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What is the deal with the 70's style haircuts in period movies?

posted 12 years ago by movie_nazi
23 replies | jump to latest

I have been watching "the Draculas" lately as I like to refer to all of the versions of Dracula that have been put to film and both the Hammer films and this film has actor's sporting longish hair and burly 70's mustaches such as Harker has in this film for example. I've notice that A LOT of films & TV shows of this era had this. Although I can understand an actor refusing to cut his hair for a one time appearance for a television show but for the sake of authenticity for a film you HAVE to cut your hair to the period's style. I mean, these are not even stars. If I was the director of these films I would have made it mandatory. What? He can't find another unknown B actor willing to cut his hair? Even Langella had a Saturday Night Fever haircut.

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[–] Pharaoh-in-de-Nile 12 years ago

The "burly 70s mustaches" are actually somewhat accurate for the late Victorian or Edwardian era which is where these styles originated only being revived by the Hippie subculture of the late 1960s. The hair is a problem in most films however.

When we talk about Hammer, oddly enough, the 1950s and earlier 1960s films actually made the hair styles accurate in the films (compare the hair, especially females ones in 'Dracula' to 'Scars of Dracula' for instance).

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[–] movie_nazi 12 years ago

I guess it just really lends to the quality of the film. It wasn't a serious film so actors didn't take it seriously.

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[–] Adler-99 12 years ago

All movies and TV shows, or at least most, are this way, not just ones from the '70s. Look at many from the 1960s -- even though they may be set in the 1880s or 1920s, many of the women have bubble cuts and helmet hair.

There's a modern style of women's hair and makeup right now that is prevalent in TV and film no matter when it's set. In a few decades it will be painfully obvious.

[–] movie_nazi 12 years ago

There's a modern style of women's hair and makeup right now that is prevalent in TV and film no matter when it's set. In a few decades it will be painfully obvious.

I don't think so. Not in any serious production. I think nowadays more than ever they take realism in period pieces very seriously. Boardwalk Empire is an excellent example. A show that is set in the early 1920's and I guarantee you will not find a guy with a faux hawk or a women with highlights in her hair. It adds to the experience to the show and I often feel that I have stepped into a time machine for the 45 minutes the show is on. I think producers and directors appreciate this and know that this greatly increases the popularity of their shows.

[–] Skye_Reynolds 11 years ago

I don't think that programming is becoming more period authentic. "Realistic dialogue" means that people curse and speak bluntly the way that they do today. Period authentic slang and manner of speech are lost. Outfits are sometimes authentic, but they're usually modified for sex appeal or a coolness factor - especially when you're talking about action, adventure, summer blockbusters, etc.

And then when it comes to personal mannerisms and social or political issues, every century is the 21st. For the most part, modern films are modern films. Regardless of when a work is set, only the costumes and the backgrounds change. Everything else remains the same. To be fair, people have always infused a little bit of the present into the past. But current period pieces just feel like the current generation with a change in the backdrop.

[–] movie_nazi 11 years ago

I don't think that programming is becoming more period authentic. "Realistic dialogue" means that people curse and speak bluntly the way that they do today. Period authentic slang and manner of speech are lost. Outfits are sometimes authentic, but they're usually modified for sex appeal or a coolness factor - especially when you're talking about action, adventure, summer blockbusters, etc.

Yes, and most period shows on HBO such as Deadwood and Boardwalk Empire do in fact speak that way. They also infuse many of the period's slang. Of course you cannot have it be EXACTLY the way they spoke but the average person would be like "WTF did he just say?" However I do feel that modern productions take a greater step in making period pieces more authentic than they did, let's say, in the 70s and before.

[–] ryansassy1 11 years ago

I agree. I have noticed in the last 20 years or so that period films seemed less stylized toward current fasions than they used to be.
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[–] movie_nazi 11 years ago

I agree. I have noticed in the last 20 years or so that period films seemed less stylized toward current fasions than they used to be.

Yes, and even A list stars today are willing to do what it takes to look the part. I remember Natalie Portman shaving her head for V For Vendetta. Can you imagine Bette Davis or Elizabeth Taylor shaving their heads for a part? HA! Would NEVER have happened!

[–] Skye_Reynolds 11 years ago

Nor should they. Natalie Portman is incredibly hot, but she looked like a 12 year old boy once she shaved her head. C'mon, Alan Moore, what were you thinking?

[–] movie_nazi 11 years ago

Nor should they. Natalie Portman is incredibly hot, but she looked like a 12 year old boy once she shaved her head. C'mon, Alan Moore, what were you thinking?

I promise you Alan Moore had absolutely nothing to do with it. In fact he had absolutely nothing to do with any of the movies based on his graphic novel work as he detests film work.

