Head is a psychedelic
motion picture released in 1968, 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.
The name seems to be a sort of joke. The Beatles had released the
film "HELP", and the physical beginning of a movie is called the
"HEAD". "Head" is actually written on the beginnings of every reel
of film produced just as "Tail" is written on the ends. A similar
joke can be seen later in the movie - when they are playing a
concert, you can see the word "Drum" on their drums instead of
"Monkees". Additionally, a "head trip" was a common term in the
late sixties, and this can also be part of the joke. In 60s and 70s
slang, "head" meant someone who used psychedelic drugs, as in "pot
head," and "acid head." The name is also suggestive of
oral sex. It is rumored that the title was chosen
in the case of a sequel being produced, where it would be
advertised as coming from the filmmakers who "gave you
'Head'".
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 and
Ray Nitschke.
Plot
Head begins (without any opening
credits) at the dedication of a bridge
. (There is a slight possibility that the
opening credits were included in the DVD version of this feature.)
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,
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.
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 incident damaged the Monkees' relationship with
Rafelson and
Bert Schneider.
Filmed at Columbia Pictures/Screen Gems Studios and on various
locations in California (the Gerald Desmond Bridge, Long Beach;
Pasadena Rose Bowl, Pasadena; Playa Del Rey; Bronson Canyon; Palm
Springs; Columbia Ranch, Burbank), Utah (Valley Music Hall, Salt
Lake City), and The Bahamas 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"
is a
parody of the band's TV
theme song written by
Boyce and Hart; its lyrics illustrate the
tone of self-parody evident in parts of the film:
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...
(The final "We're here to give you..." is interrupted by a gunshot,
with footage of the execution of
Nguyen Van Lem.)
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. This was in part because
Head, being an antithesis of
The Monkees TV show,
comprehensively demolished the group's carefully-groomed public
image, while the older, hipper audience they'd been reaching for
rejected the Monkees' efforts out of hand.
The movie was also delayed in its release (owing partly to the use
of
solarisation, a then-new technique
both laborious and expensive), and badly under-promoted. The sole
television commercial was a
confusing,
minimalist close-up shot of a
man's head; after thirty seconds, the man smiled and the name HEAD
appeared on his forehead. This ad was a parody of
Andy Warhol's 1963 film
Blow Job, which only showed a close-up
of a man's face for an extended period, supposedly receiving
'head'.
Another part of the promotional campaign was placing
"
Head" stickers in random places. An urban legend has
circulated for years that Jack Nicholson was arrested for trying to
place one of these stickers onto the helmet of a New York City
police officer while he was mounting his horse.
The film eventually found a
cult
following, although even fans tend to disagree whether the film
is a landmark of surreal, innovative filmmaking or simply a
fascinating mess.
Head premiered on television
across-the-board
as a
CBS Late Movie on
December 30,
1974 (
Michael
Nesmith's 32nd birthday, and
David Jones' 29th), at 11:30pm (EST); the
network rebroadcast the film on
July 7,
1975. It was released on video by
RCA/
Columbia Pictures Home Video
in September 1986 (taking advantage of the group's 20th
Anniversary) and by
Rhino
Entertainment in January
1995.
Music
While the film's music disappointed fans of the band's more
traditional pop sound, it features what some critics considered to
be some of the best recorded work by
The
Monkees, including songs contributed by
Carole King and
Harry
Nilsson. Jack Nicholson compiled the
soundtrack album, which
approximates the flow of the movie and includes large portions of
the dialogue.
Andrew Sandoval, Rhino
Entertainment's archivist who co-produced the company's reissue of
the film, commented on the songs in a 1995 article published when
the film was first reissued: "It has some of their best songs on it
and, as you know, the movie's musical performances are some of the
most cohesive moments in the film."
The music of the Monkees often featured rather dark subject matter
beneath a superficially bright, happy sound (the song
Last Train to Clarksville,
for instance, is actually about a young man who has been drafted,
and is trying to arrange one last date with his girlfriend before
he ships out); the music of the film takes the darkness and
occasional satirical elements of the Monkees' earlier tunes and
makes it far more overt, as in "Ditty Diego - War Chant", or
"Daddy's Song," which has Jones singing an upbeat, Broadway-style
number about a boy abandoned by his father. (Jones' own father,
Harry, died just prior to
Head's release.)
The soundtrack includes:
Cast
"Reversed" cast
- Srebmahc Yrret as Oreh (Terry Chambers as Hero)
- Snrub Ekim as Gnihton (Mike Burns as Nothing)
- Drapehs as Rehtse Rehtom (Shepard as Mother Esther)
- Iksotsleh Enitsirk as Dneirf Lrig (Kristine Helstoski as Girl
Friend)
- Namffoh Nhoj as Dneifxes Eht (John Hoffman as The
Sexfiend)
- Revaew Adnil as Yraterces Revol (Linda Weaver as Lover
Secretary)
- Yelnah Mij as Frodis (Jim Hanley as Sidorf)
On screen these credits actually appeared backwards.
Crew
References
- The first and final scenes which play the Porpoise Song were
the basis for Incubus' original
music video for "Wish You Were
Here".
- Arguably a major reason for the film's flop is that many
theaters demanded, and got, a change in rating from a G to a Mature
rating due to the psychedelic nature of the film (with posters that
say it was for mature audiences only) even though there was no
nudity, no foul language, and very little violence (most notably
the Nguyen footage).
Home video release history
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