ENTERTAINMENT

Critics wrote it off 50 years ago. Now this film has more impact than ever in the Trump era.

administrator 19 October, 2025

When I share my own “Rocky” origin story with Bostwick, I start by saying that I was probably too young to see it. He scolds me softly.

“A lot of people started the conversation saying, ‘I think I was too young to see this movie.’ And I’m like, ‘No, I don’t think so,’” Bostwick said. “It started a conversation in your life with who you lived with, your parents or yourself, your own mind, body and soul.”

For me, that conversation with myself began in the late ’90s, when I was flipping through late-night movie TV programming and came across the iconic close-up photo of Curry with his eyebrow raised. Instinctively, I knew I had to see whatever movie this image came from. I placed a small square of painter’s tape, colored black with a marker, on the VCR to perfectly hide the flashing red light. Otherwise, it could have alerted my parents that it was set to record something they would likely disapprove of.

From the moment the opening credits rolled, with disembodied blood-red lips singing “Science Fiction Double Feature” against a black background, I was enthralled. Did I grow up? and become a transvestite “Sweet Transvestite”? Is that somehow the reason I became gay? No and no. But the effect it had on me was profound. The kaleidoscopic mix of daylight sets, risqué costumes, frenetic dancing, and campy sci-fi and B-movie tropes is downright hypnotic. And if the soundtrack (a heady mix of ’50s rock ‘n roll, glam rock, and even the occasional genuinely heartfelt ballad) doesn’t appeal to you, then I don’t know how to help you.

“The Rocky Horror Picture Show” / 20th Century Studios

While wardrobes are undoubtedly sexy, I was not sexually attracted to the sight of a man in fishnet stockings and makeup. But it certainly screwed up my preconceptions about gender and identity that I had when I was 12 in the best way. Like so many others, it opened my eyes to the idea that people can be different and that being different can be fun.

One of Rocky’s most famous refrains, “Don’t dream it, be it,” promises that being different is not only fun, but fun. is possible. It doesn’t matter your gender identity, who you love, or if you’re just any way you are. otherso that’s a powerful message. And how fun!

But evidently, there were a lot of people who didn’t find the movie funny when it first came out. It was a tough flop at the box office, which is surprising given that “Rocky” started out as a hugely successful stage musical. Curry originated the role of Frank-N-Furter when it debuted in a small London theater, before the play quickly moved to the West End. After winning over audiences in London, the show headed to Los Angeles, where it achieved similar success. Celebrities including Jack Nicholson, Cher and John Lennon attended the star-studded premiere. Rolling Stones frontman Mick Jagger even considered purchasing the rights to the film himself, so a film adaptation seemed like a sure thing.

Curry remembers being “devastated” when “Rocky” flopped. Maybe it was too appealing for the average moviegoer. A poster for the film hints that it was a tough sell, with the tagline: “He’s the hero, that’s right, the hero!!” Maybe it was a less direct way of saying, “please don’t be intimidated by men in stockings and suspenders.”

LMPC via Getty Images

In 2025, thanks to the RuPaul Industrial Complex, men in stockings and suspenders are no longer shocking. But it’s important to remember that the film was released five years after the 1969 Stonewall Uprising, in which gender non-conforming people like Marsha P. Johnson and Sylvia Rivera played pivotal roles. Two years before Stonewall in 1967, homosexuality was decriminalized in the United Kingdom. The film also portrays the nascent women’s liberation movement, with Janet de Sarandon freeing herself from the repressive shackles of traditional sexual mores, singing:

Toucha, toucha, toucha, touch me,
I want to be dirty,
excite me, relax me, fill me,
Creature of the night!

It’s no exaggeration to say that a musical that unapologetically focuses on gender non-conforming characters and features a young woman embracing her sexuality was subversive and revolutionary. The negative reviews certainly thought so. One notable criticism is that of Parents’ Movie Guide Column in the Cincinnati Enquirer. The reviewer, whose byline naturally touts a doctorate in religion, lamented the film’s “totally degenerate, transvestite, transsexual and blasphemous content,” warning readers that “I sincerely doubt that any young person who sees it will ever view traditional morality the same way.”

