THE ROCKY HORROR PICTURE SHOW — SHOCKTOBER!

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LA GRANDE BOUFFE (THE BIG FEAST)

London-based actor CHRISTOPHER SHERWOOD brings THE ROCKY HORROR PICTURE SHOW with TRAILBLAZER IPA for us to imbibe. It doesn't hurt that Christopher was in town to brush up on his Tango technique for his performance in THE PEREGRINE, a play by BIG FEAST regular PHIL HOLT, opening at London's Stockwell Playhouse later this month.

Bon appétit!

Like the hugely successful B-Movie that inspired it — Harry Novak's 1965 sexploitation classic "Kiss Me Quick!" — "The Rocky Horror Picture Show" is an exploitation musical that draws on a grab bag of social identifiers to expand on conventional hypocrisies with more than just a nudge and a wink.

For all of its outre sense of sexual liberation, "Rocky Horror" pays sincere homage to sci-fi movies of the '50s.

Writer/composer/actor Richard O'Brien's 1973 British stage play became a hit, and the play's director Jim Sharman wisely insisted on using its original cast — with the exception of American newcomers Susan Sarandon and Barry Bostwick, when time came to direct the film version in 1975.

Famous as more of a social phenomenon than as a great piece of cinema, I would argue that "The Rocky Horror Picture Show" is both, thanks to its witty dialogue, inspired musical score, and unforgettable camp performances. The cast is having so much fun that you can’t help but be swept up in the spirit of their joy.

As part of the '70s midnight movie craze that coincided with the advent of punk music, "Rocky Horror" attracted a playful young audience that was more than prepared to interact with the film's innuendo-riddled dialogue. Inventing sarcastic dialogue on the spot proved a fun thing to do for those imaginative audiences willing to play the game.

The film’s giddy narrative is a fetish-based story about an alien transvestite from the galaxy of Transylvania — called Dr. Frank N. Furter (played with Mick Jagger-swagger by Tim Curry) — who seduces two stranded newlywed visitors to his castle where the oversexed doctor is busy creating life in the form of a chiseled male named Rocky Horror.

Tim Curry rocks out the role with so much smirking confidence that his strangely erotic character is transfixing. In Curry's steady persona, Dr. Frank N. Furter becomes an LGBT icon for all time. Who wouldn’t want to party with Tim Curry’s scantily clad Frank N. Furter?

"The Rocky Horror Picture Show" is a retro movie of crazy excitement that you have to see with an audience skilled in the many retorts to be shouted back at the characters on-screen.

"Smells like fish, tastes like chicken, plug your nose and keep on lickin'."

You’ll be throwing rice at the wedding and spraying water during the rain sequence.

Fun, fun, fun!

Rated R. 100 mins.

 

BOHEMIAN RHAPSODY

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“Bohemian Rhapsody” achieves its dramatic goal of celebrating the unforgettable music of a groundbreaking rock band whose omnisexual lead singer Freddie Mercury remains a revered pop figure for many good reasons.

As with any biopic, this film’s success relies on the ability of the actor portraying the film’s subject to inhabit that person entirely.

Indeed, Rami Malek carries off a spitting-image portrayal of Freddie Mercury that wins you over from his first appearance as a singer whose signature overbite allowed Mercury a greater singing range. Who knew an overbite could be so musically effective?

As the filmmakers make clear, the title of the film isn’t “Freddie Mercury.” Fans may well quibble over this film’s sanitized rendition of Mercury’s voracious appetite for sex, drugs, and rock ‘n’ roll. However, the movie displays the band’s unorthodox musical methods and interpersonal conflicts toward creating anthemic songs that you’ll be humming in your sleep for days if not weeks after seeing it.  

Actor Gwilym Lee is unrecognizable in his portrayal of Queen’s guitarist Brian May. You can’t help but get a charge out of Lee’s spot-on portrayal of Queen’s charismatic guitarist. Mike Myers turns in an equally impressive act of disguise as Ray Foster, an EMI record label executive (a composite character of several EMI geniuses) who screwed up what would have been a lucrative deal with Queen had he endorsed their experimental approach to songwriting that birthed the film’s title track.

Dramatic liberties are taken. Pet peeves will be had. I wish they had used the [actual] clip of Freddie Mercury and David Bowie singing their amazing “Under Pressure” duet. Would it have been too much of a cheat to let the audience revel in that dynamic musical moment in time? It certainly could have provided some insight into why Mercury abandoned his bandmates.

Enough splitting hairs, “Bohemian Rhapsody” is a fun ride that will put a lump in your throat, a tear in your eye, and more than one terrific song in your heart.

Go with it.  It's worth it.

Rated PG-13. 134 mins.

LAMBERT AND STAMP

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Behind every great rock band of the ‘60s British Invasion (see The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, etc.) was at least one visionary manager. In the case of The Who, Chris Stamp and Kit Lambert were the pop culture geniuses who set out to make an independent cinema vérité movie blending the ethos of the French New Wave with the hip vibe of London’s swinging mods. Their discovery of The Who playing a gig in a tiny London club led the business-minded duo on a far wilder journey than merely making a movie without a budget. Together, they figured out how to put The Who’s raucous brand of musical lightening into a bottle and shake it up so that creative sparks would fly for many years to follow.

Even if you’ve never heard of The Who, as improbable as that seems, “Lambert & Stamp” is an infectiously captivating retelling of that brilliant band’s origin and strange journeys that progressed from contrived mod rockers to rock opera gods of stage and film.

Chris Stamp (younger brother of the actor Terrence Stamp) is the wily charmer of the pair. Kit Lambert (the son of a classical musician) is the sensitive French-speaking philosopher full of infinite ideas with the ability to direct difficult personalities.

A wealth of archive photos, interviews, and film shot by Lambert and Stamp during the band’s early days provides debut documentarian James D. Cooper with an arsenal of invaluable material that turns this documentary into an essential movie for any lover of music, culture, or both.

On prominent display are the band’s inimitable personalities that gave The Who its paradoxical edge in their anthemic music, performance style, and volatile off-stage relationships. The ever-cranky Pete Townsend and his friend/foe Roger Daltrey prove consistently larger-than-life even when answering questions about tense aspects of their relationship or their work in the band. Keith Moon fans can revel in candid footage of the one-of-a-kind drummer that reveals the lovable Moonie’s irresistible energy and wide-eyed sense of humor. There is plenty of live performance footage to demonstrate what made them such a phenomenal rock act.

Though the film skips over commenting on the creation of a few of the band's albums, it chronologically traces the story of one of the greatest rock ‘n’ roll groups that ever lived.

Rated R. 120 mins.