Made me dislike them. - Head (1968) Discussion

[–] PickUrFeetInPoughkeepsie 16 years ago

I completely disagree with you.

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I as well. Hated the Monkees music...think this movie is amazing.

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"none of them showed an ounce of personality and they came off as a bit angry."

The point of the movie itself was that they were trying to squash those pre-packaged images people had of them from the series and their music so that they'd be accepted as worthwhile performers. Also, at this point in their careers they were quite angry and in some instances rightfully so about alot of things. They were taking criticisms about their music, image and there was a bit of in-fighting and disagreements in their camp as well as exhaustion from the hectic scheduel they kept. "Head" was basically a release of all this aggression they were feeling.

"A commitment to cinema means to lead a technically deviant lifestyle."

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[–] celia_cyanide 16 years ago

I have to disagree with you as well. I think this film shows some of their most impressive acting and music. There really would have been no point to have the Monkees movie be exactly like the show, because the show was modeled on "A Hard Days' Night" and "Help!"

A big theme in "Head" was that their characters on the show were just characters.

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[–] beatlenut8 16 years ago

Ditto. The last thing the world needed in 1968 was an 90 minute episode of the TV show. The TV show was fun but doesnt stack up too well today except when they cut to the music. 'Frodis Caper' and 'Monkees On Tour' aside, most eps are pretty lame. HEAD is a complete classic from start to finish. I saw this at a retro cinema in 1986 and it was a full house. I do love the fact that it confuses some people.

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[–] rockrevolt 16 years ago

Well I was introduced to their music along with just about every well-known (and some obscure) acts from the 1960's through my parents. I have to admit I liked their show as a kid and their music, but I can also fully appreciate this work of art. To me Head is what the Beatles were perhaps trying to do with MMT. Who knows but if I had to choose between the two as to which was the better surreal psychedelia and representative picture, I easily choose Head. The only time I'd ever choose them over the Beatles but that's how I feel.

In regards to material and their perceived TV image vs. their depicted image in Head (and which you like better)...well I suppose it's about taste and how open-minded you are. However, this movie was INTENDED to be the antithesis of the Monkees' TV image so of course many fans might like one and despise the other outright (or vice versa). Man, if I wanted to break out of that "black box" I'd sure as Hell would want to do it in a way like this. This film was so groundbreaking at the time it was made in spite of whether or not it was fully intended. Again though, I think there are fans like me that you can chalk up to the "I love both" category. Surely this film doesn't have to be that dividing.

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[–] 16 years ago

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[–] lroy77 14 years ago

I first watched the Monkees on Saturday mornings (me being too young to watch them in prime time, original broadcast. I'm what is called the "second generation", circa 1968/9.

While the musical numbers are enjoyable, on the whole, I believe the movie would've been better if it was an expanded version of the show.

While I got your attention I like Davy best (followed by Peter, Micky then Mike but like "the Other group (Beatles), this has changed over the years.

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[–] badponymedicine 12 years ago

That would be me, 2nd generation. First syndication. Over at our babysitter's neighbour's. Davy was my fave (I was 3), still like him though he's quite the d*ck these days. Friend of mine interviewed Peter, and he was quite the jerk to her, as well. My second was Mike...but in the 80's, I got some of my friends into the Monkees, and suddenly MY fave was no longer 'mine' to like, as my 'best friend' liked him, so I couldn't. WTH??? Criminy...if it hadn't been for me, the lifelong Monkees fan, she'd have never known who they were! It was when MTV (those schmucks) did the "Pleasant Valley Weekend". I told her I would not be available, as I would be watching the Monkees ALL WEEKEND LONG, NOT TO BE DISTURBED. The could not understand it. Then, towards the end, with nothing else to do, she tuned in, and...VOILA! A NEW MONKEES FAN WAS BORN! We won't even get into the hag taking MY ticket and catching Davy's eye from the audience...grrrrr

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[–] joe_538 11 years ago

I have to agree that a lot of the series was hit-and-miss. A movie length version of the show could've been allright. It worked for Batman, Our Miss Brooks, The Munsters, McHale's Navy, Police Squad, Are You Being Served, Peter Gunn, Bean, The X-Files, and The Simpsons.

