Shampoo | |
---|---|
Directed by | Hal Ashby |
Written by | |
Produced by | Warren Beatty |
Starring |
|
Cinematography | László Kovács |
Edited by | Robert C. Jones |
Music by | Paul Simon |
Production company | Rubeeker Films |
Distributed by | Columbia Pictures |
Release date |
|
Running time | 110 minutes [1] |
Country | United States |
Language | English |
Budget | $4 million [2] |
Box office | $60 million [3] |
Shampoo is a 1975 American comedy film directed by Hal Ashby, and starring Warren Beatty, Julie Christie, Goldie Hawn, Lee Grant, Jack Warden, Tony Bill, and Carrie Fisher in her film debut. Co-written by Beatty and Robert Towne, the film follows a promiscuous Los Angeles hairdresser on Election Day 1968, as he juggles his relationships with several women. The film is a satire focusing on the theme of sexual politics and late-1960s sexual and social mores.
On the eve of the 1968 United States presidential election, successful Beverly Hills hairdresser George Roundy meets with Felicia, one of his several clients/sexual partners, at his apartment. During sex, he receives a phone call from Jill, his naive, younger, up-and-coming actress girlfriend, who is suffering a panic attack, paranoid that an intruder is in her home. George rushes from his house to calm Jill, which frustrates Felicia.
George's occupation and charisma have provided him the perfect platform from which to meet and have sex with beautiful women, including his current girlfriend. Despite this, 34-year-old George is dissatisfied with his professional life; he is the creative star of the salon in which he works, but has to play second fiddle to Norman, the "nickel-and-diming" mediocre hairdresser who owns the business.
George dreams of setting up his own salon business, but cannot convince any bank to lend him the capital he needs. He seeks out Felicia and her unsuspecting husband Lester to bankroll him. George's meeting with Lester supplies a second secret for him to keep from his would-be benefactor; Lester's current mistress, Jackie, is George's former girlfriend, perhaps the most serious relationship he has ever had. Jackie is also best friends with Jill, making the situation even more complicated.
Jackie arranges for George to style her hair, which he fashions nearly identically to Felicia's. Sexual tension arises between the two, and George attempts to kiss Jackie. At first, Jackie rebuffs George, but then kisses him back. They are about to have sex in the bathroom when they hear Lester announce his arrival. As Lester comes into the room, they pretend for his benefit that George is finishing styling Jackie's hair.
Lester, who assumes George is gay because of his profession, asks George to escort Jackie to a Republican Party election-night soiree. Upon arriving, George finds himself in the same room as a number of present and former sexual partners, including Jill (who came with Johnny Pope, a film director considering her for a role in his next film) and Felicia. Jackie becomes upset, drinks too much, and behaves outrageously, so Lester asks George to take her home, but she refuses to go.
All the principals except Felicia adjourn to a posh counterculture party at a Beverly Hills mansion, where guests indulge in alcohol, other drugs, and sexual pursuits. Lester, followed moments later by Jill and Johnny, happen upon a couple having vigorous sex in the dark on the kitchen floor. Lester comments admiringly on this tryst to Jill and Johnny, who look on through the window in stunned silence. Suddenly, the refrigerator door George had failed to properly close comes open, illuminating Jackie and him. Lester, shocked, abruptly leaves. An enraged Jill throws a chair, breaking the window, and swears at George. Jackie flees as George tries to placate Jill with an obvious lie, but Jill, unmollified, runs off to spend the night with Johnny.
The following morning Jill confronts George at her home with one of Felicia's earrings, which she found in his bed. When she asks about his dalliances, George admits he sought a career in the beauty industry as a means to pursue beautiful women, and that his promiscuity, while making him feel like he will live forever, may mean he does not love her. Upon returning to his home, George is met by Lester and some intimidating men. George and Lester soon find mutual understanding. Lester hypocritically calls Jackie a whore and mentions he is fed up with her. Lester promises George a business deal and he and the men leave.
George subsequently goes to Jackie's house, but she worriedly flees in her car, claiming she does not want Lester to find them together. George pursues her on his motorcycle, and the two arrive on a hilltop overlook above her house. George proposes to Jackie, but she tells him it is too late; she has arranged to go to Acapulco with Lester, who has said he will divorce Felicia and marry her. Jackie leaves George alone on the overlook, from where he sadly watches her depart with Lester.
Film scholar Emanuel Levy describes Shampoo as a critique of suburbia, comparing its self-contained Beverly Hills setting to the small towns depicted in films such as Jaws and The Stepford Wives (both also released in 1975). [4] He elaborates on the film's political themes:
Made in 1975, less than a year after [Richard] Nixon’s resignation (August 1974) over the Watergate scandal, the film suggests parallels between Nixon’s hypocrisy and cheating and similar devices among the average Americans... The TV set is on most of the time, but no one has time to really watch, reducing the screen to a constant blur of images and sounds... The film suggests that Americans have become slaves to their private and sexual lives at the expense of getting involved emotionally or politically. No character talks about or understands politics. Shampoo is about whoring in sex and in politics, and the price of doing it. [4]
The soundtrack includes songs from its setting of the late 1960s. Included in the party sequence are the Beatles ("Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band" and "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds"), Buffalo Springfield ("Mr. Soul"), Jefferson Airplane ("Plastic Fantastic Lover" and "Good Shepherd"), and Jimi Hendrix ("Manic Depression"). Also included on the soundtrack album is "Wouldn't It Be Nice" by the Beach Boys, which plays over the opening and closing credits of the film.
