When I met Peter Tork, I told him Head was one of my favourite movies. Without missing a beat, he shoots back with "You have a deranged mind, my friend".
Peter plays the part of him getting slammed by the football player so automatically. The expression on his face, and him really getting clobbered. It is perfect. Priceless. I always enjoy watching that sequence. RIP Peter. Love you, man.
True story: I rented this movie from Blockbuster/Hollywood Video or some similar type video store in the late 90's and apparently returned it late. The next time I went to rent a movie I was standing at the checkout counter with a long line behind me and the person who was ringing me up said "Oh it looks like you have a late fee" I was like "I do?" They said "Yes, it was on a movie called Head" She said that trying not to grin and there were a few chuckles coming from behind me as well. Back then many video stores also had a beaded section where titles like Head meant something else. Not sure if this store had that section but man was I embarrassed. I just managed a nervous laugh and said "It was a Monkees movie!"
I saw "Head" as a kid with my 2 sisters at a local army base in1968. We loved the Monkees TV show. The movie was so unlike the series, though, that we were thoroughly confused & disappointed. Oh, we laughed, found the songs tunefully captivating, & no doubt were mesmerized by the psychedelic imagery, but we didn't understand it, as it has no plot, at least one that's not revealed until the end of the film. Truly, it was ahead of its time. I've watched the film a few times over the years since, & like it because it IS so different. Even today, 5 decades later, it's stands out as unique, has some really cool songs, & remains both fun & fascinating, plus it captures the group as a whole on film for the last time. In 1968, the Monkees were on the cutting-edge totally!
You had to be a "Head" to understand it. If you were a "Head" you smoked pot. Thats what "Head" meant, that liberated your thinking and consciousness in your "head," by using pot, taking LSD or pscilocybin mushrooms. Most of us were artists and musicians.
@@satanlaffing Most of us saw it stoned, it made total sense. If you're a "Boomer" like me, the time that movie was made WAS a "horror show." We were napalming women and children and babies, we had NO right and no reason to be in Viet Nam. At home, blacks were being murdered wholesale by crooked police, anyone 18 or older was being drafted to go kill people we knew nothing about, and the far right were shouting that "commies" were everywhere. "Head" touched on all of that. It was only maybe a year or two later, I was forced to enlist in the US Navy or be drafted straight into the Marines. Marines went straight to "Nam" from boot camp; many never came back. But we did NOT have a politcal party trying to install a Russian asset as an American dictator, so, we still have internal forces trying to kill off Democracy here, so things aren't all that great now, but at least we don't have an active war for resources going on right now, and we are helping Ukraine survive at least....I guess Humanity is never going to wake up....
As a kid, my brother, me and a couple of cousins sought shade from the Oz heat in a Queensland cinema showing "Head". It was part of a double feature along with "The Rocky Horror Picture Show". We were all Monkees fans and weren't quite prepared for what was in store for us. We laughed from the moment we saw Micky lose his cool with the coke machine and as it got blown up. We didn't really have a clue what was going on, most of the film went right over our heads. As I matured and with subsequent viewings, I was able to understand and appreciate the subtexts of the film. It was probably too full on for Monkees fans and the general public when it was first released. To me the film deconstructed the band's manufactured image in a creative and at times, brutal way. It was an act of self-sabotage, albeit subconsciously. Nevertheless, I love the film with all its eccentricities. The film is all over the place but there are some great moments of societal critiques, indictment of the Vietnam War and withering use of satire. The soundtrack is fantastic and showcases all of the guys' talents, from Peter's "Do I Have to do This All Over Again?", Mike's "Circle Sky", Davy's "Daddy's Song" and of course, Micky's sublime "As We Go Along". Thanks for posting this, it's always interesting to discover what went on behind the scenes and the viewpoints of the players involved. RIP Mike, thanks for the musical legacy you've left for us all.
Once you embrace the chaos of the movie... lack of the (then) television style cohesiveness... and (TV Executive required) laugh track, you start to realize what a gem of a movie "Head" really was.
I love "Head!" It's so bizarre that it's charming. Now what this clip doesn't mention that the Monkees, Bob, and Jack all went to Jack's house, smoked a shitload of weed, and blurted out the first ideas that came into their heads while a tape recorder taped the entire thing. Jack and Bob wrote a script based on that tape, and thus "Head" was born!
My band in the 90’s was called Head, as tribute to the movie. We played Porpoise Song occasionally. It was always fun to be introduced with, “Ladies and Gentleman, I proudly give you Head!”
The movie was good, but the music was spectacular, it was their finest moment. It was some of the best music of the 60’s, and there was not a bad song there.
It’s a specific taste - it’s part weirder shit from White Album, adult swim, absurdism, and Python + a healthy does of cheese. Part of the fun is not knowing what’s going to happen next
I am one who LOVES that movie. I tell my music-minded friends that HEAD is an underrated Cult gem. Upon first watch it's hard to get what is going on. But the second time I saw it, everything feel into place. Also, the soundtrack is just terrific. "Porpoise Song", "As We Go Along", and "Can You Dig It?" are amongst The Monkees best songs.
Jack is a truly unique talent. Anything...and i mean ANYTHING that dude says can be Oscar worthy! As for Head, it was the intro to the Monkees i never realized was the Monkees! I remember putting that record on from my dad's collection and thinking this is the strangest and most awesome music ive ever heard. It wasnt until 2 years ago that i realized it was the band that did it cuz that record was lost for 30+ years. I am SO glad i rediscovered this, because its like a missing puzzle piece to my life that was finally found decades later!❤
Head may not be better than A Hard Day's Night, but the soundtrack is better than Sgt. Pepper's. "I'd like a glass of cold gravy with a hair in it, please."
