Head

I remember seeing Head for the first time on Beta Max when I was a foolhardy sweet young thing of a Monkees fan - and I was stopped dead in my tracks. What in the world is going on here? This is NOTHING like the TV show! And man, am I grateful for that! A veritable slice of life film filled with counter culture references, inside jokes, and iconic late 60s imagery, Head is a trip (pun intended) through the real and the imagined experience. Problem is, you never know which is which. Produced by the men who brought you Five Easy Pieces, this Monkees tale is unlike any you have seen before. Often referred to a the series suicide on film (no, that *might* be 33 1/3), the four boys are out of their beach pad and into some clearly drug laden scenarios. The romping lads are a bit more grown up and not always fun to be with, however, the essence of the "characters" of Mike, Micky, Davy and Peter are always there. A shock to the pre-teen fan base, Head was not a commercial success (despite the many cameos by stars like Annette Funicello, Victor Mature and even Frank Zappa), but has become a beloved cult hit by Monkees fans around the globe. The real shining star of this film is the music. Penned by greats such as Carole King, Harry Nilsson, Peter Tork and Michael Nesmith, the soundtrack grooves, soothes and rocks. My personal favorites are the live performance of Circle Sky which interjects stark news reel footage, and the inimitable song and dance man Davy Jones' performance of Daddy's Song featuring dancer/choreographer-gone-80s-pop-one-hit-wonder Toni Basil. On complete opposite ends of the entertainment spectrum, these two scenes are what keep me coming back to this film. Those, and the desperate yen for a cold beverage. You'll see what I mean. If continuity, linear story arcs and character development are your thing, you may want to venture elsewhere. But if you can open your mind to goofy fun, toungue-in-cheek comedy and rocking music - take a Head trip.

In 1968, some time in the Autumn, this movie was shown on BBC1. My Mom and Dad, who were strict Bretheren types, "approved" of the Monkees, but this one only got five minutes, and that was it. Off. My older sister sneaked in later and we watched bits of it with the volume way down. When I came across it in later years (first kid just having arrived), I was totaly in awe. This film is like, a masterpiece, man. Even if you take into account the fact that it must have been conceived under the influence, it is very clever. The whole theme of head is basically the idea of continuity, or rather the issue of continuity. What can you do if you are prepared to view a movie as a series of mere transformations? The whole point is not so much that there isn't a plot, but that the world the Monkees really live in is in fact too complex and confusing to support one. Over and over again they find themselves way out of their depth, pursued, chased, threatened by incomprehensible enemies, sometimes known, sometimes familiar, but never explained much. At times there are moments of tenderness, even real desire and longing, but these are transitory, often followed by more confusion. The music is very good and gives you a very nostaligic feeling about Vietnam and Carole King and all those long ago days. Even Uncle Frank Zappa makes an appearance, albeit under strange circumstances (which I have no doubt he specified in advance). My son (who is now 15 or so) thinks the funniest scene is when Mickey gets angry with the Coke machine in the desert. The humour is clearly a general product of Mickey Dolenze's fevered imagination. The slippage of the real with the unreal is very much in line with the sort of visual and conceptual surrealism that Zappa pursued in his more inspired 60's sessions. The fact that the film director and crew are often featured (or at least appear from time to time, looking their best to be totally cool and just working), and the often unrehearsed feel for some of the scenes (especially the scene after the cafe) gives you a really unusual feeling of being integrated in with the movie. Given the fact that this is one of the most psychedelic and mind twisting movies ever anyway, and especially if you're smoking anything, you'll walk away from this and maybe miss the door and go straight throught the wall. Don't miss this for goodness sake.

