Despite getting a important catastrophe it turned a industrial success, getting cult film standing with a subsequent akin to The Rocky Horror Picture Show, with lovers embracing its "so bad it can be very good" features. Hindustan Times claimed that Glitter "was slammed by practically all critics for becoming the worst movie ever".
In the film, Murphy portrayed Rudy Ray Moore and centers all over his occupation as a standup, and director of blaxploitation setting up with Dolemite (1975). The film premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival. According to reviewer Peter Canavese, the jacket is a reference to the fable of The Scorpion and the Frog, described in the film, which evokes its use in the Orson Welles movie Mr. Arkadin.