Head (1968)

Director:

Bob Rafelson

Writers:

Bob Rafelson (written by) and
Jack Nicholson (written by)

Release Date:

20 November 1968 (USA)

Genre:

Comedy | Musical | Fantasy

Tagline:

What is HEAD all about? Only John Brockman's shrink knows for sure!

Plot:

The Monkees are tossed about in a psychedelic, surrealist, plotless, circular bit of fun fluff.

Plot Keywords:

The Monkees | Box | Psychedelic | Based On TV Series | Endless Loop

Cast

Peter Tork	...	Peter
Davy Jones	...	Davy (as David Jones)
Micky Dolenz	...	Micky
Michael Nesmith	...	Mike
Annette Funicello	...	Minnie
Timothy Carey	...	Lord High 'n Low
Logan Ramsey	...	Off. Faye Lapid
Abraham Sofaer	...	Swami
Vito Scotti	...	I. Vitteloni
Charles Macaulay	...	Inspector Shrink
T.C. Jones	...	Mr. and Mrs. Ace
Charles Irving	...	Mayor Feedback
William Bagdad	...	Black Sheik
Percy Helton	...	Heraldic Messenger
Sonny Liston	...	Extra

Also Known As:

Changes (USA) (working title)
DASturb (USA) (working title)
Untitled (USA) (working title)

Runtime:

86 min | USA:110 min (director's cut)

Country:

USA

Language:

English | Italian

Color:

Black and White | Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Singapore:PG | Argentina:13 | UK:PG | USA:G

Filming Locations:

Bahamas

Company:

Raybert Productions

Trivia:

The "box" that The Monkees keep getting trapped in and attempt to escape from is symbolic of television, as the real Monkees felt trapped in what they considered to be their increasingly silly TV show. They wanted to "escape" the show in order to express themselves with no boundaries to their creativity. The first realization of this freedom was, in fact, the film "Head."

Goofs:

Continuity: When the cop orders The Monkees out of the box, he is wearing sunglasses. The camera angle changes as they climb down, and suddenly the sunglasses are in the cop's hand.

Quotes:

Swami: We were speaking of belief; beliefs and conditioning. All belief possibly could be said to be the result of some conditioning. Thus, the study of history is simply the study of one system of beliefs deposing another, and so on and so on and so on... A psychologically tested belief of our time is that the central nervous system...
[...]

Movie Connections:

Referenced in The Linguists (2008)

Soundtrack:

Long Title: Do I Have to Do This All Over Again

"For those who look for meaning, and form as they do fact..." get a life.

I just can't understand why people are surprised this movie makes no sense. It was never supposed to make sense. (Duh! The writers were completely wasted on Frodis at the time.) It was just supposed to entertain and mock, and it does both wonderfully.

The Monkees are good actors. They wouldn't have been hired if they weren't good actors. Mike has a thing for deadpan and darkness, Micky is the best at sheer psychotic comedy, Davy is a Broadway veteran, and Peter actually had people believing he was that dumb in real life. Don't tell me they can't act, because they most definitely can.

They can also write. Sure, Jack & Bob get the sole credits, but in reality, they got a big helping hand on that script from the Monkees, who were also in that smoke-filled room.

(it is absolutely impossible to spoil this film) Head is very highly symbolic. Among the more memorable elements is the black box, which was actually based on 2 things: the Monkee image that the boys were bound to, and the real black box on the Screen Gems lot where the band was kept between takes. There's so much more symbolism in the movie that I'll just let you watch it and figure it out.

The music is awesome. "Circle Sky" is one of Papa Nez's best tunes ever, and "Porpoise Song" & "As We Go Along" will have you enthralled. If you'd rather be weirded out, then "Ditty Diego", "Can You Dig It?", and "Long Title" should be satisfactory, great songs that they are. And then there's "Daddy's Song", without a doubt a homage to Davy's Broadway days, and the editing/color scheming for that sequence is superb. (At least for '68.)

Oh, For those of you who won't watch a 'PG' film, you're missing out. Especially since Head was originally rated R in 1968. The rating was lowered about TWENTY years later!

Now where was I? Ah, yes: "We were speaking of beliefs. Beliefs and conditioning...."