of a man with feminine makeup and clothes, but no padding or taping to make the body look female.
Outside the canon of the actual films, a sketch on RuPaul's VH1
VH1
VH1 or Vh1 is an American cable television network based in New York City. Launched on January 1, 1985 in the old space of Turner Broadcasting's short-lived Cable Music Channel, the original purpose of the channel was to build on the success of MTV by playing music videos, but targeting a slightly...
talk show continued the storyline of the character of Starbooty with a preview for an alleged new film called "Starbooty in: Take That You Honky Bitch".
In 2006 RuPaul used his blog to discuss a film he was in the process of making which he called "The Untitled RuPaul Movie". The film was initially titled Starrbooty: Reloaded but ultimately is just called Starrbooty
Starrbooty
Starrbooty is a low-budget film written by and starring drag queen RuPaul. The movie is the fourth in a series of films starring the title character, a top secret government agent and supermodel...
. The film follows similar plot lines from the previous ones, but contains more sexually explicit content.
When originally produced, cheaply manufactured video cassettes were passed out on the streets and at clubs. Currently they can be purchased together on one video cassette and DVD at the website of Funtone Records, a trademark established by Jon Witherspoon, the man who paid to produce the films originally.
Feature films
Star Booty I: The Motion Picture opens with the kidnappingKidnapping
In criminal law, kidnapping is the taking away or transportation of a person against that person's will, usually to hold the person in false imprisonment, a confinement without legal authority...
of President Ronald Reagan
Ronald Reagan
Ronald Wilson Reagan was the 40th President of the United States , the 33rd Governor of California and, prior to that, a radio, film and television actor....
’s son, Ron Reagan
Ron Reagan
Ronald Prescott "Ron" Reagan sometimes known as Ronald Reagan, Jr., is a former talk radio host and chief political analyst for KIRO radio in Seattle until his show was canceled on August 8, 2007...
, in an affluent Atlanta neighborhood by the Evil Twins, one male and the other female. The word is spread quickly. Max, a secret agent
Secret Agent
Secret Agent is a British film directed by Alfred Hitchcock, loosely based on two stories in Ashenden: Or the British Agent by W. Somerset Maugham. The film starred John Gielgud, Peter Lorre, Madeleine Carroll, and Robert Young...
, calls Star Booty, an ex-model turned secret agent to alert her of the situation. Star Booty is then revealed in the conversation to be a patriotic American
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
citizen. She is grateful that her employment with the United States government has turned her life into something positive, something she keeps repeating in the film. Hiding in a house, the Evil Twins reveal that they plain to infect the world with the AIDS
AIDS
Acquired immune deficiency syndrome or acquired immunodeficiency syndrome is a disease of the human immune system caused by the human immunodeficiency virus...
virus, which they have samples of bottled in a jar. When the Twins discover Star Booty snooping around, they decide to dump the virus through the water pipes. Star Booty breaks in and thwarts the plan. The Twins start to fight her and as they fight, Star Booty finds heroin on the male twin. As both twins are lying unconscious Star Booty gives a heartfelt monologue
Monologue
In theatre, a monologue is a speech presented by a single character, most often to express their thoughts aloud, though sometimes also to directly address another character or the audience. Monologues are common across the range of dramatic media...
about her mission to purge drugs from society. The Twins wake up and try to escape, but Star Booty's quick reflexes stop them. Star Booty throws Twins from the second story to the ground and they die. Later, Max calls Star Booty to congratulate her on her success. While he is speaking, Max and his secretary are fondling and doing heroin, which may suggest a conspiracy.
Star Booty II: The Mack is the sequel. RuPaul reprises her role as Star Booty. The film opens with Cornisha, leaving her pimp Mack's hideout and renouncing her harlot ways. Mack is furious and beats her down. Cornisha, injured, manages to escape and reach a payphone
Payphone
A payphone or pay phone is a public telephone, often located in a phone booth or a privacy hood, with pre-payment by inserting money , a credit or debit card, or a telephone card....
to call Star Booty. As she is talking, Cornisha dies, as a result of her injuries.
A helicopter arrives with Max. Max is shown from the back and played by a different actor and his face is never revealed. He meets Star Booty in downtown and gives her information about Mack. Star Booty vows to avenge her sister's death and to kill Mack.
On the streets of Atlanta, a whore named Lizeth, and two unnamed ones, hustle
Hustling
Hustling is the deceptive act of disguising one's skill in a sport or game with the intent of luring someone of probably lesser skill into gambling with the hustler, as a form of confidence trick...
for their breakfast. Star Booty, undercover, comes upon these girls with a swagger and a confidence that they don't have. She inquires whether they have a pimp or not and she urges them to be self reliant and join her. Lizeth is revealed to be pessimistic and emotionally codependent on Mack and claims he treats her right and is reluctant to do so. Eventually, she befriends them and before long, they are running the streets together.
Mack sees Star Booty on a street corner and takes her to his bar hideout. Mack is smitten by Star Booty and gives her a puff of his cigarette
Cigarette
A cigarette is a small roll of finely cut tobacco leaves wrapped in a cylinder of thin paper for smoking. The cigarette is ignited at one end and allowed to smoulder; its smoke is inhaled from the other end, which is held in or to the mouth and in some cases a cigarette holder may be used as well...
. Their canoodling is interrupted by a phone call. The caller who is revealed to be Lizeth, who warns that, Star Booty is going to kill him. While Mack is speaking on the phone, Star Booty starts snooping around for evidence and discovers files that show evidence of her sister's murder
Murder
Murder is the unlawful killing, with malice aforethought, of another human being, and generally this state of mind distinguishes murder from other forms of unlawful homicide...
, alcohol, and exploiting of women. Mack catches Star Booty and she reveals who she really is and why is there. Star Booty escapes and meets with the other girls and discovers that Lizeth is the traitor and Star Booty and the other girls go find her. Unbeknownst to them, Lizeth is searching for Star Booty to kill her.
Star Booty and the girls encounter Lizeth who pulls a knife on them. A fight ensues and Lizeth is killed. Star Booty searches for Mack and finds him in a parking lot. A scuffle ensues and during the fight, Mack pulls a Tommy gun that Star Booty manages to knock out of his hand before he can shoot. Quick thinking and fast reflexes, she picks up the gun and kills Mack. Star Booty meets with Max, gives him searches for Mack and finds him in a parking lot. The films closes with a song called “The Mack”.
Star Booty III: Star Booty's Revenge is the third installment. The film opens with Max, telling Star Booty of her new assignment. The Singing Peek Sisters have kidnapped Larry Tee. This time the film takes us from Atlanta to New York city. There's an opening montage of shots that show Star Booty undercover throughout the city. Star Booty arrives at the hideout of the Singing Peek Sisters where they have tied Larry Tee with dynamite and apparently are angry with not having a recording contract while their rivals do. Star Booty encourages them to trust her and to follow her plan to success. They let Tee go and with Star Booty's help, they hit the recording studio and start promoting themselves in New York city and eventually make it to number one on the Billboard charts. In the end, Star Booty says, "I knew they could do it".
Soundtrack
Track listing
- The Mack (4:46)
- Make That Move (5:42)
- Ghetto Love (4:15)
- Star Booty (4:41)
- You Want Love (Follow Me) (2:56)
- Everything (3:54)
- You Are The World (To Me) (4:20)
- Ernestine's Rap (2:36)