To a monkees fan at the time, without knowledge of the behind the scenes turmoil, the movie likely felt insulting or uncomfortably different. Rafelson agreed, and got jack nicholson, who was also a screenwriter, to write the film. Head original motion picture concert the monkees live. And yes, they do play their own instruments on the tunes, but receive assistance in composing and performing from the likes of neil young, stephen stills, and carole king. Director bob rafelson, veteran of the series, also cowrote and coproduced head with jack nicholson. So much to say the monkees head the movie and the rhino. It was written by jack nicholson and directed by bob rafelson. However, the movie succeeds in telling a good story and championing the monkees for their talent as entertainers and as musicians, as well as explaining with clarity some of the things about the monkees that are commonly misunderstood. The monkees head movie and motion picture soundtrack turn. This is an important addition to the very small world of serious monkees musicology studies. The monkees mickey dolenz, mike nesmith, davey jones, and peter tork didnt really enjoy being labelled the prefab four. I suppose it flopped in 1968 because monkees fans were offended by it, and non monkees fans i.
People say they monkey around, but that was the point in this surreal, slapstick and altogether silly sitcom, which also had. Jun 14, 2016 to a non monkees fan, the movie likely makes no sense. Both the group and the show were enormously popular, and some of the members continue to tour to this day as the monkees. Instead of a longer version of the television show, head consisted of a series of vignettes that featured the monkees in different places, different times and different movie genres. They expressed their displeasure in this nonsequitur masterpiece. Sep 21, 2018 open your eyes, get up off your chair, there so much to do in the sunlight. This article, submitted by longtime friend of the live almanac al bigley who is also cohost of the texas prairie chicken home companion podcast, features a conversation with the monkees during a west coast promotional tour for their 1968 feature film, head. This is, perhaps, not the most informative or accurate bit youll ever see about the monkees. Peter mills examines in brief the origins and career of the prefab four as they were mockingly called by some cynics before turning his attention to their glorious, mysterious, unfathomable to some, 1968 movie head, the bands trippiest work of art, biggest commercial flop, and a landmark. Ive just finished the monkees, head and the 60s by peter mills i am a monkees fan and i also think the film head is superb way ahead of its time, so naturally im pretty biased towards the subject matter, but the book is a cracking read even if a lot of it is almost a scene by scene deconstruction of the film.
That doesnt matter too much, because the film could never have had any appeal for monkees fans, and the good things in it still hold up. Feb 27, 2019 the monkees 1968 feature film, head, failed on pretty much all of those points. The monkees on tour 1967 the firstseason finale and even some secondseason episodes such as the monkees. In the movie, the monkees are hoodwinked, bamboozled, chased, assaulted, mocked, trapped in a black box and reduced to dandruff in the hair of. They performed circle sky seen below in video several times for the cameras and also did a. The film flopped in 1968 because monkees fans were offended by it, and nonmonkees fans devoutly stayed away. Head is the movie made in 1968 by the series producers, raybert. Yet another aspect of head to fly over the heads of much of the monkees tv shows teenybopper fans. Dolenz agrees that the movie didnt end the monkees, pointing out that when head was released, the tv show was off the air, so in a sense there was no monkees. For fear a monkees movie would keep serious movie critics and moviegoers away, the producers decided on a promotional campaign that emphasized the film.
Hey, hey, theyre the prefab four, a rock band trying to make it big. They performed circle sky seen below in video several times for the cameras and also did a handful. The monkees simple english wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. My favorite monkees song is on the head soundtrack, as we go along, a carole king ballad with guitar glaze from ry cooder and neil young. Four of the brand new tunes from head are featured here. Download it once and read it on your kindle device, pc, phones or tablets. Head comes to us, finally, long after the disintegration of the monkees and long after its original release in 1968. Monkees michael nesmith and micky dolenz werent about to try to explain the counterculture cult movie head to a hollywood audience. There is still dispute over the point of a monkees movie.
