Head (1968)

It’s really hard to describe the movie Head, it’s the kind of film that you will either love or absolutely hate; there is practically no middle ground. I belong to the former category myself, as I find it to be an extremely amusing, if dated, piece of film making.  It’s definitely a product of its time; the late 1960’s. It is a movie that is about nothing, but says everything about its leading actors, The Monkees.  It was an attempt by the Monkees to shed their squeaky clean teen idol image in hopes of ingratiating themselves with the counterculture.  Head is the ultimate “college” movie, but sadly, college students at the time just yawned with indifference; they would have rather been dead than sit through a movie starring those “musical hacks,” The Monkees. The studio, of course, was oblivious to this fact and gave Rafelson the green light to make Head. The movie baffled the group's initial fan base, who went in expecting a goofy comedy, but instead were treated to a heady, and rather cynical, movie. To the fans (all three of them) that saw Head in  1968, it must have felt like the Monkees were flipping them the bird. I can only imagine the look of horror on their faces as Mickey Dolenz jumps off the Golden Gate Bridge in what is, essentially, an act of suicide.

Mind you, this happens at the very beginning of the film. The movie was a financial disaster and sent the Monkees in a nose dive that they never recovered from.  The studio (Columbia) didn't help matters with their piss poor promotional campaign; the TV spot  consisted of a thirty second close up of a man's face, then the word "HEAD" appeared on his forehead. The theatrical trailer to the movie was just as incomprehensible; it rapidly flashes images (in some case, outtakes) from the film, while playing random sound bites.

Rafelson was not content with just doing a full length episode of the Monkees and wanted to do something extremely different, nay extraordinarily insane, make a free form, stream of consciousness movie. There is no discernible plot to Head, nor, for that matter, is there a single character that the audience can relate to. Sure, we recognize The Monkees, but none of them are particularly sympathetic and are, at times,  down right unlikable; in one scene, Mike Nesmith and Micky Dolenz take wagers on whether or not a bikini clad woman will jump from the top of a building. The audience never really cares about the plight of the characters, because there is nothing to care about. 

Head often plays like an episode of Monty Python’s Flying Circus; like that show, it is a series of sketches that bleed into one another.  It is very self referential, rather than gloss over the fact that The Monkees were a manufactured product created to sell records, it fully embraces it (“a manufactured image with no philosophies.”) It constantly calls attention to the artifice by frequently breaking the fourth wall; Micky Dolenz gets frustrated and storms off the set of a western,  Peter Tork is worried about his image when the script calls for him to punch a woman, etc.
As a result, the audience never knows what is real (in the movie) and what is fake, thus creating a very surreal experience.  It is extremely fitting that at one point Peter starts whistling “Strawberry Fields Forever,” because, as the lyric in that song states, “nothing is real.”

In the movie, the Monkees are treated with absolute contempt by their co-workers; just their presence is enough to clear out the studio cafeteria. A few seconds later,  an overweight waitress sees them and quips, "Well, if it isn't God's gift to the eight-year-olds."  This is grounded in reality, as they were greeted with absolute disdain by the critics, who saw them as a cheap knock off of The Beatles (the pressed dubbed them the "Pre-Fab Four"). The Monkees TV show was greatly influenced by A Hard Day's Night, so this criticism has some merit. However, what really hurt The Monkees reputation was the revelation that they didn't play their own instruments on their albums. Of course, neither did the Beach Boys and many other, more respected bands from that era; The Monkees were singled out solely for the fact that they were a "manufactured" product. The result of this controversy is the common belief that The Monkees were no talent hacks that happened to be at the right place at the right time; they are no better than the Justin Biebers and Britney Spears of the world! Right?   What is largely ignored is that they could play their own instruments (they played live shows)  and actually did on the "Headquarters" album.  It needs to be mentioned that both Peter Tork and Michael Nesmith were fairly accomplished musicians in their own right, and wrote a few of the bands songs. Nesmith even manage to pen a hit song for Linda Ronstadt and The Stoney Poneys, "A Different Drum." The Beatles actually liked The Monkees and were big fans of the show.

I bring all this up, because it shows the mind set of the group as they prepared to make the movie Head. This was their chance to shed their prefabricated  TV image once and for all, and to prove their critics wrong. Of course, in 1968, it was a complete and utter disaster. However, like many other movies from that era, Head has developed a cult following. A part of this is due to Jack Nicholson's involvement with the film; he co-wrote the screenplay and has a "blink or you'll miss it" cameo in the middle of the movie. Head, in many ways, feels like a warm up for the following year's Easy Rider; they shared a lot of the same talent  and both have "loose narratives," and disillusioned protagonists.  Easy Rider resonated with the counterculture and was a box office smash; it was more grounded in reality, and visualized the hopes, and fears, of it's target audience. This is fairly surprising, considering that it is an extremely bleak film.

It's not too surprising that I find Head to be the superior out of the two movies; it definitely has similar flaws, like it's over reliance on psychedelic effects (a few scenes use the solarization process), but it is a much more energetic and creative film.  Easy Rider has a few wonderful moments scattered about, especially when Jack Nicholson enters the movie, but it is also incredibly boring at times. Head may have originally been a statement about The Monkees discontent with the system, but there are moments that still ring true today. There is a scene where the Monkees are onstage performing "Circle Sky," while shots of fans screaming are superimposed over their playing; one female fan looks like she's on the verge of having an orgasm. They scream the entire time, never once stopping to listen to the lyrics and trying to comprehend their meaning. It's not the music that excites them, but rather the product that is being presented onstage; the scenes end with rabid fans storming the stage and, literally, tearing the Monkees to bits. This is a phenomenon that is still alive in music today, fans (not necessarily teenagers) getting excited over a hyped up performer, regardless of the quality of his/her music. Head takes this idea a step further by juxtaposing images of the Vietnam War into the scene, thus hinting at how oblivious an obsessed fanbase can be to the world around them. It's a truly unnerving sequence and even a bit squeamish at times. How this movie got a G rating is a mystery to me?

My favorite moment is Micky Dolenz wandering through the desert, on the verge of dehydration. Just then he spots something in the corner of his eye; the film cuts to a long shot of Coca-Cola vending machine on top of a sand dune. Micky runs to the machine, inserts a few coins, and, much to his frustration, finds that the machine is empty. He starts banging on the machine, while the Coca-Cola jingle plays on the sound track. It's one of the funniest, and surreal, scenes from 1960's American Cinema.

Head is an underrated film that deserved a greater success; it only grossed a paltry $16,000 in its initial release. It's definitely worth a look, whether or not you are a fan of the Monkees. It may surprise you! Also, any film that has Frank Zappa giving Davy Jones pointers on how to improve his music can't be all bad.

Credits
Cast:  Micky Dolenz (Himself), Davy Jones (Himself), Michael Nesmith (Himself), Peter Tork (Himself),  Annette Funicello (Minnie), Timothy Carey (Lord High’ n Low), Teri Garr (Testy True),  Victor Mature (The Big Victor),  Logan Ramsey (Officer Lapid), Abraham Sofaer (Swami), Vito Scotti (I, Vitteloni), Frank Zappa (The Critic), Ray Nitschke (Private One), Carol Doda (Sally Sillcone), June Fairchild (The Jumper), I.J. Jefferson (Lady Pleasure), Sonny Liston (Extra) Toni Basil (Dancer).

Director: Bob Rafelson
Screenplay: Bob Rafelson, Jack Nicholson.
Running Time:  88 min.