@@LifeOnLombok It was wonderful Micky lived up to his reputation of being the nicest one out of all The Monkees. The only thing that was sad was Micky apologizing if we asked us to repeat a question and showing us his hearing aid. Other than that it was a wonderful amazing event.
@@davidbreen6335 I was very fortunate to meet Micky years ago in Canada when I was a teen. He was very nice, very smiley. I didn't realize he wears a hearing aid now. Not surprising though with decades of loud concerts and in-studio creating music. I appreciate his ability to keep going. I really like his version of Shiny Happy People that he recently put out. What do you think? 😊
Starting as a commercial enterprise, popularity came quickly to the Monkees and proved to be an empty achievement. Searching for meaning through self-awareness and true artistic creation they began to fill that void and "Head" assisted in breaking out of the broad, shallow box they had been packaged in. They found that happiness isn't achieved from riches or fame, but in seeking out the never-popular truth and discovering the strange purposes behind the formation of each individual soul. While subverting expectations and contradicting their producers, the Monkees became the very thing they were designed to not be: original - and- artists. (Again, against all odds, they released one of their best album in 2016 called "Good Times! ".)
I love that movie! No matter where you go or what you do, you end up stuck back in a box. Great music, Frank Zappa, Annette Funicello's fake tear, talking cow, boxing, cute guys. "Where there is choice, there is misery."
For me the thing that worked for Head was it had a dream - like quality. If you disregarded the need for a plot and just remembered how dreams can be disjointed, wild, and unusual then it could work.
@@_Peremalfait Well you got to know before hand what is going on, and in the beginning they tell you that this movie is disjointed. Granted for a mainstream audience I'm reminded of a line from a movie about dreams called "Waking Life" where a director makes a comment about two other directors talking about a movie the other made, and this film cost a million to make and he says "it's about a dream within a dream" and the other director goes "you just lost a million dollars." The film isn't going to work for everyone, but as a cult film which I heard it was, it can.
"From the Producers who gave you Head". 😆 Should've stuck with the first script. I think by the end of their 1967 tour, they wanted to shed that dressed up early days look. Beatles boots etc. If you think about it, most bands did go for the psychedelic look in 1967. Beatles, The Stones.
Doesn't really matter to me what anybody thinks or says. How or why things get made or don't, it's the end product. I love the movie and the music. I understand not everyone's cup of tea. I'll admit that it is a fascinating story to hear.
Watching Head now is awesome. It’s a time capsule. Not to mention it has some of my favorite Monkees songs in it. However, it also makes me a little angry knowing it was used to kill the Monkees. I have to wonder what would’ve happened if they would’ve made the one that “would’ve been as big a hit as Hard Days Night“.
Awesome interview and such but for the uninitiated who did not know that Micky and his colleagues made a movie called Head .... this title could be misleading.
Head was ten years ahead of its time. That was its problem. The techniques it employed were used extensively in the 1970s. The producers didn't know how to market it. IF you see the poster for it, it's just a closeup of a nerd with glasses looking at the viewer, with no context. That's it. There was no advertising for it. Kids thought it was going to be a movie version of their favorite tv show. What they got was a dark, edgy, cynical deconstruction of the Monkees, and the rest of the 60s. The young adults felt tricked when they were told the film was "edgy", and then the Monkees came on. To top it off, the Monkees wanted writing credits for the film, which is really just a collage of short disconnected scenes, and when they were refused writing credit, they boycotted the first day of filming; except for Peter. It cost the producers a tremendous amount of money, as they were renting the studio by the day. That caused Rafelson to become hostile to the group. Not a good atmosphere to make a film in. Peter Tork said that boycotting the first day of shooting was a mistake and would create that break with the producers, and he was right. Mike, Mickey and Davy felt that Peter let them down by not boycotting the shoot along with the rest of them. It was ultimately a pointless act, because the film bombed, and passed into obscurity. The film, however, is a success. It is a cynical view of the 60s and the 60s itself. Roger Ebert hated it and went into great detail denigrating the individual members of the group, which demonstrates what a pompous blowhard Ebert was, and is a better recommendation for this time capsule of the 60s than anything else I could mention.
So there's a subtle distinction between "the 60s and the 60s itself" ? Nice try, fartbrain. You used the "dark, cynical deconstruction" line earlier in your post, too. Maybe you should trademark it. Now go pound sand, Pauline Kael.
@@chiefscheider, there's a distinction between "a deconstruction of the 60s" and "the 60s itself". If you don't see a distinction, great. There's no need for name-calling of strangers on a comment board. Go do something constructive. It's 2022, seize the day!
IT WOULD BE GOOD IF MICKEY DOLENZ GOT TOGETHER WITH DAVID BYRNE AND TALKED ABOUT THE TALKING HEADS AND THE MONKEES MOVIE, "HEAD", AND THEN DID SOME LED ZEPPELIN COVER TUNES.
The stupidest movie I ever saw; embarrassing attempts to make tiny labored vignettes into some drugged out "cool hippie" film that looked like an 9 year old had written it. My friend and I walked out after giving it more time to redeem itself than we should have, at age 17. No, this is NO comparison to the fun, easy, unique qualities that made the Beatles first movie a hit. A Hard Day's Night was a game changer without trying, Head wasn't worth the $1.25 to get in. A "cult classic?!" Smh...50+ years can't fix this one... The one seriously good bit in the film was a (talented) Davy Jones in a well done song/dance scene - partially with his "mother" - to a poignant song by Nilsson.