I love the one where they race the Monkee Mobile and when they got kidnapped by hillbillies. There are a few I won't even watch, though.

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[–] tardesdete 16 years ago

The Monkeys are a stupid band, the TV show is crap. This movie instead is amazing and even the monkees songs in it are great!

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[–] [email protected] 16 years ago

As a child I watched the original screenings of the Monkees Tv show...as an adult I discovered 'Head'. I love this film...as someone else mentioned above..it's what the magical Mystery Tour should have been like. They are messing with their pre-concieved personalities. The kissing scene at the beginning where the sun shines in and the music swells as the girl kisses Davey..and then she gives them all an 'average' rating...Peter telling Mickey "I'm the dummy, Mickey...I'm always the dummy"...Michael Nesmith (always perceived as the happy go lucky one) being angry at the surprise party and that whole "..and the same goes for Christmas!!" bit. The drug references..the surrealism..I love this whole film. Brilliant!

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[–] newhavencoliseum 15 years ago

I grew up watching the Monkees TV show on reruns in the early 1970's and loved it and I still find it entertaining. I have every Monkees U.S. vinyl release, except the Colgems two disc "Barrel Full Of Monkees", all their solo vinyl, etc. I still enjoy the TV series, and I really like the movie "Head". As some previous posters put it...why make a 90 minute version of the TV series. Head is an incredible trip through the Monkees manufactured image and the puncturing of it. The songs in the film are excellent as well. Again, if you are a Monkees die-hard, watch this film. For that matter, the Monkees TV special that aired in 1996 or 1997 that had all four Monkees in it was pretty good too.

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[–] rockrevolt 16 years ago

tardesdete you have your right to your own opinion even if I completely and wholeheartedly disagree. I really don't see how you can say they are a stupid band and that the TV show is crap but still love this movie. That simply doens't make sense to me.

The music still holds up after 40+ years and is pop fun, country-rock goodness (pioneering in itself), trippy and experimental as well, if you actually know or ever listened to their entire catalogue and not just their "hits" on the radio.

The show was groundbreaking in many ways: it was the first to show young people without a father figure, it was one of the first shows that centered on young people alone and of the counter-culture of the times, it brought long hair into the living rooms of Americans that weren't used to seeing that, it combined the mediums of television and music for the first time to massive effect, it incorporated interviews with the band in the show, it used jump cuts, broke the "fourth wall" and made cultural refernces and at times even exercised social commentary in some of the episodes. It got stale after a while but the Monkees knew the next step was to go variety. They were smart and hip enough to have the likes of Frank Zappa, Charlie Smalls and Tim Buckley on (and would have had Janis Joplin on too if NBC would have agreed to the Monkees wish for a format change, so instead they mutually agreed to stop the series). In doing so, it gave these great artists national exposure much like they did for Jimi Hendrix when they realized his greatness and invited him to open up for them on their summer tour when he was still an unknown in the US.

This is why I disagree with your first two statements. I do agree with your view of the movie however.

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[–] shoopies 16 years ago

you mean a parenting figure.

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[–] rockrevolt 16 years ago

What, you riding me shoopies? It's "parental" figure not parenting so there are you happy? Same difference. It was four young guys on their own with no adult supervision.

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[–] srb-3 15 years ago

I can see why this film bombed at the box office. It was the Monkees, their show was popular, the production company who made the tv show also made Head. So naturally, Monkees fans would expect that Head would be a 90 minute long Monkees episode. Entertaining, fun as the tv show was.

Head, of course is something completely different. You think it's going to be like the tv show but it's really not. Head is about the Monkees making fun of themselves or rather their tv images and their tv show as opposed to whoever they meet. Head is pretty disturbing and ultimately depressing.

So I can easily see how die-hard Monkees fans would hate this and why Head bombed. Don't misunderstand me, Head is a thought-provoking, fast-paced film, but not what was expected.