Don’t threaten me with a good time, doctor!

The Cincinnati Enquirer / FilmPublicityArchive/United Archives via Getty Images

“We weren’t making a political play, or making social statements, we didn’t like that. We were having fun.”

– Richard O’Brien, creator of “Rocky Horror Picture Show”

“They’re hilarious because they look old-fashioned,” says Linus.

“My advice to anyone who gets bad reviews,” Richard adds with a mischievous smile, “survive the bastards!” While “Rocky” reflects the issues of the day, Richard is quick to point out that he did not set out to make a film with a message.

“We weren’t making a political play or social statements, we weren’t interested in that,” Richard said. “We were having fun.”

That’s partly why it finally found an audience. Regardless of what prudish pearl-divers thought, the priority of the play, and then the movie, was to be a strange and fun rock ‘n’ roll space opera.

As Linus says: “The elements are there, but they’re not trying to send a message. It’s very joyful.”

“A Strange Journey: The Rocky Horror Story” / Getty Images

But “Rocky” doesn’t just reflect changing attitudes about gender and the emerging fight for gay rights in the ’60s and ’70s. There’s an unconscious nod to the future, with a depiction of gay marriage. As Rocky takes Frank to a candlelit Gothic wedding suite, an organ plays Mendelsohn’s “Wedding March.” At the time, this was the same as space lasers or intergalactic travel: fun to think about, but firmly a fantasy.

And it would remain a fantasy for decades. It took almost 40 years for society to catch up: the first gay marriages did not take place in the United Kingdom until 2014, and full marriage equality was not achieved in the United States until 2015, when the Supreme Court ruled that the Defense of Marriage Act was unconstitutional. That same year, when the film celebrated its 40th anniversary, the themes that made it radical upon its release seemed, if not distant history, certainly less pressing. Society, it seemed, was going in the right direction. Don’t dream about it, either, in fact.

So for newcomers, when “Rocky” turned 40, perhaps it was easier to see it as simply a retro slice of camp, queer, silly fun (not that there’s anything wrong with that). The following year, in 2016, News aired a Ryan Murphy-produced remake, “The Rocky Horror Picture Show: Let’s Do the Time Warp Again,” starring Laverne Cox as Frank-N-Furter. If it was a gateway for newbies to find the original, that would be a good thing. But other than that, it’s hard to say anything good about it.

All the edgy, cheap charm of the 1975 B movies was almost unrecognizable in the “Glee” style. With a budget of around $18 million, it cost approximately 18 times more than the original, proof that more is not always more. To be fair to Cox, Curry’s high heels are almost impossible to fill, but his performance was flat and lacking the menacing magnetism that made his Frank-N-Furter so fascinating. Bostwick agrees that Murphy’s splashy but sterile reinvention missed the point that it’s supposed to be “a dark, dirty little tale.” He thinks that productions since the original “have tried to make it too happy and have taken away that layer of danger.”

News via Getty Images

Less than two weeks after that lackluster remake aired, Donald Trump was elected president. And so began the Trump era and the erosion of hard-won rights. The political undertones of Rocky’s 50th birthday are bleak. The Trump administration is hell-bent on not only rolling back protections for trans people, but also denying them access to life-saving health care, erasing them entirely. Conservative pundits and lawmakers regularly spew transphobic hate. After the murder of Charlie Kirk, Representative Nancy Mace (RS.C.) theorized that the alleged shooter was a “transsexual” (it wasn’t), and The Wall Street Journal erroneously reported that “pro-trans messages” were engraved on the bullet casings (there was not).

“Politically and socially, [‘Rocky’] “It’s just as appropriate today and in some ways more so,” Bostwick says. “I just wish we could show this movie in every city and town and maybe change some minds.”