@@chiefscheider I agree. Sorry to be so nasty but I'm obviously (not) a "like." Nothing to do with your site; you seem to have footage here with Nicolson, etc , that no-one else has; so good research. It is a part of 60's history. God bless, Happy New Year.
I'm a big monkees fan and sadly I agree but the reality by what jack said the purpose of head was to destroy the monkees they wanted it to fail that's why their manager chose the bad script
@@avalond1193 Certainly a possibility, but why? They were well on their way "out" at that point in time anyway, and had pretty much imploded (at least as a t.v. show,) with the "help" of Mike Nesmith's ego.
Speaking of run on a double bill. Saw Head at independent suburb theater in 1970. The 1st feature was Dean Martin as Matt Helm "The wrecking Crew" his "Easy going spy". 2'd run maybe a dollar for two films back then. Hindsight is 20/20 band should have asked for a more cohesive theme movie not a scattershot turned into a cult favorite now. Life goes on they made enough money on reunion tours to have a nice living.
I was six, HUGE monkeys fan, begged my Mom to take us to the theater to see it. I think Peter summed it up perfectly "It's a movie for kids, they're not gonna dig it man". I had no idea what the hell was going on. Didn't make ANY sense. Didn't even like the songs. Only part that remains a memory was the jumping into the water and underwater footage. I thought that was cool.
"Nobody saw it?" I DID. I saw it when it first came out. It was a cool stoner kind of movie and I liked it alot. It spit on alot of institutional BS and of course the critics hated it, a bunch of old white fat rich guys who made their living trashing artists ;-) I watched it again, last year and yeah it was kind of self indulgent but it was FUN and it was made for us "Heads," people who smoked pot and hated the war and the Republikan right right wing monsters making money killing innocent civiliians in Viet Nam. My own Dad protested to the Pentagon that kids weren't getting ANY jungle warfare training and were being slaughtered in Viet Nam. Dad was a veteran of WWII, a combat photographer at the invasion of Leyte Gulf. They went after Dad and told him they were going to court martial him or he could resign with a rank increase, and of course he he took that, was boosted to Major and we went home from France. They insisted he be drummed out of the Army at Arlington. Us kids had no idea what was happening at all. Dad wanted to retire in France not come back to rabid consumerism, pre-fab housing developments and the Pentagon war mongers. I can only dream about what life would have been if we had become French citizens. USA hasn't changed that much, far right radicalists still ruining the country and nearly had a dictator installed in an actual COUP. Our peace and love movement was destroyed on purpose by entrenched evil thats still trying to destroy Democracy. "Head" left a strong memory with me, it was right for its time, it was innovative and lead to "Easy Rider" being produced, a real classic, another movie with great music. Another slap at the "establishment" as we called it then.
I would lump this movie in with other 60s surreal films, like Casino Royal, What,s New Pussycat? Barberella, Modesty Blaze, etc. I enjoy watching clips more than the whole movie at once. That's not meant as a cricitizism.
Anyone out there remember the movie Daydream Believer? There's that scene where Nicholson is telling one of the station suits that he can write a script that can make or break the Monkees and they decide to do the latter. In other words they portray Nicholson as the station appointed villain who effectively destroyed the Monkees because the band refused to work under the contract terms and ultimately decided to end their contract. In the movie Daydream Believer it's made to look like the Monkees were screwed over by someone who they thought was on their side giving them artistic freedom.
I grew up listening to the Monkees, (RIP, Davy, Peter & Mike)..... I started listening to them when I was maybe four or five years old and of course, at that time I had no idea that they were, at first a fictional group who were only acting as musicians on a TV show, I didn't find that out until years later, but I also became a fan of The Monkees TV show. LOL Anyway, I've seen the movie "Head" and I gotta be honest, I can completely understand why it was a box office FLOP..... I'm sorry, NO offense of course to the Monkees, their music and TV show was great, they were an amazing group of guys and I've seen "Head", I rented the DVD from Netflix once and it just SUCKED!! Seriously, I watched it and I'll quote Micky Dolenz when he once said that people who went to see it in theaters in the 1960s said, "What the hell is this?!" because that's EXACTLY what I was thinking throughout that entire movie! LMAO You can tell they had all been high as kites when they were all sitting around, recording their thoughts for the movie on a tape recorder! LOL But sadly, I do believe that "Head" was one thing that lead the destruction of the Monkees. :(
I have never understood this movie. I just don't get Head! But I have had dear friends who are Monkees fans and I would of course buy the DVD at Christmas. I would always given them Head! But earlier versions of the DVD were pan-and-scan reproductions which was just terrible! Upon the re-release during the anniversary of the film I quickly made up for giving the bad Head by providing my friends with improved, high-resolution. Everyone could tell the difference between the good Head and bad Head. One sucked and one didn't suck!
the VH1 movie about the Monkees made it out like the Monkees and Jack Nicholson wrote the screenplay for Head while over indulging on cannabis. Bob Rafelson and Nicholson writing the screenplay while on acid really helped to explain a lot.
Judging from the comments here, people either love this film or absolutely loathe it (I'm in the former category, I adore it). That proves that the film succeeded in a certain way. Over fifty years later and people still have a passionate opinion about it. That's better than being lukewarm in my opinion.
right on. I think a lot of people just don't get it, it was the Monkees deconstructing themselves to distance themselves from their manufactured pop band image, had profound social commentary, poked fun at hollywood, had their best music and some fantastic surrealism, sadly it tanked. but love it or hate it means its good art. no one has no opinion about it.
