ada the leading man is my tpye
CommentsXp Best movie ever!
StyleSk8r At first rather annoying in its heavy emphasis on reenactments, this movie ultimately proves fascinating, simply because the complicated, highly dramatic tale it tells still almost defies belief.
Blake Rivera If you like to be scared, if you like to laugh, and if you like to learn a thing or two at the movies, this absolutely cannot be missed.
abartman I'm gonna say it right off the bat I personally think this movie is a lot better than the TV show it was based on. The TV show is so formulaic by today's standards it's become hard to watch. HEAD on the other hand greatly strays from that.When I first saw this movie years ago I hated it due to the non-linear storytelling (if there was any lol). This was back when I used to love the TV show. Now that I've grown up a little bit and got more exposure to other films, HEAD has become one of my all time favorite films. What I love about it is how it completely destroys the Monkees persona and the film techniques used in the film hold up surprisingly well (particularly the solarization effect).If you wanna watch something that's very 60s and "out there", you will love HEAD.It's like watching a "YouTube Poop" that was made in the 60s lol.
dungeonstudio On viewing this movie again in the Criterion BBS Story, I've gained a new appreciation for it. I'd say it's a flawless commentary on the assembly, execution (in many literal senses) and the desires and integrity (if any?) of some or all of The Monkees in the 'system'. Highly surreal at times, but yet making perfect sense to anyone having strong opinions on 'pop stardom', 'television diffusion', and 'political/moral diversion tactics'. It's all brilliantly and subtlety interwoven in this film. It does more to justify what The Monkees were, and The Beatles weren't. Yet, if given the chance at the time - I think both bands would gladly switch their jackets for mere poops and giggles. Both bands could claim being 'groomed and doomed'. But is so interesting that one endured the 'caverns' for their status, while the other endured the 'casting offices'. And in a way, I think the later created more of a desperate bonding than the former for the two bands. The Monkees were definitely split on 'earning their bread' and 'getting their butter'. And had opinions and awareness of the world outside of their 'bubble' that they wanted to empathize and alert their fans of as well. But were caught in such a mechanism that could jeopardize their career, yet at the same time earn them credibility and expand their fan base. I think 'Head' straddles that hurdle amazingly, not only for The Monkees, but Raffleson, Nicholson, and all others involved. How to stay in a system they're trying to escape from? Take the food from the hand, and say the bite it was given was out of love? Really miraculous considering the shackles, context, period, and all the talent that was involved, and their own personal ideas and beliefs. Art for information sake? Or information with a chrome gallery frame around it? Either way, it stands as both - then and now.
tomgillespie2002 The most iconic and popular film that came out of the acid-fuelled 1960's was undoubtedly Easy Rider (1969), with the clip of Peter Fonda and Dennis Hopper riding their motorbikes to the sound of 'Born to be Wild' now embodying the very spirit of the hippy movement. Yet, as good as Easy Rider is, it followed very much in the same footsteps as Roger Corman's The Wild Angels, out four years before and following the same attitudes and ideas. A lot of the less successful independents from the 1960's have seemingly disappeared from popular culture - movies that deserve a lot more recognition and respect from more mainstream audiences. One of the finest examples, is Head, released the same year as The Beatles' Yellow Submarine, but sharing little of the Liverpudlian quartet's success, perhaps due to it being a vehicle for The Monkees, a band manufactured from actors for the purpose of a bubble-gum sitcom, and who received very little adoration from fans of 'real' music.The Monkees TV series ran between 1966 and 1968, and was a massive success for the band and its co-creator Bob Rafelson, which makes it very strange given the direction Rafelson (directing here) and co-writer Jack Nicholson chose to take them. Head follows the Monkees - Micky Dolenz, Peter Tork, Michael Nesmith and David Jones - on a studio lot making a film. They wander aimlessly through different genres - war, horror, adventure, western - playing out surreal and comedic vignettes throughout. The Monkees are tired of their studio image, frequently attempting to disrupt the proceedings as they are followed by an ever- present camera, and repeatedly find themselves locked in a large black room, while a giant Victor Mature tries to squash them. Sound strange? Well, it is.I would imagine people either loving or hating this film, depending on their attitudes towards acid-trip art and the youth culture of the time. Head is complete with psychedelic negative imagery, screaming female fans and a dreamy, Pink Floyd-esque score, all the elements that can now be considered as clichés of the era. But where a lot of these types of surrealistic films were there to mean nothing, Head very much means something, and lays out its attitudes and aims at the beginning, as The Monkees sing a strange diddy about acknowledging their manufactured reputation and ponder their destiny. The film then switches to the opening of a bridge, where the announcer struggles to operate the microphone when the Monkees dash past him, desperately fleeing some unknown danger. They then jump off the bridge, killing themselves, and the titles play over images of their lifeless, floating bodies. These images would hardly endear them to their young, screaming fanbase, therefore finally breaking out of their squeaky-clean shackles.The film has many satirical focuses - war, politics, America, the studio system, advertising, the World War II generation - employing everything from flashing images of napalm bombings and the famous execution of Nyugen Van Lem, to scenes of outright farce such as a foreign army surrendering to an unarmed and shirtless Micky Dolenz in the desert, no doubt signifying America's bullying attitudes to world politics. It's the sheer anger of the satire that makes Head so good, even though it's usually peppered between seemingly light-hearted, playful comedy. There's a few nice songs (although the soundtrack is nothing ground- breaking) and features a wonderful song-and-dance routine featuring David Jones and Toni Basil. I don't know why history has been cruel on Head, as it is as memorable and as outright bizarre as the better- ed films from this period, but hopefully soon this film will find itself with the cult following it deserves.
Professor Klickberg For once, the qualifier "____ on acid" works here. This truly is "Hard Day's Night etc. etc.", with not only psychadelica and "grooviness" all the way, but true philosophic discourse and existential wonderment that will make you think as much as it will make you laugh.Imagine tripping to an episode of the Brady Bunch while pondering the nature of reality vs. illusion. It's all here in Head, but you must be warned: it is a trip, and as such, comes with as many lows as highs. There are certainly moments of nightmarish quality, but overall, it's worth the ride. It's just surprising that a group like the Monkees would be involved in such an undertaking, and probably a large reason this movie has never been taken more seriously or acknowledged as something truly special.Best not to learn too much about it before you see it except to know that it stars the Monkees, is co-written by Jack Nicholson (back in the day), and directed by Bob "Five Easy Pieces" Rafelson. It'll make you laugh, it'll make you rethink your entire perspective of media and the 60's, and might even scare you a few times with a sense of "the Fear" that is mixed wonderfully with beatific music that will also make you rethink the music of the Monkees (and whether or not they actually play or not is moot; it's truly great stuff). If Oliver Stone (in the 90's) and Quentin Tarantino were to get together and produce their own series of Monty Python episodes, it would end up something like this... as long as it were shot like and used the musical ques of sitcoms from the mid-60's. Enjoy... But be careful... You will be surprised.