"The Last Action Hero"(1993), was humorous because Arnold Schwarzenegger was poking fun at himself, and his movies. "Spiceworld"(1998) was cute, as The Spice Girls poke fun at themselves, and the music/entertainment world in general. "The Brady Bunch Movie"(1995) and "A Very Brady Sequel"(1996) are humorous satire, asking the audience "What if we take a family who is stuck in a time warp, and place them in today's lifestyle?" The punch line is of course having the Brady family live in the '70's while the "real world" lives in the now. In the same, or similar traditions, we have "Head" (1968) starring Micky Dolenz, Davy Jones, Mike Nesmith, and Peter Tork, a.k.a The Monkees. One the one hand, it's a humorous satire. This film has no plot, nor does it have any story line for the audience to follow. It is a great escape from their tv. show; it's not the type of movie one would have excpected The Monkees to have made. Still, that's one of the things that made it enjoyable. Full of unexpected twists, and surprise turns, laughable moments, and good music. On the other hand, The Monkees seemed very frusterated at being labled the "Pre-fab four", and was very obvious in this movie. The thing that worked in making this film such a great satire, is the groups savage self-mockery. This was also the begining of the break-up. The single "Porpoise Song (Theme from "Head")" was called "an abysmal failure", hitting the charts at #41 in Cash Box, and #62 in Billboard. The movie "Head" bombed at the box office, when it premiered in 1968; yet, today is considered a cult classic. Peter Tork quit the group , citing exhaustion but obviously frusterated as well. Myself, on a personal, had just watched it for the first time just recently; renting it from Hollywood Video. I enjoyed it. I appreciated the Monkees poking fun at themselves. There are many memorable scenes I had found quite humorous (like Micky Dolenz blowing up a Coke machine in the desert with a tank! Davy Jones in a boxing match getting the "you-know-what" knocked out of him!) I hope whoever is reading this finds this to be insightful, and helpful. All I can say is this; if you enjoyed the '60's tv show, and enjoyed the antics, and comedy, you will also love "Head".

good time capsule to that time.

I've been meaning to buy a copy of this for quite some time. I'm actually old enough to remember going to the theater to see this on the big screen. Not 1st release this was in late 1969 when it was the 2'd movie on a double bill the first being Dean Martin's "The Wrecking Crew" his secret agent comedy of a Movie. I passed up getting this on VCR when I was able to tape it when it played on TV. Then recently even DVD prices have started climbing so I bit the bullet and bought it. Glad I did DVD's must not being made anymore and prices are going ever higher. Its for fans of the Monkees that like this hodgepodge of various scenes in this black comedy of a movie. Or fans that like dark comedy's, or even someone that wants to pick up a period piece when anti studio youth films took off in the late 60's. Another one of that era you have to get is "Wild in the Streets" on how youth elect a president. The producers here along with Jack Nicholson went on to make "Easy Rider" the most popular movie of this movement. Head was just a "Stepping Stone" (sort of a pun) for them in their movie careers. Real big disappointment was how this movie was advertised on initial release. The initial ad was stupid beyond belief no mention of the Monkees at all made it sound like an art movie. It should have had brief pictures of the Monkees saying its their new movie and what a strange trip to let fans no this was not like the TV show. Another big goof was the LP soundtrack why the silver front to make it look like a mirror the cover should have been like this DVD cover. And 6 songs covering the whole LP really dumb. True the Beatles got away with that in Help but that was a standard movie and they were the Beatles. But the UK versions which became the CD versions had the movie 6 songs on one side and another 6 -7 songs on the other side. We now know the Monkees had plenty of songs to use and could have and should have gone that route, more songs for the money. Porpoise Song as a song is fine but certainly not catchy like "Hard Days Night" or "Help". Wish someone would have come up with a catchier theme song to release as a 45 that could have helped out LP sales. A lot of wish haves looking back from a lot of years later. This stands as an interesting point in time what was going on in the USA in the late 60's.

I know this film didn't do well in the box office when it came out, but that was because it was too mature for The Monkees fan base and the people who would have really loved this movie, didn't see it because The Monkees were uncool to them at the time. My impression is that this movie was a statement about the blurred reality between the real world and the ever expanding world of make believe that was coming to us through movies and tv - and The Monkees being trapped in this world were the perfect metaphor. -OR- The movie could be entirely about The Monkees phenomena, the band's creation as a commercial venture and the fact that no matter how Davy Jones, Micky Dolenz, Mike Nesmitt and Peter Tork tried to rise above it, it was what it was and they were trapped. Jack Nicholson's parody of their theme song, which plays in the movie, pretty much says it: "Hey, 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... " My suspicion is that the movie has both themes in mind. "Head" is dated only in the best sense of the word. It's nostalgic and a perfect time capsule of 1968. Also, it was innovative and creative enough that it is still well worth watching. In my opinion this movie was a wonderful, artistic endeavor. Plus, the music is some of the best The Monkees ever did!