It's not quite that simple to me. There are two ways to evaluate films, on an artistic merit and personal enjoyment merit. In both ways I'd call "Head" very good but not perfect.
"Head" may have died a quick box-office death, but it did not vanish from theaters. After its 1968 release, the film continued to be shown for two years - mostly drive-ins and double bills (occasionally paired with "Yellow Submarine" and "Easy Rider"), but also family matinees that capitalized on the Monkees' Saturday morning TV revival during 1969-70.
I saw this and that zappa movie about the hotels in the same year for the first time. I didn't know these types of movies existed - sure, I knew about acid movies but weird movies made for the sake of being seriously weird. Then I found a hundred of them over the years.
You know, I loved the Monkees as individuals, and the songs they sang. As a kid, I only half-like their show, it was too zany and slap-stick for me. Something tells me I won't like the movie, but it's really hard to find now....
When I met Peter Tork, I told him Head was one of my favourite movies. Without missing a beat, he shoots back with "You have a deranged mind, my friend".
We met him too. He was so nice.
😂😂😂😂 he seems like a beautiful soul. He is sorely missed in this world
I loved his band Shoe Suede Blues. 👞😢🎶
Peter plays the part of him getting slammed by the football player so automatically. The expression on his face, and him really getting clobbered. It is perfect. Priceless. I always enjoy watching that sequence. RIP Peter. Love you, man.
No way!!! You met him!!! That’s awesome!!
Its amazing how Mickey Dolenz's hat, emphatically agrees with everything he says..
It’s a supporting hat
Ya! I was mesmerized by the brim wobbling frantically!
LOL
wow - there's footage of Nicholson talking about HEAD. Never thought I'd see this!!!
I hate him even more for destroying that movie.
neither did I!
Jack later got arrested for Putting a HEAD Sticker on a Cop's Riot Helmet!
The reason was for Bert to destroy the Bubblegum image and The Monkees! He almost did both.
@@jbjacobs9514 It was Bob and Bert's idea to destroy them Jack was used as a Stooge.
True story: I rented this movie from Blockbuster/Hollywood Video or some similar type video store in the late 90's and apparently returned it late. The next time I went to rent a movie I was standing at the checkout counter with a long line behind me and the person who was ringing me up said "Oh it looks like you have a late fee" I was like "I do?" They said "Yes, it was on a movie called Head" She said that trying not to grin and there were a few chuckles coming from behind me as well. Back then many video stores also had a beaded section where titles like Head meant something else. Not sure if this store had that section but man was I embarrassed. I just managed a nervous laugh and said "It was a Monkees movie!"
That just confused everyone even more. They thought you had rented ape-pòrn.
Fuckin love The Monkees...
So sad to hear the news of Mike. Rest in Power, Mike, Peter and Davy
I like The Monkees but this movie SUCKS.
They made some great music but that movie is incomprehensible
I saw "Head" as a kid with my 2 sisters at a local army base in1968. We loved the Monkees TV show. The movie was so unlike the series, though, that we were thoroughly confused & disappointed. Oh, we laughed, found the songs tunefully captivating, & no doubt were mesmerized by the psychedelic imagery, but we didn't understand it, as it has no plot, at least one that's not revealed until the end of the film. Truly, it was ahead of its time. I've watched the film a few times over the years since, & like it because it IS so different. Even today, 5 decades later, it's stands out as unique, has some really cool songs, & remains both fun & fascinating, plus it captures the group as a whole on film for the last time. In 1968, the Monkees were on the cutting-edge totally!
You had to be a "Head" to understand it. If you were a "Head" you smoked pot. Thats what "Head" meant, that liberated your thinking and consciousness in your "head," by using pot, taking LSD or pscilocybin mushrooms. Most of us were artists and musicians.
@@davestephens8033 i always said that it would make a great "midnight movie" like "Rocky Horror Picture Show".
@@satanlaffing Most of us saw it stoned, it made total sense. If you're a "Boomer" like me, the time that movie was made WAS a "horror show." We were napalming women and children and babies, we had NO right and no reason to be in Viet Nam. At home, blacks were being murdered wholesale by crooked police, anyone 18 or older was being drafted to go kill people we knew nothing about, and the far right were shouting that "commies" were everywhere. "Head" touched on all of that. It was only maybe a year or two later, I was forced to enlist in the US Navy or be drafted straight into the Marines. Marines went straight to "Nam" from boot camp; many never came back. But we did NOT have a politcal party trying to install a Russian asset as an American dictator, so, we still have internal forces trying to kill off Democracy here, so things aren't all that great now, but at least we don't have an active war for resources going on right now, and we are helping Ukraine survive at least....I guess Humanity is never going to wake up....
Can not tell you how much I love this movie
As a kid, my brother, me and a couple of cousins sought shade from the Oz heat in a Queensland cinema showing "Head". It was part of a double feature along with "The Rocky Horror Picture Show". We were all Monkees fans and weren't quite prepared for what was in store for us. We laughed from the moment we saw Micky lose his cool with the coke machine and as it got blown up. We didn't really have a clue what was going on, most of the film went right over our heads.
As I matured and with subsequent viewings, I was able to understand and appreciate the subtexts of the film. It was probably too full on for Monkees fans and the general public when it was first released. To me the film deconstructed the band's manufactured image in a creative and at times, brutal way. It was an act of self-sabotage, albeit subconsciously.