The most extraordinary adventure, western, comedy, love story, mystery, drama, musical, documentary satire ever made and thats putting it mildly. Michael, micky, davy and peter the monkees deconstruct a movie backlot, speaking directly to director bob rafelson, in head 1968. The producers redid the sequence to include clips from the monkees. The monkees tried to cut their strings with head hey, hey, they were the monkees, and by 1968 they were sick and tired of their manufactured. The best of the monkees by the monkees on apple music. Use features like bookmarks, note taking and highlighting while reading the monkees, head, and the 60s. Funniest scene from the monkees film the head youtube. The monkees are tossed about in a psychedelic, surrealist, plotless, circular bit of fun fluff. His dad, george, had starred in a number of films, and played the title character in the mid1950s television series the count of monte cristo.
Head is a 1968 american satirical musical adventure film written and produced by jack nicholson and bob rafelson, directed by rafelson, starring television rock group the monkees davy jones, micky dolenz, peter tork and michael nesmith, and distributed by columbia pictures. The monkees head movie and motion picture soundtrack. The soundtrack for this movie is very very good and is a great album all on its own. Its been resurrected not because of its allstar cast but because of its allstar crew. Nicholson hung out with the monkees for several weeks, even going with them on tour. Apr 28, 2011 at the height of their fame, the monkees teamed up with jack nicholson to film the psychedelic classic head and destroy their careers in the process. Head was the last monkees album to feature peter tork until pool it. Its all about the adventures of peter tork, davy jones, michael nesmith and mickey dolenz in hollywood. Soundtrack, with bonus material, from the monkees film head. To a monkees fan at the time, without knowledge of the behindthescenes turmoil, the movie likely felt insulting or. Monkees dolenz and nesmith revisit head trip at 50year. As a result, its box office showing was disastrous. This movie is amazingly under rated as were the monkees themselves for that matter.
To a monkees fan at the time, without knowledge of the behindthescenes turmoil, the movie likely felt insulting or uncomfortably different. I dont think, as a teenage fangirl, that i realized exactly how bitter, how cynical, how teethgrittingly furious the monkees 1968 movie head is. The movie ends with the truck driving away, the monkees still trapped in the glass box. The monkees, head, and the 60s kindle edition by peter. Behind the scenes and outtakes from salt lake city concert for head 1968 duration. Head is more for the film enthusiast than the casual monkees fan in some respects. Besides you get to see frank zappa in all his counter counter culture glory.
Micky first established himself as a performer at age ten when, under the stage name of mickey braddock, he starred in his first tv series, circus. The brainchild of bob rafelson, making his directorial debut. The monkees only feature film was successful, surreal. The monkees finished their first and only motion picture, head, with the filming of the circle sky concert scene in front of four thousand fans at the valley music hall in salt lake city, utah. The four members of the monkees, bob rafaelson, bert schneider and jack nicholson all contributed to the brainstorming and writing of the screenplay.
In the movie, it comes right after a lonely moment. Basically the gist of the film is that the four actors who portray the monkees are trying to escape from this imaginary black box which encases them. The music featured on both the screen as well as this album is a long strange trip from the farfisadriven bubblegum anthem im a believer. Because of the poor publicity of the film at the time of its release, older teenagers had no clue what head was trying to say. Here are their brightest, most buoyant moments, including the jangly guitars and moptopped harmonies of last train to clarksville and pleasant valley sunday, the plaintive piano and davy jones wistful vocals on lovelorn ballad daydream believer, and the woozy psychedelia of porpoise song, from. Aug 14, 2017 this is an important addition to the very small world of serious monkees musicology studies. According to night flight, the screenplay was written by jack nicholson, but even that didnt do much to recommend it because in those days jack nicholson was a b movie actor no one had ever heard of. The 1968 movie head, in hd optional dtshd master audio 5. The monkees head marks 50th anniversary with hollywood. To a non monkees fan, the movie likely makes no sense. The sun always seems to be shining whenever a monkees song is playing. Head original motion picture concert the monkees live almanac. Frank zappas psst in the monkees 1968 movie the head. The music featured on both the screen as well as this album is a long strange trip from the farfisadriven bubblegum anthem im a.
