Head is a 1968 psychedelic no-opening credits comedy-adventure major motion picture, starring TV group The Monkees (in credit order: Peter Tork, Davy Jones, Micky Dolenz and Michael Nesmith), and distributed by Columbia Pictures. It was written and produced by Bob Rafelson and Jack Nicholson, and directed by Rafelson.
During production, the working title for the film was "Changes", which was later the name of an unrelated album by the Monkees. A rough cut of the film was previewed for audiences in Los Angeles in the summer of '68 under the name of "Movee Untitled".
The film featured Victor Mature as "The Big Victor" and other cameo appearances by Nicholson, Teri Garr, Carol Doda, Annette Funicello, Frank Zappa, Sonny Liston, Timothy Carey and Ray Nitschke.
Plot
Head begins at the dedication of a
bridge. After a politician struggles with constant feedback with his microphone as he tries to give a speech, the Monkees suddenly interrupt the ceremony by running through the assembled officials, to the sound of various horns and sirens. The rest of the film has no overriding plot. There are several short vignettes that consist of a conflict and resolution, but the film is essentially plotless (as the opening song relates: "We hope you like our story/Although there isn't one/That is to say, there's many/That way, there is more fun!"). It is, rather, a seemingly
stream of consciousness stringing-together of musical numbers,
satire of various
film genres, elements of
psychedelia, and references to topical issues such as the
Vietnam War. The distorted consciousness and psychedelia elements resemble that of an
LSD trip, a widespread
recreational drug at the time, made illegal in 1967.
Promos
Trailers for the film summarized it as a "most extraordinary adventure, western, comedy, love story, mystery, drama, musical, documentary satire ever made (And that's putting it mildly)."
Origins and Aftermath
The storylines and peak moments of the movie came from a weekend visit to a resort in
Ojai,
California, where the Monkees, Rafelson and Nicholson
brainstormed into a tape recorder, reportedly with the aid of a large quantity of
marijuana. When the band learned that they would not be allowed to direct themselves or to receive screenwriting credit (since they didn't write the actual shooting script), Dolenz, Jones, and Nesmith staged a one-day
walkout, leaving Tork the only Monkee on the set the first day. The strike ended after the first day when, to mollify the Monkees, the studio agreed to a larger percentage share of the film's net for the group. But the incident damaged the Monkees' relationship with Rafelson and
Bert Schneider, and would effectively draw a curtain on their professional relationship together.
Filmed at Columbia Pictures/Screen Gems Studios in Culver City and at the Columbia Ranch in Burbank, as well as on various locations in California (the ribbon cutting ceremony at the Gerald Desmond Bridge, Long Beach; the "WAR!" chant cheerleader sequence at Pasadena Rose Bowl, Pasadena; the factory sequence at the Hyperion Sewage Treatment Plant, Playa Del Rey; the war sequence at Bronson Canyon; some sequences at San Francisco; the desert sequence at Palm Springs), Utah (the concert sequence at Valley Music Hall, Salt Lake City) and The Bahamas (Micky's underwater sequence) between February 15 and May 17, 1968, the movie makes fun of the band's image and the bandmembers' personae. The song "Ditty Diego - War Chant" was written by Jack Nicholson & is a parody of the band's original Boyce and Hart written TV theme song; its lyrics illustrate the tone of self-parody evident in parts of the film:
He, hey, we are The Monkees
You know we love to please
A manufactured image
With no philosophies.
[...]
You say we're manufactured.
To that we all agree.
So make your choice and we'll rejoice
in never being free!
Hey, hey, we are The Monkees
We've said it all before
The money's in, we're made of tin
We're here to give you more!
The money's in, we're made of tin
We're here to give you...
The final "We're here to give you..." is interrupted by a gunshot, with footage of the execution of Viet Cong operative (q.v.) Nguyen Van Lem, by Brigadier General & then Chief of National Police Nguyễn Ngọc Loan.
Elements of the movie were based in fact, including the stampede leaving the studio canteen when the Monkees break for lunch, and the "big black box"* the band repeatedly becomes trapped in. (*During the first season, veteran performers would regularly complain about the Monkees' presence – and walk out of the cafeteria whenever they came in – while members would sometimes wander off-set when they weren't needed on camera. The studio responded by building a break area on-set for the Monkees, with a meat-locker door and the walls painted black.)
A poor audience response at an August 1968 screening in Los Angeles eventually forced the producers to edit the picture down from its original 110-minute length. The 86-minute Head premiered in New York City on November 6, 1968. (The film later debuted in Hollywood on November 20.) It was not a commercial success.
The Daddy's Song Black and White flip/flop costume sequence is imitated in Cee-Lo's 2001 "Closet Freak" music video. Starting at approximately 2:37 and used frequently thereafter in the video.
Home video release history
September 18, 1986 (VHS, Beta & Laserdisc)
January 25, 1995 (VHS)
June 12, 2000 (DVD)
November 23, 2010 (
Criterion Blu-Ray)
December 14, 2010 (Criterion DVD).
References
External links
Review of the film by a Rhino employee, from the company's website
The HEAD page, from The Monkees Film & TV Vault
The Monkees' Head: 'Our fans couldn't even see it' - Dorian Lynskey, The Guardian, 28 April 2011
Category:American rock music films
Category:Films directed by Bob Rafelson
Category:Musical films
Category:1968 films
Category:Hippie films
Category:Psychedelia
Category:Counterculture of the 1960s
Category:Columbia Pictures films
Category:The Monkees
![Ramoji Film City (RFC) is the world’s largest integrated film studio complex at over 2,000 acres (8.1 km2) of land [1]. It is also a popular tourism and recreation centre, containing both natural and artificial attractions. It is situated near Hayathnagar on Hyderabad - Vijayawada, NH9 highway, about 25 km from Hyderabad. [2]](http://web.archive.org./web/20110820005945im_/http://cdn1.wn.com/pd/5b/ff/503c901280decfa9d819a3106ad3_grande.jpg "Ramoji Film City (RFC) is the world’s largest integrated film studio complex at over 2,000 acres (8.1 km2) of land [1]. It is also a popular tourism and recreation centre, containing both natural and artificial attractions. It is situated near Hayathnagar on Hyderabad - Vijayawada, NH9 highway, about 25 km from Hyderabad. [2]")
![Ramoji Film City (RFC) is the world’s largest integrated film studio complex at over 2,000 acres (8.1 km2) of land [1]. It is also a popular tourism and recreation centre, containing both natural and artificial attractions. It is situated near Hayathnagar on Hyderabad - Vijayawada, NH9 highway, about 25 km from Hyderabad. [2]](http://web.archive.org./web/20110820005945im_/http://cdn0.wn.com/pd/5b/ff/503c901280decfa9d819a3106ad3_thumb.jpg "Ramoji Film City (RFC) is the world’s largest integrated film studio complex at over 2,000 acres (8.1 km2) of land [1]. It is also a popular tourism and recreation centre, containing both natural and artificial attractions. It is situated near Hayathnagar on Hyderabad - Vijayawada, NH9 highway, about 25 km from Hyderabad. [2]")