It is deeply sad that, half a century after its release, we have returned to a political landscape that is too similar to the film’s original context. Without a doubt, these steps backwards have once again sharpened the radical character of the film. But what “Rocky” offers is more than unfortunate relevance. Gay activist and politician Harvey Milk famously said, “We have to give them hope,” less than two years before he was murdered in 1978. Just as important as hope is giving them joy.

“Just because of the state of the world and the situation, people need a place to gather, a rainbow event that they can enjoy, be safe and have fun.” Richard O’Brien told News.

And the enjoyment that comes from watching (and rewatching) “Rocky” is an act of resistance in itself.

“I can’t even imagine what my life would be like if it hadn’t come to me when it did.”

– Meg Fierro, general manager of the Rocky Horror Picture Show in New York City

Fundamentally, this act of resistance is communal. Merely looking “Rocky” is just a way to enjoy it. In New York in the late ’70s, the midnight performances that cemented “Rocky’s” cult status evolved into something completely different: shadow performances. Costumed actors act in sync with the on-screen antics, imitating the songs and dialogue.

“It’s not quite drag; it’s not quite pantomime. It’s like a secret third thing,” Meg Fierro, general director of the shadow cast of “New York City Rocky Horror Picture Show,” tells me.

Normally, they perform every two weeks, but as we speak, she’s gearing up for the spooky season. October is the busiest month for “NYCRHPS,” with multiple performances at larger venues in the run-up to Halloween. What makes shadow shows so unique is the audience participation, including traditional props and call-and-response.

This is not a passive viewing experience. Some audience rituals include holding newspapers over their heads, just as Brad and Janet do when they get caught in the rain. Participants bring rubber gloves to the theater, so that when Frank happily puts them on in the lab, they can do so with him. When he sings the line “Cards to Sorrow, Cards to Sorrow” in the ballad “I’m Going Home,” yes, you guessed it, there are playing cards scattered around the theater. Just as Rocky blurs gender stereotypes, Shadows blurs the boundary between screen and stage with silly, unbridled fun. For Fierro, that’s the point.

“People don’t expect to go to the movies and talk, much less yell or throw something like That’s a place where you’re supposed to be quiet. And not knowing exactly what to expect increases subversiveness,” Fierro told me.

And that subversive fun sells. Coming out of the pandemic, Fierro says ticket sales grew. Shows regularly sell out and cast and crew who were once volunteers are now paid. As important as putting on the show is, so is the camaraderie. Fierro first got involved in the lighting team 15 years ago while still in college. Since then, he has acted as various characters before directing the entire production.

“It’s my whole life. Not the movie itself, obviously, but the community of people,” he said. “We all build our lives around each other, and we all find each other this way. I can’t even imagine what my life would be like.” life if it hadn’t come to me when it did.

Dycrhps

“Many people have told me: ‘He saved my life.’”

– Barry Bostwick, actor of “The Rocky Horror Picture Show”

If one of the film’s messages is that weirdos, queers, and misfits of all kinds can be different and have fun, then shadow performances are the true catalyst for inclusivity because they allow the cast, crew, and audience to have fun being different. together. The power of this should not be underestimated. Looking “A Strange Journey”, it is clear that everyone involved with “Rocky” is so proud and surprised that it became a beacon for people to find each other for generations.

“So many people have said, ‘He saved my life,’ who didn’t think there was anyone else in the world like them,” Bostwick said. “They had no community; they had no friends. They thought their reality was wrong or crazy.”

Similarly, Curry writes in his autobiography: “I love the idea that Frank helped release people’s inner monsters or gave them permission and passports to emerge and be celebrated. I’ve been told that many times and I hope that legacy continues.”

Richard O’Brien is particularly animated on our Zoom call to discuss this.

“It’s become a rallying point for the rainbow nation, and that’s exceptionally nice,” he said. “He gained this power and allowed people to join him in a way that had never been anticipated.”