Nevertheless, I love the film with all its eccentricities. The film is all over the place but there are some great moments of societal critiques, indictment of the Vietnam War and withering use of satire. The soundtrack is fantastic and showcases all of the guys' talents, from Peter's "Do I Have to do This All Over Again?", Mike's "Circle Sky", Davy's "Daddy's Song" and of course, Micky's sublime "As We Go Along".
Thanks for posting this, it's always interesting to discover what went on behind the scenes and the viewpoints of the players involved.
RIP Mike, thanks for the musical legacy you've left for us all.
Great post, Joy! Nice memory you shared and a damn good critique of the movie.
@@chiefscheider Thank you Chief. I really appreciate your kind reply.
😊
Once you embrace the chaos of the movie... lack of the (then) television style cohesiveness... and (TV Executive required) laugh track, you start to realize what a gem of a movie "Head" really was.
I love "Head!" It's so bizarre that it's charming. Now what this clip doesn't mention that the Monkees, Bob, and Jack all went to Jack's house, smoked a shitload of weed, and blurted out the first ideas that came into their heads while a tape recorder taped the entire thing. Jack and Bob wrote a script based on that tape, and thus "Head" was born!
that was the way i always heard it was written too (and why the monkees were pissed when they didn't get a writing credit)
The movie is fun to watch. The soundtrack album is great!
Some people say The Godfather is the best movie ever. Apparently, they have never seen Head.
Hahaha
Head was like casting the Brady Bunch in Apocalypse Now.
I wouldn't mind seeing that. See The Brady Bunch buy the farm.
I'm in for 10g. Great movie idea.
My band in the 90’s was called Head, as tribute to the movie. We played Porpoise Song occasionally. It was always fun to be introduced with, “Ladies and Gentleman, I proudly give you Head!”
"The Porpoise Song", written by the great songwriters Goffin and King, is a wonderful slice of late '60s psychedelia.
This was interesting. Thanks for sharing it. I always wondered why they strayed from their target audience with this movie.
When you’re high on LSD, everything looks amazing.
The movie was good, but the music was spectacular, it was their finest moment. It was some of the best music of the 60’s, and there was not a bad song there.
It’s a specific taste - it’s part weirder shit from White Album, adult swim, absurdism, and Python + a healthy does of cheese. Part of the fun is not knowing what’s going to happen next
I love this movie!! It's a great commentary on the war and the boys' relationship with their fame.
Sounds like the story about the making of the movie Head was more interesting than the actual movie. They should make that movie.
I am one who LOVES that movie. I tell my music-minded friends that HEAD is an underrated Cult gem. Upon first watch it's hard to get what is going on. But the second time I saw it, everything feel into place. Also, the soundtrack is just terrific. "Porpoise Song", "As We Go Along", and "Can You Dig It?" are amongst The Monkees best songs.
Unfortunately I wish they all could have lived to be in late 80s or 90s
I’m a Monkees fan, but this movie was too strange.
Good thing Jack didn't abandon acting for screen writing...
His hat brim moving like that bothered me more than it probably should have
RIP Davy, Peter, and Mike.
and Bert 😌
@@chiefscheider also RIP to Frank Zappa, Sonny Liston, Annette Funnicello, Victor Mature, & Abraham Soafer (The Guru) all who co-starred in "Head"
Jack is a truly unique talent. Anything...and i mean ANYTHING that dude says can be Oscar worthy!
As for Head, it was the intro to the Monkees i never realized was the Monkees! I remember putting that record on from my dad's collection and thinking this is the strangest and most awesome music ive ever heard. It wasnt until 2 years ago that i realized it was the band that did it cuz that record was lost for 30+ years.
I am SO glad i rediscovered this, because its like a missing puzzle piece to my life that was finally found decades later!❤
Head may not be better than A Hard Day's Night, but the soundtrack is better than Sgt. Pepper's.
"I'd like a glass of cold gravy with a hair in it, please."
I got to see Head on the big screen a few years ago and Micky Dolenz was there to do a meet and greet and give a lecture about the movie.
@davidbreen6335 That's really cool! I would love to see it on the big screen.
@@LifeOnLombok It was wonderful Micky lived up to his reputation of being the nicest one out of all The Monkees. The only thing that was sad was Micky apologizing if we asked us to repeat a question and showing us his hearing aid. Other than that it was a wonderful amazing event.
@@davidbreen6335 I was very fortunate to meet Micky years ago in Canada when I was a teen. He was very nice, very smiley. I didn't realize he wears a hearing aid now. Not surprising though with decades of loud concerts and in-studio creating music. I appreciate his ability to keep going. I really like his version of Shiny Happy People that he recently put out. What do you think? 😊
Loved the movie and the album. 💿
It's a Mobius Strip. It starts where it ends and ends where it starts. It's brilliant.
HEAD is an INCREDIBLE film! The music is amazing and the innuendos are SO clever! I own several copies...and copies of the soundtrack!
Imagine if you know nothing about the Monkees and this title comes up in your feed
The monkees manager wanted to kill the monkees with the movie head and succeeded
Holy moly, you NEVER see Nicholson interviewed for these things! Obviously because of his friendship with Rafelson.
I was thinking the same thing!
And he wasn't even wearing his trademark shades!
I'm curious to know Jack's idea for the movie that would make as much as HARD DAY'S NIGHT.
If for nothing else... The Porpise Song makes it worth a watch.
Starting as a commercial enterprise, popularity came quickly to the Monkees and proved to be an empty achievement. Searching for meaning through self-awareness and true artistic creation they began to fill that void and "Head" assisted in breaking out of the broad, shallow box they had been packaged in.
