The Rocky Horror Picture Show

The famous lips from "The Rocky Horror Picture Show"

    What can one say about what may be the most influential motion picture of the later half of the 20th century? What’s that? Not something by Hitchcock, Kubrick, Scorcese, Coppola, or even James Cameron? Certainly not. And I’m referring to a cultural impact that stretches far beyond the boundaries of the midnight movie faithful that still pack themselves into the theater for the live show/audience participation love fest that is "The Rocky Horror Picture Show", some 35 years after its initial release.

    "The Rocky Horror Picture Show" is a film that has become greater than the sum of its parts, and greater even than the sum of the counter-culture it spawned. There are no groundbreaking special effects, even for the period, no too-amazing-to-be-true choreography, the color scheme is flat at times, and the acting/singing while good, is not Astaire and Rogers in their prime. "The Rocky Horror Picture Show" is enjoyable on every level it sets out to be. The songs, "The Time Warp" in particular, work both as songs and to covey emotion from the characters, a window into their thoughts. But what "The Rocky Horror Picture Show" has done is as much as that other famous Rocky from the mid-70’s did. It shone a light on a segment of society that never fit anywhere but with one another. Previously, such a group of misfits would have been confined to trading Ed Wood films between one another in someone’s basement. But what liberated them was a facet of the technology they likely helped create.

    Thanks to Comicon and conventions like it and the internet, "The Rocky Horror Picture Show's" reach was permitted a far greater span than was ever intended or dreamed. The appeal of the film is in the idea that no matter how out of sorts and out of step you feel with the rest of the world, there are people like you somewhere in the universe and they are ready to accept you. The effect on gay rights, alternative lifestyle acceptance, and the public’s craving for Meat Loaf albums were changed forever by this little film that could. More than a generation has come past since those ruby lips first appeared on a screen, but the essential themes of the film still ring true. The affirmation of “Don’t Dream It, Be It”, and the prevailing theme of truly accepting yourself, no matter how strange you are, sent a ripple through millions of viewers and became a behind the scenes game changer in society, if you ask me.

    As to the content of the actual film, Brad Majors (Barry Bostwick) and Janet Weiss (Susan Sarandon) are on their way to see their college mentor and announce their engagement, when a blown tire sidetracks them at the castle/spaceship of Dr. Frank N. Furter (Tim Curry), a transvestite, from planet Transsexual, in the galaxy of Transylvania. Frank has created a Frankenstein monster of sorts named Rocky Horror and a convention has gathered to celebrate his bizarre creation. As a result, there are betrayals, infidelities, odd sexual dalliances, and an assassination after a show-stopping set of production numbers. After that, Brad and Janet left behind as the castle blasts away home. Quite the ride is had, and lots of fun for all. 8.5/10.