The Test of Time series takes a look back at the 1975 musical The Rocky Horror Picture Show, starring Tim Curry
When we talk about movies being hard to categorize or even succinctly summarize, this movie is the poster child for that statement. Almost 50 years on and that still holds true but how about is it good? Does a movie need to be put in a specific area or even be able to be explained to still be good? The Rocky Horror Picture Show is in a category all by itself and yet has had spinoffs of sorts and on-stage revivals since its inception and shows no signs of slowing down. I’m not even sure how the introduction to such a movie should be fleshed out so take a jump to the left, a step to the right, put your hands on your hips and bring your knees in tight. We are about to take a time warp and see if The Rocky Horror Picture Show still stands the Test of Time.
Plot
The Rocky Horror Picture Show is the movie version of the stage play musical The Rocky Horror Show. That musical was written by Richard O’Brien with songs cowritten by Richard Hartley and directed by Jim Sharman. The original cast included Tim Curry, Richard O’Brien, Patricia Quinn, Nell Campbell, and Jonathan Adams, with Meatloaf coming on pretty early as some cast would change. It first appeared in the West End of London and was a massive smash success. Record company owner Lou Adler saw one of the first showings and immediately wanted a filmed U.S. release version of it. O’Brien would again be the writer along with original director Jim Sharman who would also direct. The cast for the movie would be a mix of original cast like O’Brien, Tim Curry, Patricia Quinn, Nell Campbell, Meatloaf, and Jonathan Adams. The movie would get distribution rights from 20th Century Fox and be released first in the U.K. in August of 1975 with a U.S. release the next month.
Some newcomers to the cast would be Barry Bostwick, Susan Sarandon, Charles Grey, and Peter Hinwood. Now, admittedly when you look up the cast list, many of the actors have their pictures from this movie as their main photo and honestly why wouldn’t you? In some cases, like Hinwood, it is really the only thing they ever did but with others like Campbell, Adams, Quinn, and O’Brien, they have done more than a few other roles, but they are forever linked to these beloved characters. Adams would also show up in a lot of British TV productions and also a minor role in the Argento/Romero collaboration Two Evil Eyes. Gray has 140 credits to his name but crossing paths with James Bond a couple of times, once as Blofeld, are probably his most famous roles aside from this. Patricia Quinn had done a lot of TV before this and would do more after but would stay out of the public zeitgeist until Rob Zombie was able to get her to appear in his Lords of Salem in 2012. Nell Campbell didn’t do much else apart from appearing here and there from time to time but it must be said that she, along with multiple other cast members, would appear in the sequel which most people have never even heard of called Shock Treatment. Meatloaf would appear in a ton of different movies but may be best known for Fight Club apart from this movie and O’Brien has shown up in a bunch of random places with my favorite being showing up in 89 episodes and a couple movie versions of Phineas and Ferb. His appearances in Dark City, Flash Gordon, and the second Elvira movie should also be seen. Barry Bostwick has almost 200 credits to his name, but Spin City and the low budget Project Metalbeast are my favorites. Susan Sarandon won an Oscar and was nominated 4 other times and for the sake of brevity, I’ll just say that Bull Durham is my other favorite role for the star. Finally, there is Tim Curry, and you can tell a lot about a person by what their favorite Tim Curry role is but for the record, none of them are incorrect. Mine happens to be Clue. The only other major movie that Sharman would direct is the sequel Shock Treatment, but his legacy is secure for this and this alone.
The movie follows Brad and Janet who want to get married after going to their friend’s wedding and go to see their friend and mentor Dr. Everett Scott. They are sidetracked by a storm and their car breaking down which takes them to a secluded mansion where they meet a cast of colorful characters including Dr. Frank-N-Furter, his creation Rocky, his staff Magenta and Riff Raff, and his collection of oddball friends. They see a murder, are seduced by multiple parties, and are finally forced to perform in Frank’s strange burlesque show before his workers turn on him and take the house (which is actually a spaceship) back to the home planet of Transsexual Transylvania. Dr. Scott, Brad, and Janet are left in the dust with everyone else dead and the whole movie is sort of told as a criminal case by Charles Grey’s Criminologist. The movie is the longest running theatrical movie with it still popping up in midnight showings 49 years later and has made nearly 200 million on its 1.7 million dollar budget.
