Head is a 1968 American satirical musical adventure film written and produced by Jack Nicholson and Bob Rafelson, directed by Rafelson, starring television rock group The Monkees (Davy Jones, Peter Tork, Micky Dolenz and Michael Nesmith) and distributed by Columbia Pictures. The film was a theatrical spin-off of the band's 1966–68 NBC television show.
The film featured Victor Mature as "The Big Victor" and cameo appearances by Nicholson, Teri Garr, Carol Doda, Annette Funicello, Frank Zappa, Sonny Liston, Timothy Carey, Percy Helton and Ray Nitschke. Also appearing on screen in brief non-speaking parts are Dennis Hopper and film choreographer Toni Basil.
Plot Unlike most movies, there is no "plot" per se in this movie, rather a succession of seemingly unrelated scenes. The throughline in the film comes from the themes inherent in it: a biting satire of television; an indictment of fame, especially fame gained too early in life; commentary on the Monkees themselves and their experience as both product and performers; and a meditation on the power of media.
Head begins at the dedication of a bridge. As a local politician struggles with his microphone during the dedication speech, the four members of The Monkees, Micky, Davy, Peter, and Mike, suddenly interrupt the ceremony by running through the assembled officials, to the sound of various horns and sirens.
A later scene shows each member of the group having just been kissed by the same groupie, who tells them that they were indistinguishable. This is juxtaposed with images of screaming fans at a Monkees concert, who would do anything to be that close to their idols. This kind of juxtaposition of opposites will be seen throughout the film. As the movie continues, they make their way both together and separately through a series of unrelated vignettes, each being a different type of movie (a mystery, a war movie, a western, a desert adventure, etc.). This nonlinear narrative mimics the experience of changing channels on a TV set, flipping through various shows and various genres as part of the film's satire of television.
Subsequent scenes, some reflecting the humor of their television show, others displaying clips of such real-life issues as the Vietnam War – and conspicuously, the execution of Viet Cong operative Nguyen Van Lem in 1968 – provide commentary on the way in which media reduces everything it displays to some short of entertainment, even clips of people being brutally murdered, a scene that was widely shown on TV at the time. Throughout the film, the Monkees rebel against the unrealistic fiction that had been created about them – that they were mere actors on a TV show and not the talented musicians and performers the actually were – which they were trying to dispel with this movie.
At the end, The Monkees find themselves back on the same bridge they were on at the beginning of the movie. Just as before, they jump off the edge, demonstrating that they can "think outside the box" (the black box that in which they have been trapped at various points in the movie, representing the personal and artistic confinement of their TV show), and go in a direction not considered by all the "normal" people who use the bridge. Sadly, and in spite of their best efforts, the Monkees end up exactly where they started, looping back into the scene on the bridge to imply that life is circular, and the harder you try to escape from your circumstances, the more you end up back where you started.
In the final moments of the film, the group still underwater, is seen to be trapped – once again – in a huge tank, staring uncertainly through the glass and struggling under the water, perhaps suggesting that escaping one's fame – and one's status as a money-making product – is not as easy as gaining it.
Cast
Peter Tork as Peter Davy Jones as Davy Micky Dolenz as Micky Michael Nesmith as Mike Victor Mature as The Big Victor Annette Funicello as Teresa/Minnie Timothy Carey as Lord High 'n' Low Logan Ramsey as Officer Faye Lapid Abraham Sofaer as Swami Vito Scotti as I. Vitteloni Charles Macaulay as Inspector Shrink T. C. Jones as Mr. and Mrs. Ace Charles Irving as Mayor Feedback William Bagdad as Black Sheik Percy Helton as Heraldic Messenger Sonny Liston as Extra Ray Nitschke as Private One Carol Doda as Sally Silicone Frank Zappa as The Critic June Fairchild as The Jumper Terry Garr as Testy True I. J. Jefferson as Lady Pleasure Toni Basil as 'Daddy's Song' Dancer Lee Kolima as Guard Terry Chambers as Hero Mike Burns as Nothing Esther Shepard as Mother Kristine Helstoski as Girl Friend John Hoffman as The Sexfiend Linda Weaver as Lover Secretary Jim Hanley as Frodis Dennis Hopper as Long Haired Guy in Restaurant (uncredited) Bob Rafelson as himself (uncredited) Jack Nicholson as Movie Director in Restaurant (uncredited)
Production On October 12, 1966, Daily Variety revealed a feature film starring The Monkees was in the works. In December, Micky Dolenz told Army Archerd of Daily Variety, "We want it to be as different a movie as the series was to TV. And we want to bring back a lot of the old Hollywood glamour and excitement with it." In June 1967, during a Monkees press conference in London, Bob Rafelson claimed he had "tossed away" five potential scripts for Monkees films.