Head(1968) was the first Monkees movie. It was a critical and commercial flop. "Monkee-mania" started to fizzle at the time. Head didn't find any success until it was shown on CBS during the nightowl hours in 1974. Head is surreal, wild, psychedelic, and silly. It randomly jumps from one scene to another. Head also satirizes the Vietnam War and the Hollywood movies, TV shows, and commercials of the time. The film was directed by Bob Rafelson and co-written by Jack Nicholson. Ken Thorne(Superman II) composed the music score for the film. Frank Zappa, Toni Basil, Dennis Hopper, Terri Garr, Carol Doda, Sonny Liston, Annette Funicello, and many others make cameos. Victor Mature makes a guest appearance as himself. Head is very different from the fun, vapid, lightweight Monkees TV show. Imagine Miley Cyrus acting in an avant-garde, surreal, art house movie. Head was also released during the same year as the animated Beatles movie Yellow Submarine(1968). Head shows drug use and half naked belly dancers! Kids at the time were Monkees fans. I guess Head tried to appeal towards a more "mature audience". Head is chilling at times. Micky Dolenz jumps off a bridge and there's stock footage of a real Vietnamese man getting killed! Some scenes are flavored with solarization photography. Head is a unique, cult classic.

When this film was made the career of the Monkees was already in decline as their show had been cancelled and their music was no longer charting ('Porpoise Song' from the "Head" soundtrack got up to number 62 on Billboard). The group was tired of their squeaky clean image as the 'Pre-Fab Four', and they just wanted out. This film was conceived in an effort to reach out to more adult audiences, and to hasten their departure from the scenes as the prototype MTV 'boy band'. The film itself is a quirky, stream of consciousness movie that treads the line between anti-war statement film to over the top comedy in scenes where, for instance, they have to frolic on the scalp of Victor Mature (in a sequence known as 'dandruff') and are subsequently sucked into a giant vacuum cleaner by Victor Mature's hairdresser. There is no plot as such, but there is some redeeming social commentary such as when Frank Zappa tells Davy that he needs to work on his music more (but compliments his dancing, done with Toni Basil). At the end of the scene Frank Zappa's cow offers her opinion of the Monkees, in a scene that must be my favorite of the movie. Some of the music is great, with the Nesmith tune 'Circle Sky' getting top mention. It's a great song, filmed live in a scene designed to show how the boys had been devoured by their public image. Other musical numbers are a bit lacking, particularly 'Daddy's Song' and 'As We Go Along.' Highlights in the film are in the cameos. Not only do Toni Basil and Frank Zappa put in appearances, so do boxer Sonny Liston (who fights Davy), Terry Garr (who pleads to have poison sucked from her finger), Annette Funicello (who pleads tearfully with Davy in a love interest scene), and Jack Nicholson and Dennis Hopper in a cantina scene. Most peculiar of all credits are for writers and producers, namely longtime Monkees collaborator Bob Rafelson, and Jack Nicholson, who later collaborated on "Five Easy Pieces" and "The Postman Always Rings Twice", among other projects. There are also extras consisting of theatrical trailers, including one in Portuguese, and television ads for the film. The film was essentially not promoted, certainly didn't connect with the typical Monkee demographic, and was a disaster at the box office. This didn't trouble the band, as it gave them a clear path out, with Peter quitting very shortly after the movie was released. This is as unlike the Monkees TV show as can be imagined, and I recommend it for anyone looking for a trippy sixties flashback stranger than most any other. I was fortunate enough to see this in a theater, and have loved it ever since. I recommend the film to people who know about the Monkees or just think they do. I guarantee that it will shatter your preconceived notions of the band.