Getty/MTV

While shadow performances of “Rocky” in New York are almost as old as the film itself, the original musical has an inauspicious history in New York. The show’s move to Los Angeles was a success, but when O’Brien brought the show to Broadway in March 1975 (after filming the movie, but before its release), the reception was anything but welcoming. The pens of the critics were full of poison, condemning the production to an early closure after only 45 shows.

“Tired after the first fifteen minutes,” said the New York Daily News. “Beneath the contempt,” wrote another sad reviewer. Looking back on the play’s failure, O’Brien attributes the harsh reaction to critics and snobbish New York audiences, and it’s hard to disagree. When the show returned to Broadway in 2000, the news was better, if lukewarm.

“The menace is gone from Frank ‘N’ Furter,” Ben Brantley wrote in The New York Times, echoing Bostwick’s criticisms of more recent productions. “Now he seems less a guide to forbidden sexual fruits than a colorful shopping advisor.”

“Every morning I look in the mirror and say, ‘Don’t screw up!’”

– Sam Pinkleton, Tony Award-winning director

Polished fingers are crossed that the third time will be the charm when “Rocky” returns to Broadway in the spring of 2026. It will be directed by Sam Pinkleton, fresh off his Tony Award for directing the runaway hit “Oh, Mary!” Over Zoom, he tells me he’s been thinking about reviving “Rocky” for years.

“There’s no bigger party than ‘Rocky Horror’. It’s everything I love in one place,” Pinkleton said. “It has real heart, it has real depth, it has an absolutely absurd sense of humor and reality, and it knows the audience is there.”

He Dipasupil via Getty Images

While New York theater audiences and critics didn’t know (or perhaps didn’t want to know) Rocky in the ’70s, they certainly do now. Half a century on the pop culture scene, the enduring popularity of shadow performances, the mainstreaming of drag, gifs of Tim Curry performing in front of the camera lens, and, of course, Ryan Murphy’s boring reinvention, mean that most theatergoers have a pretty solid idea about what the show is. I wondered if those preconceptions make it more difficult to bring a “new” production to the stage. But Pinkleton says that’s what makes it so fun.

“It’s this clever, cunning little thing that is both absolutely subversive and absolutely, unquestionably broad,” he said. By virtue of its vintage, the 2026 Broadway production will also have what its 1975 predecessor did not: a fan base that spans generations.

“I think it’s something incredibly special that people who saw ‘Rocky’ when it came out and lost their minds and maybe wore high heels for the first time are now in their 70s,” Pinkleton said. “It’s so popular on college campuses right now; it’s crazy to me. So I think it’s this amazing intergenerational shit opportunity that no other title has.”

Still, Pinkleton admits there is pressure in reviving such a beloved piece. “Every morning I look in the mirror and say, ‘Don’t screw up!’”

After 50 years, it’s impossible to talk about “The Rocky Horror Picture Show” without using the L-word: legacy. When a film is considered a cult classic, by definition, it is an acknowledgment that it is niche. Although “Rocky” occupies the midpoint of the Venn diagram between conventional and subversive, it is certainly not for everyone. But what work of art is it? For the people it’s aimed at—those who’ve encountered it onstage, through covert video recordings or wild midnight shows—the impact is staggering. By finding “Rocky,” many found themselves. Providing respite and resilience through joy and community is no easy task. Arguably, through the cast shadow, a new type of performance art was created along the way.

Toward the end of “A Strange Journey,” Linus O’Brien asks his father to reflect on the legacy of “Rocky.” Richard recalls an interaction with a fan who told him that the film no longer belongs to him; belongs to the fans. And that’s inevitable, given that the story “Rocky” tells and his own story are about blurred boundaries. Traditional ideas of gender and sexuality, the difference between films and plays, the mainstream and the niche, now even the creator and the audience.

For the past 50 years, “Rocky” has had fun subverting them all.

“The Rocky Horror Picture Show” / 20th Century Studios