Saturday, August 15, 2015

40 years of the Rocky Horror Picture Show

Peter noticed the anniversary, which I'd totally missed:
It's become the longest-running movie in history: literally, it's always been playing in a cinema somewhere in the world since that date. No other film in entertainment history can make that claim over so long a period. In fact, RHPS has been called 'the most iconic cult movie of all time'.
I think I first went to see it in the late '70s, with 2cents.  It was an eye-opener: not so much the movie (which was funny-in-a-schlocky-way) but the audience participation part.  There were accepted catch phrases that the audience would holler at the screen: "Where's your neck?" (at the narrator).  "Ass****!" at the male lead (Barry Bostwick; I could never watch his later performance as George Washington without hearing that whispering in the back of my head).  You would fling props at the screen: rice at the wedding scene, toast at the banquet when Dr. Frank N. Furter (played by Tim Curry; I couldn't get that image out of my mind when I saw him in his later role in Hunt For Red October).

A couple years later, 2cents and I were at another screening.  There were a group of guys in the row in front of us, and one of them was clearly at the movie for the first time - they were explaining all the audience participation parts to him.  At the banquet scene, things played out sort of like this:
His friends, to him:  The toast - where's the toast?

Him: I don't have it.  I ate it.

2cents (and me), pointing at him: Ass****!
Good times, good times.

If you were a RHPS fan, click through to Peter's post, which will be a waltz down memory lane.

9 comments:

Peter said...

Er . . . thanks for the mention, but linky no worky. You'll have to edit your post and re-enter it.

:-)

Dan said...

Am I the only one my age to not see this movie?

2cents said...

And he didn't even take a swing at me. In fact, I seem to remember his buddies laughing heartily. Meatloaf again!?

LawDog said...

Yep, iconic for all the wrong reasons... and still rolling along...

Phil said...

you want to hear irony? Right this minute I am sitting in front of the Bagdad theater in Portland Oregon where I first saw the Rocky Horror Picture Show back in the early eighties

Borepatch said...

Link fixed

Comrade Misfit said...

I had the same problem with Rev. Jim Ignatowski (Christopher Lloyd) as the Klingon commander in Star Trek III.

Hat Trick said...

Comrade, somebody did a comedy bit about that dichotomy of roles. Don't remember who. I see Rev. Jim in all of Christopher Lloyd's roles as soon as I hear that voice

Hat Trick said...

I saw RHPS on TV once. Have never gotten the theater experience. I truly feel that I've missed out on something good.