Head (1968)

Director:

Bob Rafelson

Writers:

Bob Rafelson (written by) and
Jack Nicholson (written by)

Release Date:

20 November 1968 (USA)

Genre:

Comedy | Musical | Fantasy

Tagline:

What is HEAD all about? Only John Brockman's shrink knows for sure!

Plot:

The Monkees are tossed about in a psychedelic, surrealist, plotless, circular bit of fun fluff.

Plot Keywords:

The Monkees | Box | Psychedelic | Based On TV Series | Endless Loop

Cast

Peter Tork	...	Peter
Davy Jones	...	Davy (as David Jones)
Micky Dolenz	...	Micky
Michael Nesmith	...	Mike
Annette Funicello	...	Minnie
Timothy Carey	...	Lord High 'n Low
Logan Ramsey	...	Off. Faye Lapid
Abraham Sofaer	...	Swami
Vito Scotti	...	I. Vitteloni
Charles Macaulay	...	Inspector Shrink
T.C. Jones	...	Mr. and Mrs. Ace
Charles Irving	...	Mayor Feedback
William Bagdad	...	Black Sheik
Percy Helton	...	Heraldic Messenger
Sonny Liston	...	Extra

Also Known As:

Changes (USA) (working title)
DASturb (USA) (working title)
Untitled (USA) (working title)
Cabeza (Argentina) [es]
Glowa (Poland) (festival title) [pl]
Sogni perduti (Italy) [it]

Runtime:

86 min | USA:110 min (director's cut)

Country:

USA

Language:

English | Italian

Color:

Black and White | Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Singapore:PG | Argentina:13 | UK:PG | USA:G

Filming Locations:

Bahamas

Company:

Raybert Productions

Trivia:

A misleading ad campaign (featuring a balding man's face and no mention of The Monkees), combined with a poorly timed release date (due to postproduction delays) of 6 November 1968, two months after "The Monkees" (1966) show was canceled, sabotaged this otherwise fun-loving crowd-pleaser at the box office. It made a meager $16,111 in ticket sales.

Goofs:

Continuity: Annette Funicello's character is called Theresa by Davy before the boxing sequence, but is listed as Minnie in the end credits.

Quotes:

Peter: It's all right, Davy, there's nothing wrong.
Davy: Nothing wrong, huh?
Peter: That's right, I came here to tell you, man, that everything...
Davy: You know what I saw in there?
Peter: Yes.
Davy: An eye, man, an eye, this big, blood red, it was as clear as the nose on your face, it was looking at me.
Peter: Peace, David, I know.

Movie Connections:

Featured in "TCM Underground: Head (#1.22)" (2007)

Soundtrack:

As We Go Along

Perfect 60's oddity

"Head" is one of those films you'll have a lot of trouble convincing your friends to see, but once they do they'll fall in love with it. I don't know how many times this has happened to me. This film is just so funny and bizarre, really a deconstruction of everything the Monkees had been up to this point in their career. A lot the credit goes to Bob Rafelson who pretty much ended the Monkee's career with this film. My guess is he wanted to get out of directing the TV show and get into features, which he did in a big way after this one. Micky Dolenz is absolutely hilarious. I can't believe he didn't have a second life as a comic actor after this film. This film has a lot of great cameos and a lot of wonderful psychedelic nonsense. I feel like the reputation of this film is continuing to build and it wouldn't surprise me if it eventually becomes a full on cult classic