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Dennis Donovan

(18,770 posts)
Fri Aug 14, 2020, 06:28 AM Aug 2020

45 Years Ago Today; Let's do the Time Warp... for the first time on screen

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Rocky_Horror_Picture_Show



The Rocky Horror Picture Show is a 1975 musical horror comedy film by 20th Century Fox, produced by Lou Adler and Michael White and directed by Jim Sharman. The screenplay was written by Sharman and actor Richard O'Brien, who is also a member of the cast. The film is based on the 1973 musical stage production The Rocky Horror Show, with music, book, and lyrics by O'Brien. The production is a parody tribute to the science fiction and horror B movies of the 1930s through to the early 1960s. Along with O'Brien, the film stars Tim Curry, Susan Sarandon, and Barry Bostwick and is narrated by Charles Gray with cast members from the original Royal Court Theatre, Roxy Theatre, and Belasco Theatre productions including Nell Campbell and Patricia Quinn.

The story centres on a young engaged couple whose car breaks down in the rain near a castle where they seek a telephone to call for help. The castle or country home is occupied by strangers in elaborate costumes celebrating an annual convention. They discover the head of the house is Dr. Frank N. Furter, an apparently mad scientist who actually is an alien transvestite who creates a living muscle man in his laboratory. The couple are seduced separately by the mad scientist and eventually released by the servants who take control.

The film was shot in the United Kingdom at Bray Studios and on location at an old country estate named Oakley Court, best known for its earlier use by Hammer Film Productions. A number of props and set pieces were reused from the Hammer horror films. Although the film is both a parody of and tribute to many kitsch science fiction and horror films, costume designer Sue Blane conducted no research for her designs. Blane stated that costumes from the film have directly affected the development of punk rock fashion trends such as ripped fishnets and dyed hair.

Although largely critically panned on initial release, it soon became known as a midnight movie when audiences began participating with the film at the Waverly Theater in New York City in 1976. Audience members returned to the cinemas frequently and talked back to the screen and began dressing as the characters, spawning similar performance groups across the United States. At almost the same time, fans in costume at the King's Court Theater in Pittsburgh began performing alongside the film. This "shadow cast" mimed the actions on screen above and behind them, while lip-synching their character's lines. Still in limited release four decades after its premiere, it is the longest-running theatrical release in film history. It is often shown close to Halloween. Today, the film has a large international cult following. It was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress in 2005.

<snip>

Reception, reaction and legacy
Critical reception

Chicago Sun-Times critic Roger Ebert noted that when first released, The Rocky Horror Picture Show was "ignored by pretty much everyone, including the future fanatics who would eventually count the hundreds of times they'd seen it". He considered it more a "long-running social phenomenon" than a movie, rating it 2.5 out of 4 stars. Bill Henkin noted that Variety thought that the "campy hijinks" of the film seemed labored, and also mentioned that the San Francisco Chronicle's John Wasserman, who had liked the stage play in London, found the film "lacking both charm and dramatic impact". Newsweek called the film "tasteless, plotless and pointless" in 1978.

Review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes gives the film a rating of 80% based on 41 reviews, and an average grade of 6.9/10, with the critical consensus reading "Rocky Horror Picture Show brings its quirky characters in tight, but it's the narrative thrust that really drives audiences insane and keeps 'em doing the time warp again". A number of contemporary critics find it compelling and enjoyable because of its offbeat and bizarre qualities; the BBC summarised: "for those willing to experiment with something a little bit different, a little bit outré, The Rocky Horror Picture Show has a lot to offer". The New York Times called it a "low-budget freak show/cult classic/cultural institution" with "catchy" songs. Geoff Andrew of Time Out noted that the "string of hummable songs gives it momentum, Gray's admirably straight-faced narrator holds it together, and a run on black lingerie takes care of almost everything else", rating it 4 out of 5 stars. Dave Kehr of the Chicago Reader on the other hand considered the wit to be "too weak to sustain a film" and thought that the "songs all sound the same".

In 2005, the film was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant"

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45 Years Ago Today; Let's do the Time Warp... for the first time on screen (Original Post) Dennis Donovan Aug 2020 OP
i loved that movie!! I was a single parent in college amd took my 6 yr old dtr to see it.. samnsara Aug 2020 #1
First time for me was as a college freshman with my Science Fiction Club exboyfil Aug 2020 #2

samnsara

(17,650 posts)
1. i loved that movie!! I was a single parent in college amd took my 6 yr old dtr to see it..
Fri Aug 14, 2020, 08:24 AM
Aug 2020

.....I also took her to all the NORML meeting and we watched Reefer Madness at a fundraiser. I wish I could say it made her more socially/politically aware but she FORGOT to send in her self stamped ballot during the primaries. grrrrr

exboyfil

(17,865 posts)
2. First time for me was as a college freshman with my Science Fiction Club
Fri Aug 14, 2020, 08:47 AM
Aug 2020

They loved having "virgins". They really got into it. Fun people and fun time.

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