I actually find it quite admirable that Portman did not think herself above shaving her head for a part. It shows she has a true thespian soul and is not simply a movie star diva.

[–] TorontoJediMaster 11 years ago

Yeah, Trevor Eve, as Harker, looked like he's stepped directly off of the streets of 1978/79.

Yes, men has mustaches in the 1910's, but they didn't have the shaggy hair that wen with them. Mustaches were neatly trimmed and often waxed. There was absolutely no effort to make Trevor Eve look like he was an actual product of Edwardian times.

[–] jameskelly23 9 years ago

Bette Davis did shave her hair for a part, when she was playing Elizabeth I she shaved her hairline back about 2/3" so she would have the high forehead like Elizabeth

[–] zyggums 11 years ago

Civil war photos look 70ish to me too I think there is a limit to the number of ways people can wear their hair and so things a repeted threwouth history. I remember ceaser haircuts from 200 A.D. being in in the 1990s like luke perry in buffy the vampire slayer. Also, people in peroid films have modern era teeth not rotting stumps.

[–] 11 years ago

[deleted]

[–] kaskait 9 years ago

It is impossible to completely emulate the style, manners and culture of another period. Modern touches will always, always bleed through to the finished product.

Modern people will inherently be attracted to elements from the past that feel modern. In regards to Langella's hair. It wasn't out of period.

On this page of old photos from the 1900's, some of the men had some very big hair.

http://www.bing.com/images/search?q=1900+men%27s+hairstyles&qs=IM&form=QBIR&pq=1900+men&sc=8-8&sp=3&sk=IM2

It would only be natural for stylists of the time to be attracted to those styles that looked a bit 1970's.

In turn, many of the period films from the 80's look 1980s. I think the only period films that escape this more often than not are the Merchant Ivory productions.

[–] movie_nazi 9 years ago

I went to that link and although some did have "big hair" none of the styles looked like Langella's. If you look at Coppola's Dracula you can see everyone has very accurate hairstyles for the time. You don't see Keanu Reeves sporting a high top fade which was in style for the early 90's or even the reverse mullet.

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[–] kaskait 9 years ago

You are seriously arguing that ass wig is historically accurate? Ass Wig looks better than Saturday Night Fever?

LOL

WTF!

[–] movie_nazi 9 years ago

You are talking about Dracula's hair? Well he was an ancient relic for 500 years before and a complete weirdo. I think you need to look at the "normal" characters.

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[–] kaskait 9 years ago

The Coppola Dracula was no more historically accurate costume wise than this film. In fact it was worse than this film.

[–] ElectricWarlock 9 years ago

Perhaps I'll sound ignorant by saying this, but I'm not really into history all that much so I don't even notice the hairstyles being inaccurate for that time. You're certainly not the first I've heard complain about it, though. Many people complain about the exact same thing.

I don't know what hair looked like in past centuries so it really doesn't bother me. As long as there are no cars, TVs, computers, cell phones, pop culture references, etc. and they dress in old fashioned clothes, ride horses, and talk to each other in a more formal way than we do now; that's good enough for me to know it doesn't take place in the present. I'm not hard to please and not really nitpicky about things like that.

[–] movie_nazi 9 years ago

Perhaps I'll sound ignorant by saying this, but I'm not really into history all that much so I don't even notice the hairstyles being inaccurate for that time. You're certainly not the first I've heard complain about it, though. Many people complain about the exact same thing.

I suppose your case is a perfect example of ignorance is bliss. Cell phones and cars in a 19th century story bother you because you know they didn't exist back then. What if you saw someone in this film wearing a backwards baseball cap and saying "Yo, son, you know what I mean?" every 5 minutes would that stick out as anachronistic to you? The point I am trying to make is that when you know something didn't exist back then and you see it it tends to bug you. Especially when it is something that is easily remedied. I mean, it's not like it's modern film set in 1999 in NYC and I am complaining that there are no twin towers in a particular shot. This was an easy fix.

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[–] ElectricWarlock 9 years ago

Yes, that would be bothersome but I personally am not bothered by the haircuts in these movies because I don't know what the hair was like then. I'm only speaking for myself personally. If I studied the styles of old fashioned hair and clothing I probably would be bothered, but since I personally never have I'd be bothered.

I was forced to watch the 1990s version of Romeo and Juliet in English class in high school. I found it extremely annoying that they quoted Shakespeare's play word for word yet the clothes, setting, weapons, etc. were all modern. I thought they should either update the dialogue to make it modern as well or make it a period piece since not one person talks that way anymore. I see where you're coming from. Sometimes it's better not to know anything.

[–] millsey72 (9527) a year ago

Yes, you sound very ignorant by ignoring the hair styles