Signs of the Time
The 1970s was really the last strong decade for consistent musicals. While there weren’t nearly as many as, say, the Busby Berkeley era, there were far more in the mostly nihilistic 70s than there were after. Rocky Horror fit snuggly in the middle when it was released in 1975. Not only did you have other musicals that same year like Nashville and Tommy but the earlier part of the decade had Jesus Christ Superstar and Fiddler on the Roof while the later half of the decade gave us stuff like Grease and All That Jazz. It’s a veritable smorgasbord of what you were feeling when you chose what musical to go for. Another thing it has in common with some other 70s contemporaries is that it was ahead of its time. Hell, I’m not convinced that we are ready for it NOW in 2024, but it was certainly different from what audiences of the time were expecting. The 70s as a decade were seemingly ready to be done with where they were made, and Rocky Horror is no exception.
Its ideas on sexuality, both the repression of it and the open nature of things like Frank-N-Furter being Bi or Brad and Janet being into multiple people are also indicative of the decade. The 60s free love movement may have been over but the 70s decided to put a lot more on screen than ever before. While Texas Chainsaw may have made you think you saw more than was actually on screen, Rocky Horror showed and told you everything it wanted you to see and hear. Finally, that nihilism we discussed earlier is also here. Almost no characters make it out unscathed either with their morals intact or their lives in some cases. The ones that are alive at the end of the movie are reborn in a world of suffering and confusion. That’s about as cinematically 70s as we can get.
What holds up?
Trying to look at this movie through an unbiased lens was very difficult but I think my findings are correct that nearly every damn thing holds up here. First and foremost is the music. The music and songs put together by Richard O’Brien are amazing and mini love letters to old sci fi and horror films. This was easy for O’Brien as he genuinely loved the genre and all it had to offer. There are references all throughout in both the songs and what you see on screen from the characters’ names and outfits to the very purpose they serve. This also extends to the set decoration being top tier especially for how little money they actually spent on the thing. All of what was just mentioned is present in the opening credits. You have the bright red lipstick mouth singing the opening song and all of that could be straight out of an old B movie, especially when you watch the special version where the movie is black and white until the Time Warp opens the doors to the part guests.
The whole movie is truly lightning in a bottle and not only couldn’t be made today to the same effect but also just wouldn’t be as good. That’s not just a theory either as they did try a few times to remake this movie, and it fell flat each time. The cast is perfect and each time that I watch it I notice something different from this group. Watching this late at night on Comedy Central was a way of life for me and even though they had to censor some things, it was still perfect watching these actors and actresses do their thing. The one that stands out, on huge heels no less, is Tim Curry who is the thing everyone knows from this movie. He is truly amazing in either the singing scenes or just the normal speaking parts and there is nobody alive or dead that could replace him as the nefarious doctor. The movie is also to be commended for its leanings towards sexuality and really just loving who you want to love and loving yourself. That last song with the 4 innocent bystanders singing, dancing, and feeling comfortably uncomfortable is one for the ages.
What doesn’t hold up?
It pains me to even broach the topic of something here not holding up but so few movies are perfect and there are things that I don’t look forward to on every viewing. The first of these is completely subjective and that’s your preference on songs. You may not love every song, hell, since I grew up listening to the album first, the couple songs that show up in the movie but aren’t on the official soundtrack don’t do much for me. Those are Rocky’s Song and Wise Up Janet for the record. We all have our favorites, but the music just may not be for you. To go along with the music aspect, as great as they are, there are some slow points between musical numbers that can drag on a bit. Some of the effects for the movie’s small sub 2-million-dollar budget have shown their age too as charming as they may be and the final slight I would levy against the film is that once you’ve seen it with a live audience its extremely difficult to go back to just the movie version.
Verdict
The Rocky Horror Picture Show is a blast. It’s a love letter to all things us horror hounds love in its audio and visual feasts. They have tried to capture it in other ways to be sure with different versions of the on-stage musical and even a few attempts and a new TV movie but they all pale in comparison to the original. There is a weird point and click game that is more companion to the movie, but it doesn’t really add or take away your enjoyment as its own thing. We even got a sequel that follows Brad and Janet again though this time they are played by Cliff DeYoung and the wonderful Jessica Harper. Shock Treatment does bring back some of the other actors and creators but like I said, the original movie was the definition of lightning in a bottle. Rocky Horror is worth taking a time warp for and absolutely still stands the test of time.
A couple of the previous episodes of The Test of Time can be seen below. To see more, click over to the JoBlo Horror Originals YouTube channel – and subscribe while you’re there!