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[–] lonerose 15 years ago

I was a fan way back in the day, but I didn't see the movie till years later, and I went scratchin' my head throughout the whole thing, lol. Although I did hear by then that the movie was de-constructing and all that, so at least I was prepared for anything, lol, by then. Having seen it a couple times by now, I totally get it....there has been some talk of Magical Mystery Tour through these replies, I remember it bombed at the time, the critics said this is the first egg not golden from the Beatles.....but I thought that one was alright..

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[–] diskoboy 15 years ago

I see where the OP is coming from, however I don't agree.

I also used to watch the Monkees, back when MTV and Nickelodeon aired it, back in 1986. I loved The Monkees, at the time. But in 1987, I first saw Head. I, too, was expecting something like the TV show, but got a bad acid trip, instead.

As I got into my early 30's, I saw the point of this film. It was basically a means of shedding their manufactured image. Trying to explain (what was then) modern art to a 11 year old is like pulling teeth. You appreciate the message, and the artisic merit behind it, as you grow older. But as a kid, you really don't appreciate mind *beep* with hidden messages.

Bands of today couldn't pull this movie off, today. Because none of them even try to do anything truly artistic. If N*Sync or The Backstreet Boys were the stars of this movie, you couldn't take it seriously. The Monkees tried to shed their image since day one - they learned to write their own songs, and play their own instruments. They eventually wrote and directed their own episodes of their TV series. They just had enough, and wanted to estabish their own image.

"You people voted for Hubert Humphries! And you killed Jesus!" - Raoul Duke

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[–] beatlenut8 12 years ago

You also have to understand the times as well. Things were changing at such a rapid rate and there was such a 'serious vs bubblegum' mentality going on, that The Monkees felt compelled to respond to all the criticism. The genres were yet to be easily defined and conformed to, and Pop was still frowned upon with a huge inferiority complex. It was life and death at that time - your integrity was on the line. The need to be 'cool' has always been pertinent to Rock and Roll, but none more-so than the late 60's time frame when the snobbery and the hypocrisy was massive. Eric Clapton left The Yardbirds because they were going too commercial and then he got pretty damn commercial a few years later ( Anyone For Tennis?) The Monkees were probably the most charismatic personalities to ever play in a band, along with The Fab 4 of course. Pretty extraordinary how it all came about.

N Sync, Backstreet Boys, Boys 2 Men etc just knew what their gig was. The genres were well & truly defined by their time unlike when The Monkees were big. They would have been signed to a iron tight contract - their handlers learnt from The Monkees how the creation can grow and rebel against the creators. There was a conscience as well as insecurity with the 60's musicians. It is still there today in some acts but it isn't as intense. I don't think anyone believes a musician can change the world with music now. Unless you vote for morons in X Factor where someone who sings is the next savior...

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[–] ilahilda 11 years ago

The scene with the groupie kissing all 4 was kinda gross, although when she kissed Davy and the cartoon butterflies and music appeared was funny! Inever understtod why they tried to change their kiddie image, the show was cute. If their attitudes were different, it could have lasted longer. The bellydancing scene was cute. I like Annette F too.

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[–] dwillsxbr 12 years ago

Your reaction is similar to how some people reacted to John Lennon's
emotional debut solo album in 1970 felling that it was angry and bitter
but great.

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[–] jdbwell 12 years ago

I am so, so happy I left 25 years between becoming a Monkees fan (mid-80s) and seeing "Head." There's no way I would have gotten it before, and it would have been my loss. The band specifically said they did not want a 90-minute version of the TV show, and any fan watching this in the age of the internet ought to know that and adjust their expectations accordingly.

I know exactly what they were trying to do, and they accomplished it brilliantly. The gig was up by the time Head came about, and they wanted to go out with a huge, image-crushing bang. Good on them, sez I.

Either you get satire or you don't, and I think this is a great example of the genre (along with every other genre...)

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[–] The-Uber-Geek 11 years ago

Wow , did you ever miss the point.

“Am I a man or am I a Muppet? If I’m a Muppet, well I’m a very manly Muppet"

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