The sketch is an example of the Python team's fondness of the 'double spoof', and a forerunner of the mashup genre. It targets both the genteel stage musical and the work of the controversial director Peckinpah and his exaggeration of extreme bloodshed and violence in his films. By the time the sketch was shown in 1972, Peckinpah had achieved notoriety for the level of violence in his films, particularly "Straw Dogs" which received an X rating by the BBFC. The sketch also mentions contemporary director Ken Russell.