Vietkong execution? 'G' Rating? Has ANYONE noticed?

I noticed that, too. I can only speculate two things: The ratings board was asleep at the wheel, or -- and this is an admitted stretch -- it's become such a prevasively familiar representation of the Vietnam conflict that people have become somewhat desensitized to the violence. I haven't, and I can't imagine too many four year old's have, either...

Now, about that waitress: Was that really a cross dresser? :)

FYI: The execution occurred on 1 Feb 68 during the Tet Offensive. Saigon Police Chief General Nguyen Ngoc Loan executed Viet Cong Captain Nguyen Van. This happened at the same time the communist Viet Cong had taken over the city of Hue and had executed from 2500 to 5000 civilians. Bet you've never seen film of that.

The shooting also appears in "A Bright Shining Lie". http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0126220/

Contrary to the popular myth (mostly perpetrated by Micky Dolenz) that Head had an "R" rating, this was never the case as even a cursory glance of archival material can tell you. The fact was that Head was one of the first films to receive an MPAA rating, and as such got away with more than it would have had it been released a few months later when it would likely have gotten an "M" rating (which eventually got changed to GP, then PG). Another movie released about the same time, Dracula Has Risen From The Grave, in spite of its graphic violence also received a "G" rating.

"Time is an illusion, lunchtime doubly so." ~Ford Prefect

The ratings board probably gave them a pass on this because the use of the clip fit in with the anti war sentiment that is echoed in the film and Hollywood of the time as a whole. They probably felt that this was a way to shock the complacent populace into awareness, or at least sew the seeds of disgust for the daily carnage within the younger generation which was expected to turn out for the film.

As for it being a pervasive image of the war that popular culture had adapted, my own feeling is that we here in the present day project our ideal of the 1960s on the time when looking back upon it. I think the still images were probably very familiar to most people but the film clip itself was designed to shock viewers in the way that it does. I first saw the movie tripping my gonads off with a college aged audience in likewise states of altered consciousness and you had to pick your brain up off the floor after the sequence. It is a brilliant inclusion and this might actually be a rare incident of the ratings board allowing an out of ratings image to pass because they were hip enough to see how effective of a choice it was.

Believe me, you're not the first one to notice this.

(although it's been mentioned before, Head never had an R rating - it was always G)

I think the argument was that this was documentary footage and therefore was done for the sake of information rather than entertainment....why Michael Moore can show a rabbit being killed and skinned in Roger and Me but if someone did that in, say, the new Die Hard sequel all Hell would break loose.

And they didn't believe that someone would be inspired to copy it. The PG rating that Jaws got was explain in this way as well...that they didn't think anyone was going to start attacking people in the ocean and eating them after having seen it.

The footage appears several times in the movie. Beginning and end. But the most complete version (I think) is during "Circle Sky" - "And what you see you must believe...". You've got to admit, it makes an impact.

I've also heard that all of the Vietnam footage in that movie is from a documentary that The Monkees help fund.

If they ever made The Bible into a movie, and followed it as close as possible, that would be rated X.
Yet kids are more than encouraged - forced in most cases - to read that.

I have owned this movie three times in my life. The first was a home tape made from an airing on TNT, then I replaced that copy with a commercial VHS from Rhino, and now I have the BluRay from Criterion.

I was shocked to see the complete execution as described by the OP on the BluRay. Several times throughout the film, if my memory is correct. I'm positive the TNT version cut it just before the actual moment (except during Ditty Diego as part of the mosaic, too small to see clearly), and I'm pretty sure the Rhino release was the same. Nothing else was cut from the film as aired by TNT. I suspect since Rhino markets so much Monkees material, with an emphasis on fun and nostalgia, that they intentionally sold the television cut to make it a bit friendlier, and that the Criterion version may be the first time the theatrical cut has had an unaltered home market release.

I'm not 100% sure of any of the above, but I don't remember seeing the complete sequence until I got the bluray.

This aired on TCM at 9:30pm with a TV-PG rating. It had the execution scene intact. A movie that had premiered with a G rating has no business showing film of a real-life killing, I don't care what anyone else says. It was irresponsible. It was also the fault of the director, Bob Rafelson. Maybe the MPAA was dozing off at the time (November 1968), or they were high on weed, or maybe they thought non-white people don't count. The MPAA, Columbia Pictures, both corporations run by rich white men, go figure.