They found that happiness isn't achieved from riches or fame, but in seeking out the never-popular truth and discovering the strange purposes behind the formation of each individual soul.
While subverting expectations and contradicting their producers, the Monkees became the very thing they were designed to not be: original - and- artists.
(Again, against all odds, they released one of their best album in 2016 called "Good Times! ".)
I love that movie! No matter where you go or what you do, you end up stuck back in a box. Great music, Frank Zappa, Annette Funicello's fake tear, talking cow, boxing, cute guys. "Where there is choice, there is misery."
For me the thing that worked for Head was it had a dream - like quality. If you disregarded the need for a plot and just remembered how dreams can be disjointed, wild, and unusual then it could work.
@@_Peremalfait Well you got to know before hand what is going on, and in the beginning they tell you that this movie is disjointed. Granted for a mainstream audience I'm reminded of a line from a movie about dreams called "Waking Life" where a director makes a comment about two other directors talking about a movie the other made, and this film cost a million to make and he says "it's about a dream within a dream" and the other director goes "you just lost a million dollars." The film isn't going to work for everyone, but as a cult film which I heard it was, it can.
"Are you telling me that you don't see the connection between government and laughing at people?"
"From the Producers who gave you Head". 😆 Should've stuck with the first script. I think by the end of their 1967 tour, they wanted to shed that dressed up early days look. Beatles boots etc. If you think about it, most bands did go for the psychedelic look in 1967. Beatles, The Stones.
is it a great movie? probably not. but I think everybody should watch Head. at least once.
Doesn't really matter to me what anybody thinks or says. How or why things get made or don't, it's the end product. I love the movie and the music. I understand not everyone's cup of tea. I'll admit that it is a fascinating story to hear.
Watching Head now is awesome. It’s a time capsule. Not to mention it has some of my favorite Monkees songs in it.
However, it also makes me a little angry knowing it was used to kill the Monkees. I have to wonder what would’ve happened if they would’ve made the one that “would’ve been as big a hit as Hard Days Night“.
I wish someone would have told Mickey that his hat was really jiggly and bouncy and thusly.....awful.
Yeah. What the hell was up with that?
@@pgc8509...maybe it was made from gelatin.
Mickey wears a hat because he's self-conscious about being bald. From Ms. Harper Stacey.
Heads one of those films that if you don’t like it, you can just get away from me, we have nothing in common and I have no interest in talking to you.
Sorta the same way w/ The Big Lebowski.......Those that didn't get it, i couldn't hang out w/ anymore.
Right on Brother!!!! LOL
Awesome interview and such but for the uninitiated who did not know that Micky and his colleagues made a movie called Head .... this title could be misleading.
Head was ten years ahead of its time. That was its problem. The techniques it employed were used extensively in the 1970s.
The producers didn't know how to market it. IF you see the poster for it, it's just a closeup of a nerd with glasses looking at the viewer, with no context. That's it. There was no advertising for it. Kids thought it was going to be a movie version of their favorite tv show. What they got was a dark, edgy, cynical deconstruction of the Monkees, and the rest of the 60s. The young adults felt tricked when they were told the film was "edgy", and then the Monkees came on.
To top it off, the Monkees wanted writing credits for the film, which is really just a collage of short disconnected scenes, and when they were refused writing credit, they boycotted the first day of filming; except for Peter. It cost the producers a tremendous amount of money, as they were renting the studio by the day. That caused Rafelson to become hostile to the group. Not a good atmosphere to make a film in.
Peter Tork said that boycotting the first day of shooting was a mistake and would create that break with the producers, and he was right.
Mike, Mickey and Davy felt that Peter let them down by not boycotting the shoot along with the rest of them.
It was ultimately a pointless act, because the film bombed, and passed into obscurity.
The film, however, is a success. It is a cynical view of the 60s and the 60s itself. Roger Ebert hated it and went into great detail denigrating the individual members of the group, which demonstrates what a pompous blowhard Ebert was, and is a better recommendation for this time capsule of the 60s than anything else I could mention.
"It is a darkly cynical deconstruction of the 60s and the 60s itself."
Google "redundant" and that sentence is now one of the results 😄👍
@@chiefscheider , You might want to look up "subtle distinction" at some point.
Then again, in your case, never mind....
So there's a subtle distinction between "the 60s and the 60s itself" ?
Nice try, fartbrain. You used the "dark, cynical deconstruction" line earlier in your post, too. Maybe you should trademark it. Now go pound sand, Pauline Kael.
@@chiefscheider, there's a distinction between "a deconstruction of the 60s" and "the 60s itself". If you don't see a distinction, great. There's no need for name-calling of strangers on a comment board.
Go do something constructive. It's 2022, seize the day!
Wow, you've been pounding sand for a whole month? Nice!
RIP Mike RIP Peter RIP Davy
They're all waiting for Mickey dolenz to join them in heaven. From Ms. Harper Stacey.
Unless you already knew about 60s music and The Monkees, this title would have a whole different connotation.
Yeah. From the title of the video, I thought Mickey was going to discuss groupies...
Exactly what I was thinking 😊
Liam Clancy said after Tommy Makem's death, "There is no fun in being the last one standing". Mickey is the last one standing.
Mickey was in every Monkee line-up too.
I saw Head at the age of 10.
It went way over my head.
Head is a brilliant movie.
That movie was brilliant
Head ALBUM was an unappreciated masterpiece.Sorry to learn movie was co-opted...