Around November 1967, the plot and peak moments of the film came together at an Ojai, California, resort where the Monkees, Rafelson, and Jack Nicholson brainstormed into a tape recorder, reportedly with the aid of a quantity of marijuana. According to Andrew Sandoval, other contributors included Rafelson's business partner Bert Schneider and "Monkees assistant" Brendan Cahill. Nicholson then took the tapes and used them as the basis for his screenplay, which according to Rafelson he structured while under the influence of LSD. On December 15, 1967, Rafelson and Nicholson completed a "final draft script" of the film, now called Changes. Rafelson recalled the title "seemed best because changes meant something at that time – to do with hallucinations and the cliché that the only thing you can rely on is change." A revision dated January 24, 1968 saw many key sequences added or revised, most of which would appear in the final film. A "long sequence to be shot in Japan involving The Monkees and Godzilla" was removed before filming began, Godzilla being the name of a character in the script. The character of Lord High 'n' Low is identified as "Dernsie" and Bruce Dern in the script, which Peter Mills claims was an indication Dern was the original choice for the role before Timothy Carey was cast. The script also featured the scene where Peter objects to having punched the waitress during the making of the film. Some contemporary magazines such as Monkee Spectacular and NME reported that the plot of the film would involve The Monkees riding across the United States on motorcycles.
Rafelson and Nicholson completed further script revisions on February 15. Filming was also scheduled to begin that day. When the band learned that they would not be allowed to direct themselves or to receive screenwriting credit, Dolenz, Davy Jones, and Michael Nesmith staged a one-day walkout, leaving Peter Tork the only Monkee on the set the first day. The strike ended after the first day when the studio agreed to a larger percentage share of the film's net for the group, but the incident damaged the Monkees' relationship with Rafelson and Schneider and would effectively end their professional relationship with the producers.
In a 1976 interview with Sight and Sound, Rafelson stated that the film "wasn't really" a natural offshoot of The Monkees' TV series, but felt that he and Schneider "were entitled, since we had made for Columbia an enormous amount of money in their record division and in television sales, to make a picture that would in a sense expose the process."
On February 19, production began at the Columbia Studios lot in Los Angeles, with two days of filming scenes on The Monkees' pad set. Mimi Machu, who plays the woman who kisses each of the Monkees, was one of Nicholson's girlfriends. The war scenes were filmed at Bronson Canyon. The filmmakers were denied permission to use a mock Life magazine cover with Peter that appears in the film, but decided to ignore the request. Sequences were also filmed at the Grand Olympic Auditorium and the Hyperion Sewage Treatment Plant. As another film was in the works with the same title, Changes was renamed Untitled in March. Rafelson also remembered briefly renaming the film DASturb. The desert sequences were shot over three days beginning March 3 in Palm Springs. The first day of the shoot was described by Sandoval as "close to a bust", due to technical problems with the tank Dolenz was scheduled to use in a scene. The second day of the shoot focused "solely on Micky", and the third day saw the completion of Micky's desert scene, as well as The Monkees' scene in the desert near the end of the film. Filming temporarily paused on March 27 before resuming on April 8 with Davy Jones performing "Daddy's Song" at Columbia Studios. Nesmith had recorded vocals for a version of the song and wanted to perform the dance routine in the film, but Harry Nilsson, who wrote the song, requested that Jones perform it instead. Toni Basil choreographed the routine and appears as Jones' dancing partner in the scene. Jones sang a brief portion of the song live during filming. Production moved to the Columbia Ranch in Burbank on April 11 for "some underwater sequences [...] and action on the 'old West' set." Sometime during the month, Mike's birthday party scene was filmed on the set of Rosemary's Baby at Paramount Studios. The bridge ceremony sequences were filmed on the "brand new and unopened" Gerald Desmond Bridge at Long Beach.
In May, Dolenz filmed underwater sequences for the film's opening in The Bahamas. Nicholson served as second unit director during the shoot. Dolenz later remembered "[having] to hold my breath as long as I could then wave frantically at these two scuba guys, and they'd swim as fast as they could toward me, and I just remember the silver mouthpiece and I'd go 'urghh urghh' and surface and Jack would say 'OK, one more time.'" The concert sequence was filmed in Salt Lake City on May 17. Prior to the concert, Dolenz told The Salt Lake Tribune, "I think they picked Salt Lake City 'cos they had a big RCA contingent there. And a lot of fans and a good venue. They knew they could fill it with a lot of screaming kids." It was the last sequence to be shot for the film. Filming was scheduled to take place at The Lagoon at Patio Gardens, but according to Sandoval, the performance was moved to Valley Music Hall to "better accommodate the film-crew's lighting needs." During the special concert, The Monkees performed "Circle Sky" three times. Tork led the audience through "War Chant", which was combined with "Ditty Diego" for release on the film's soundtrack album. The footage accompanying the "War Chant" sequence was filmed separately at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena. On May 21, Nesmith re-recorded his lead vocal for "Circle Sky" at RCA Studios in Hollywood, as the original live vocals were unusable.
The scenes of Peter in the snow during the "As We Go Along" sequence were filmed in Alaska. The vox pop interview sequence following Lord High 'n' Low's appearance at Mike's birthday party was conducted by satirist Mal Sharpe. Most of the questions were omitted from the film, leaving only the responses.