It seems appropriate that a pop group who had started out on TV should sprinkle various TV clips of Hollywood feature films in their own feature film debut (while an anonymous character is ostensibly channel zapping) and, among the ones I recognized where THE BLACK CAT (1934; the "Supernatural, perhaps
Baloney, perhaps not" exchange), GILDA (1946) and Charles Laughton's turn as Herod Antipas in SALOME' (1953)! Having said that, I have never watched any of the original TV shows of The Monkees' myself or, for that matter, listened to any of their albums although, naturally, I'm familiar with a couple of their hits.
Anyway, this (pardon the pun) heady concoction clearly follows the lead of The Beatles' own feature films although the template is clearly more the uncontrolled zaniness of HELP! (1965) rather than the freewheeling, pseudo-documentary feel of A HARD DAY'S NIGHT (1964). In fact, our heroes (who, by the way, are also far less endearing and talented than the four British moptops) are first seen disrupting a public ceremony while being chased through the city streets by all and sundry and evading capture by jumping off a bridge; at the end, the film comes full circle as this sequence also concludes the film and both times the chase is accompanied on the soundtrack by perhaps the best tune in the film the haunting "The Porpoise Song" which, ironically, is not a Monkees original but a Goffin/King composition. The rest of the songs are quite decent actually with "Can You Dig It?" (performed live as part of the specifically shot concert footage) emerging as perhaps their best number here.
But, while this may not have been the intention, the film's lasting impression is not the band members or their music but the disarming energy and inventiveness with which director Bob Rafelson/co-writer Jack Nicholson (here at the start of their impressive and subsequently very different - collaboration) infuse the proceedings: The Monkees' image and music may have been far removed from hippiedom and the drug subculture but the film ironically epitomizes perhaps more than any other of its time the kaleidoscopic feel of psychedelia in which, literally, anything goes. Of course, this makes the end result spotty, uneven and not a little slapdash for those unwilling to succumb to it but, for the rest it's quite (perhaps mercifully) unique. And so it is that here we find Victor Mature spoofing his "Hunk" image as the gigantic Big Victor(!) and, in one memorably surreal sequence, sporting The Monkees themselves as his dandruff; Timothy Carey hamming it up as a Western badman of the silver screen who storms off the set in relentless pursuit of the band; veteran character actor Percy Helton appearing, for no good reason, in one shot as a messenger boy; The Monkees' comical stint at war, manning the trenches and meeting surrendering Italian soldier Vito Scotti in the desert; an excursion to a Sheik's tent; a lengthy and particularly politically incorrect skirmish with a fat barmaid (in which Davy Jones punches her in the face and complains to director Rafelson of how this will adversely affect his clean image with the kids); Jack Nicholson and his pal Dennis Hopper interrupting Bob Rafelson while shooting this movie!; Frank Zappa walking his talking cow around the studio lot; and, also playing themselves are Teri Garr, Annette Funicello and boxer Sonny Liston (who even takes on one of the boys on the ring).
The film originally premiered at 110 minutes but the general release version is only 86 minutes long; however, the former has reportedly just been restored and might perhaps even be released on DVD!
Anyway, this (pardon the pun) heady concoction clearly follows the lead of The Beatles' own feature films although the template is clearly more the uncontrolled zaniness of HELP! (1965) rather than the freewheeling, pseudo-documentary feel of A HARD DAY'S NIGHT (1964). In fact, our heroes (who, by the way, are also far less endearing and talented than the four British moptops) are first seen disrupting a public ceremony while being chased through the city streets by all and sundry and evading capture by jumping off a bridge; at the end, the film comes full circle as this sequence also concludes the film and both times the chase is accompanied on the soundtrack by perhaps the best tune in the film the haunting "The Porpoise Song" which, ironically, is not a Monkees original but a Goffin/King composition. The rest of the songs are quite decent actually with "Can You Dig It?" (performed live as part of the specifically shot concert footage) emerging as perhaps their best number here.
But, while this may not have been the intention, the film's lasting impression is not the band members or their music but the disarming energy and inventiveness with which director Bob Rafelson/co-writer Jack Nicholson (here at the start of their impressive and subsequently very different - collaboration) infuse the proceedings: The Monkees' image and music may have been far removed from hippiedom and the drug subculture but the film ironically epitomizes perhaps more than any other of its time the kaleidoscopic feel of psychedelia in which, literally, anything goes. Of course, this makes the end result spotty, uneven and not a little slapdash for those unwilling to succumb to it but, for the rest it's quite (perhaps mercifully) unique. And so it is that here we find Victor Mature spoofing his "Hunk" image as the gigantic Big Victor(!) and, in one memorably surreal sequence, sporting The Monkees themselves as his dandruff; Timothy Carey hamming it up as a Western badman of the silver screen who storms off the set in relentless pursuit of the band; veteran character actor Percy Helton appearing, for no good reason, in one shot as a messenger boy; The Monkees' comical stint at war, manning the trenches and meeting surrendering Italian soldier Vito Scotti in the desert; an excursion to a Sheik's tent; a lengthy and particularly politically incorrect skirmish with a fat barmaid (in which Davy Jones punches her in the face and complains to director Rafelson of how this will adversely affect his clean image with the kids); Jack Nicholson and his pal Dennis Hopper interrupting Bob Rafelson while shooting this movie!; Frank Zappa walking his talking cow around the studio lot; and, also playing themselves are Teri Garr, Annette Funicello and boxer Sonny Liston (who even takes on one of the boys on the ring).
The film originally premiered at 110 minutes but the general release version is only 86 minutes long; however, the former has reportedly just been restored and might perhaps even be released on DVD!