IT WOULD BE GOOD IF MICKEY DOLENZ GOT TOGETHER WITH DAVID BYRNE AND TALKED ABOUT THE TALKING HEADS AND THE MONKEES MOVIE, "HEAD", AND THEN DID SOME LED ZEPPELIN COVER TUNES.
I am an old Monkees fan (67 years old now) I have all the albums in the loft, including Head. I thought the film was rubbish, hard to watch.
The movie wasn’t for squares.
@@richsackett3423
🙄
@@sammyjo2852 Not for illiterate halfwits who speak in emojis, either.
@@richsackett3423
😘
When MD does interviews with his sunglasses and hat on he looks like Truman Capote. No offense meant. He just looks like Capote.
I never realized that 😵💫
I always thought he emulated a Rip Taylor/Wizard Glick motife, but now you mention Capote I do see the similarity!
The stupidest movie I ever saw; embarrassing attempts to make tiny labored vignettes into some drugged out "cool hippie" film that looked like an 9 year old had written it. My friend and I walked out after giving it more time to redeem itself than we should have, at age 17. No, this is NO comparison to the fun, easy, unique qualities that made the Beatles first movie a hit. A Hard Day's Night was a game changer without trying, Head wasn't worth the $1.25 to get in. A "cult classic?!" Smh...50+ years can't fix this one... The one seriously good bit in the film was a (talented) Davy Jones in a well done song/dance scene - partially with his "mother" - to a poignant song by Nilsson.
It's definitely a love it or hate it movie. I've yet to hear anyone say it's just okay.
@@chiefscheider I agree. Sorry to be so nasty but I'm obviously (not) a "like." Nothing to do with your site; you seem to have footage here with Nicolson, etc , that no-one else has; so good research. It is a part of 60's history. God bless, Happy New Year.
☮️
I'm a big monkees fan and sadly I agree but the reality by what jack said the purpose of head was to destroy the monkees they wanted it to fail that's why their manager chose the bad script
@@avalond1193 Certainly a possibility, but why? They were well on their way "out" at that point in time anyway, and had pretty much imploded (at least as a t.v. show,) with the "help" of Mike Nesmith's ego.
Speaking of run on a double bill. Saw Head at independent suburb theater in 1970. The 1st feature was Dean Martin as Matt Helm "The wrecking Crew" his "Easy going spy". 2'd run maybe a dollar for two films back then. Hindsight is 20/20 band should have asked for a more cohesive theme movie not a scattershot turned into a cult favorite now. Life goes on they made enough money on reunion tours to have a nice living.
That’s a heck of a double bill! Love em both.
So cool! I've never heard Nicholson talk about his Monkees experiences!
I loved the clothes for "Head." On point even for today!
I was six, HUGE monkeys fan, begged my Mom to take us to the theater to see it. I think Peter summed it up perfectly "It's a movie for kids, they're not gonna dig it man". I had no idea what the hell was going on. Didn't make ANY sense. Didn't even like the songs. Only part that remains a memory was the jumping into the water and underwater footage. I thought that was cool.
it's pretty much their best album, anna.
"Nobody saw it?" I DID. I saw it when it first came out. It was a cool stoner kind of movie and I liked it alot. It spit on alot of institutional BS and of course the critics hated it, a bunch of old white fat rich guys who made their living trashing artists ;-) I watched it again, last year and yeah it was kind of self indulgent but it was FUN and it was made for us "Heads," people who smoked pot and hated the war and the Republikan right right wing monsters making money killing innocent civiliians in Viet Nam. My own Dad protested to the Pentagon that kids weren't getting ANY jungle warfare training and were being slaughtered in Viet Nam. Dad was a veteran of WWII, a combat photographer at the invasion of Leyte Gulf. They went after Dad and told him they were going to court martial him or he could resign with a rank increase, and of course he he took that, was boosted to Major and we went home from France. They insisted he be drummed out of the Army at Arlington. Us kids had no idea what was happening at all. Dad wanted to retire in France not come back to rabid consumerism, pre-fab housing developments and the Pentagon war mongers. I can only dream about what life would have been if we had become French citizens. USA hasn't changed that much, far right radicalists still ruining the country and nearly had a dictator installed in an actual COUP. Our peace and love movement was destroyed on purpose by entrenched evil thats still trying to destroy Democracy. "Head" left a strong memory with me, it was right for its time, it was innovative and lead to "Easy Rider" being produced, a real classic, another movie with great music. Another slap at the "establishment" as we called it then.
I remember seeing that movie in the theater for a friend's birthday party when I was six.
I've seen it several times. It gets better with repeated viewings IMO
Classic film.
How is it 2021 and I'm just now learning about this deep connection between Jack Nicholson and the Monkees?
Thanks for sharing this! It's nice to hear what each of them thought of making Head and how it went.
YW! 👍
Frank Zappa makes a cameo in that movie.
Mike Nesmith made a cameo in Zappa's movies
Greatest. Movie. Ever.
Title: Micky Dolenz talks about Head.
Micky Dolenz screen/voice time: 47 seconds.
"47 seconds, you gotta be kiddin' me." -- Jack Nicholson
@@chiefscheider Hes right, click bait
Change the title. The video doesn't have really anything, barely, to do with Dolenz
Shake you self
I'm not too concerned about it, chuckles. It has a 98% likes to dislikes ratio ✌🏻
This is the first time ever seeing Jack Nicholson in a real interview.
Check out this one from 1970 --
th-cam.com/video/Cf-7C5Z8kjs/w-d-xo.html
@@chiefscheider Cool interview. Its great that the interviewer, Bobbie Wygant is still alive at 95 years old..
