Head (Bob Rafelson, 1968)
Rafelson is to be commended for managing to make anything out of Jack Nicholson's completely incoherent script and turning Head into a ninety-minute episode of "The Monkees." History has proven Rafelson to be a fine director, and one quails at the thought of what other stock directors from the TV series might have done with this mess. With the direction issues aside, the best way to handle Head is to have fun playing spot-the-cameo. Aside from the Monkees themselves and the always wondrous Timothy Carey (the only actor, it is said, that Elia Kazan ever physically attacked), Head is chock full of brief appearances by luminaries of the time-- Rafelson, Nicholson, Dennis Hopper, Frank Zappa, Annette Funicello, etc. etc. ad nauseam. The music is certainly not your usual Monkees, either, with a decidedly darker overtone than most of their oeuvre, and the humor, as well, is much darker than the show ever got. If you're a Monkees fan, you've probably already seen it; if you're a serious student of American culture, you've probably already seen it. Most others probably wouldn't want to, but it's fun, in its own thoroughly warped way. Just don't expect coherence. **
Rafelson is to be commended for managing to make anything out of Jack Nicholson's completely incoherent script and turning Head into a ninety-minute episode of "The Monkees." History has proven Rafelson to be a fine director, and one quails at the thought of what other stock directors from the TV series might have done with this mess. With the direction issues aside, the best way to handle Head is to have fun playing spot-the-cameo. Aside from the Monkees themselves and the always wondrous Timothy Carey (the only actor, it is said, that Elia Kazan ever physically attacked), Head is chock full of brief appearances by luminaries of the time-- Rafelson, Nicholson, Dennis Hopper, Frank Zappa, Annette Funicello, etc. etc. ad nauseam. The music is certainly not your usual Monkees, either, with a decidedly darker overtone than most of their oeuvre, and the humor, as well, is much darker than the show ever got. If you're a Monkees fan, you've probably already seen it; if you're a serious student of American culture, you've probably already seen it. Most others probably wouldn't want to, but it's fun, in its own thoroughly warped way. Just don't expect coherence. **