Head is a 1968 american satirical musical adventure film written and produced by jack. Rob sheffield remembers the monkees peter tork rolling. The rough, sometimes druggy genesis of the american independent movie business of the 60s and 70s was recalled by micky dolenz and michael nesmith of the monkees during a soldout 50th. With peter tork, davy jones, micky dolenz, michael nesmith. Head is the soundtrack to the film head, the only theatrical release by the monkees. Without question, both the movie and album are the most adventurous and in many ways most fulfilling undertaking to have been born of the monkees multimedia manufactured project. Head takes the strange new direction of the band way further, and while a. Upon heads bluray release, two monkees disagree on its worth. Nesmiths last contractual monkees commitment was a commercial for koolaid and nerf balls in april 1970 fittingly, the spot ends with nesmith frowning and saying, enerfs enerf. A pastiche movie of parody and music, brimming with psychedelia and injokes of the late 60s and perhaps a precursor of national lampoon humor and the likes of airplane. It seems strange to write about head breaking a fourth wall it barely acknowledges in the first place, but there are scenes throughout where peter torkplaying, it should be noted, peter torkshatters the illusion that head is anything but a puton by talking directly to rafelson who used his monkees money to make movies like five easy.
After the television series ended, the monkees starred in a movie, head, and a tv special, 33 revolutions per monkee. The devil and peter tork 1968 before they even aired. Filmbar screens monkees film head phoenix new times. Sales still continued to be profitable until the disastrous release of the movie head.
The boys voices you hear adlibbing areof coursedavy, peter, mike, and micky themselves. Both the film and the album flopped, and the monkees soon said goodbye as a cohesive, fourman band. In addition, there are many celebrity cameos to watch for. The monkees went out on a limb with this film by creating an almost surreal work with a loosely bound plot. The soundtrack does, however, feature some of the finest and most sophisticated music of the groups career. Notice agerestricted video based on community guidelines category entertainment. Quotes and sounds from the monkees 1968 movie head. The monkees behind the scenes and outtakes from salt lake city concert for head 1968 duration.
Released in 1968 through colgems, it was the bands sixth album. Nov 02, 2018 a pair of monkees puzzle over their own head trip at 50th anniversary screening the head cult turned out in enthusiastic force for the weirdly countercultural movie vehicle for the tvbred. Schneider was executive producer, and the project was cowritten and coproduced by bob rafelson with a thenrelatively unknown jack nicholson. The only reason bob rafelson and bert schneider, the director and producer of the monkees tv series, wanted to name the groups only feature film head, was so that when they make the next movie. The monkees, rafelson, and nicholson were all well versed in psychedelics by 1968 and head is one of the most sublime evocations of the lsd experience committed to film. Rob sheffield remembers the monkees peter tork rolling stone. The opening title sequence seen in syndication is from the second season its used for the firstseason episodes as well. Dec 29, 2018 the monkees tried to cut their strings with head hey, hey, they were the monkees, and by 1968 they were sick and tired of their manufactured boyband image, so they took a sledgehammer to it in. The monkees kept performing for audiences, but fewer and fewer people went to their shows. Their younger fans, unfortunately, simply missed the point. Neighbor news the monkees head movie and motion picture soundtrack turn 50. In 1968, the members of the monkees, largely left to their own devices and with the assistance of screenwriter jack nicholson yes, that jack nicholson made an experimental movie called head, full of surrealism, symbolism, and general wackiness. The monkees 1968 feature film, head, failed on pretty much all of those points.
Mar 10, 2012 frank zappas psst in the monkees 1968 movie the head. The monkees put those experiences and other, similar ones into the art. The monkees, head, and the 60s kindle edition by peter mills. Once this movie was made, rafelson abandoned the monkees as told by peter tork and went off to bigger projects, starting with easy rider 1969. The monkees mickey dolenz, mike nesmith, davey jones, and peter tork didnt. The monkees 1968 starring davy jones and micky dolenz on dvd and bluray. Released after their tv shows cancellation, the monkees one and only feature film is a surrealist exercise in late1960s pop art. Neither was successful, and the bands later records were not hits. Jun 28, 2000 this is, perhaps, not the most informative or accurate bit youll ever see about the monkees.
226 939 31 915 1173 776 831 1075 616 354 920 162 471 224 1144 656 772 401 1070 62 652 1536 336 933 1150 349 239 279 295 899 755 755 132 1149 413 404 354 330