I would lump this movie in with other 60s surreal films, like Casino Royal, What,s New Pussycat? Barberella, Modesty Blaze, etc. I enjoy watching clips more than the whole movie at once. That's not meant as a cricitizism.
"Head" came out a few weeks before "Skidoo;" they would make a great double feature.
The movies worth watching just to see The porpoise song and Circle sky.
I've never heard Jack talk about Head before!
All work and no play makes Jack a bunch of dough
Misleading title. I feel cheated out of giggles
Anyone out there remember the movie Daydream Believer? There's that scene where Nicholson is telling one of the station suits that he can write a script that can make or break the Monkees and they decide to do the latter. In other words they portray Nicholson as the station appointed villain who effectively destroyed the Monkees because the band refused to work under the contract terms and ultimately decided to end their contract. In the movie Daydream Believer it's made to look like the Monkees were screwed over by someone who they thought was on their side giving them artistic freedom.
Jack does interviews? Shocker!
Realized this is like the only interview I’ve ever seen of him
I grew up listening to the Monkees, (RIP, Davy, Peter & Mike)..... I started listening to them when I was maybe four or five years old and of course, at that time I had no idea that they were, at first a fictional group who were only acting as musicians on a TV show, I didn't find that out until years later, but I also became a fan of The Monkees TV show. LOL Anyway, I've seen the movie "Head" and I gotta be honest, I can completely understand why it was a box office FLOP..... I'm sorry, NO offense of course to the Monkees, their music and TV show was great, they were an amazing group of guys and I've seen "Head", I rented the DVD from Netflix once and it just SUCKED!! Seriously, I watched it and I'll quote Micky Dolenz when he once said that people who went to see it in theaters in the 1960s said, "What the hell is this?!" because that's EXACTLY what I was thinking throughout that entire movie! LMAO You can tell they had all been high as kites when they were all sitting around, recording their thoughts for the movie on a tape recorder! LOL But sadly, I do believe that "Head" was one thing that lead the destruction of the Monkees. :(
A lot of guys talk about head.
I have never understood this movie. I just don't get Head! But I have had dear friends who are Monkees fans and I would of course buy the DVD at Christmas. I would always given them Head! But earlier versions of the DVD were pan-and-scan reproductions which was just terrible! Upon the re-release during the anniversary of the film I quickly made up for giving the bad Head by providing my friends with improved, high-resolution. Everyone could tell the difference between the good Head and bad Head. One sucked and one didn't suck!
This comment deserves a medal, good sir.
Underrated trip of a film.
I saw Head when it came out, it was a great movie, I liked the part where the Monkee's played the dandruff in Victor Matures head
They say there is no bad head just some head is better than other.
Kinda like pizza 😁
the VH1 movie about the Monkees made it out like the Monkees and Jack Nicholson wrote the screenplay for Head while over indulging on cannabis. Bob Rafelson and Nicholson writing the screenplay while on acid really helped to explain a lot.
Head was the Monkee's Magical Mystery Tour
I like it. Good movie.
i don't like how this title can be taken out of context
Micky dolenz talks about getting head
Judging from the comments here, people either love this film or absolutely loathe it (I'm in the former category, I adore it). That proves that the film succeeded in a certain way. Over fifty years later and people still have a passionate opinion about it. That's better than being lukewarm in my opinion.
right on. I think a lot of people just don't get it, it was the Monkees deconstructing themselves to distance themselves from their manufactured pop band image, had profound social commentary, poked fun at hollywood, had their best music and some fantastic surrealism, sadly it tanked. but love it or hate it means its good art. no one has no opinion about it.
It's not quite that simple to me. There are two ways to evaluate films, on an artistic merit and personal enjoyment merit. In both ways I'd call "Head" very good but not perfect.
Some of those haters are really sick Fuckers who are Bieber lovers.
"Head" may have died a quick box-office death, but it did not vanish from theaters. After its 1968 release, the film continued to be shown for two years - mostly drive-ins and double bills (occasionally paired with "Yellow Submarine" and "Easy Rider"), but also family matinees that capitalized on the Monkees' Saturday morning TV revival during 1969-70.
Brilliant film. This and The Magic Christian are two of my faves discovered during my late teens in the late 80s when acid was really, really good.
Brilliant film?
You dropped too much 'L' !
2:39 Blink or you'll miss it - Dennis Hopper crosses in the background.
I never realized how short he was. 5'7, 5'8 tops.
fyi the phrase is "blink _and_ you'll miss it" 😇
Hands up, who came here because of the title? 😂
Surely you're not implying it's suggestive ... 😈
Great title!
LOVE "HEAD"! Very much "of its time"
I saw this and that zappa movie about the hotels in the same year for the first time. I didn't know these types of movies existed - sure, I knew about acid movies but weird movies made for the sake of being seriously weird. Then I found a hundred of them over the years.
jack should have kept directing because his acting is the same in every movie hes in.
The last man standing, Mr Dolenz. Head is a great film.
I've tried watching it a few times. I've never been able to watch more than 30 minutes of it.
The 30 minute club. Very good. I think I looked at a minute of it and knew it wasn't worth watching.
You lasted longer than I did. Congrats.
You know, I loved the Monkees as individuals, and the songs they sang. As a kid, I only half-like their show, it was too zany and slap-stick for me. Something tells me I won't like the movie, but it's really hard to find now....
Free to watch on Tubi I 100% recommend the waych
There's two copies on youtube?