A screening of Shampoo was held in New York City on February 10, 1975. [5] The guests included Warren Beatty, Andy Warhol, Salvador Dali, Amanda Lear, Sylvia Miles, John Fairchild, and Maureen Stapleton. [5]
The film premiered in New York City on February 11, 1975. [6]
Upon its release, the film generally received positive reviews from critics who lauded its talented cast and sharp, satirical writing. Praise was not universal; some critics, including Roger Ebert, pronounced it a disappointment. [7]
Critic Pauline Kael of The New Yorker gave the film an overall positive review claiming the film is "a bigger picture in retrospect," [8] while Walter Goodman of The New York Times said that "Ashby shows that he has a good memory for a couple of decades of cinematic clichés." [9] Bob Colacello of Interview said that Shampoo is "the best movie to come out of New Hollywood yet." [5]
Commercially, Shampoo was a great success. Produced on a budget of $4 million, [2] the film grossed $49,407,734 domestically [10] and $60 million at the worldwide box office. [3] It earned an estimated $23.9 million in North American rentals, [11] making it the third-highest-grossing film of 1975, beaten only by Jaws and One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest .
Award | Category | Nominee(s) | Result | Ref. |
---|---|---|---|---|
Academy Awards | Best Supporting Actor | Jack Warden | Nominated | [12] |
Best Supporting Actress | Lee Grant | Won | ||
Best Original Screenplay | Robert Towne and Warren Beatty | Nominated | ||
Best Art Direction | Art Direction: Richard Sylbert and W. Stewart Campbell; Set Decoration: George Gaines | Nominated | ||
British Academy Film Awards | Best Actor in a Supporting Role | Jack Warden | Nominated | [13] |
Golden Globe Awards | Best Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy | Nominated | [14] | |
Best Actor in a Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy | Warren Beatty | Nominated | ||
Best Actress in a Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy | Julie Christie | Nominated | ||
Goldie Hawn | Nominated | |||
Best Supporting Actress – Motion Picture | Lee Grant | Nominated | ||
National Society of Film Critics Awards | Best Screenplay | Robert Towne and Warren Beatty | Won | [15] |
New York Film Critics Circle Awards | Best Screenplay | Nominated | [16] | |
Writers Guild of America Awards | Best Comedy – Written Directly for the Screen | Won | [17] |
From reviews compiled retrospectively, review aggregation website Rotten Tomatoes gives the film a score of 68% based on 40 reviews, with an average score of 6.6/10. The site's consensus reads: "Shampoo trains a darkly comic lens on post-Nixon America, aiming at—and often hitting—an array of timely targets". [18] The film is recognized by American Film Institute in these lists:
Sony Pictures Home Entertainment released Shampoo on DVD in January 2003. [20] On October 16, 2018, The Criterion Collection re-released the film on Blu-ray and DVD in a special edition, featuring a new 4K scan of the original film elements. [21]
Shampoo also served as the inspiration for the 1976 exploitation film Black Shampoo , directed by Greydon Clark, which is an example of the common blaxploitation filmmaking technique of intentionally piggybacking on the titles of hit films starring predominantly white casts to provide predominantly African American "alternatives" to the earlier films; Clark explained in an interview that his reason for making a blaxploitation film about a black male hairdresser's sexual trysts patterned after Ashby's film was that Clark did not want to make a film about a pimp, private detective or drug dealer, who were often the protagonists of blaxploitation films. [22] [23] [24]
Goldie Jeanne Hawn is an American actress. She rose to fame on the NBC sketch comedy program Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In (1968–1970), before going on to receive the Academy Award and Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actress for her performance in Cactus Flower (1969).
Henry Warren Beatty is an American actor and filmmaker. His career has spanned over six decades, and he has received an Academy Award and three Golden Globe Awards. He also received the Irving G. Thalberg Award in 1999, the BAFTA Fellowship in 2002, the Kennedy Center Honors in 2004, the Cecil B. DeMille Award in 2007, and the AFI Life Achievement Award in 2008.
Bugsy is a 1991 American biographical crime drama film directed by Barry Levinson and written by James Toback. The film stars Warren Beatty, Annette Bening, Harvey Keitel, Ben Kingsley, Elliott Gould, Bebe Neuwirth, and Joe Mantegna. It is based on the life of American mobster Bugsy Siegel and his affair with starlet Virginia Hill.
Kill Bill: Volume 1 is a 2003 American martial arts action film written and directed by Quentin Tarantino. It stars Uma Thurman as the Bride, who swears revenge on a group of assassins and their leader, Bill, after they try to kill her and her unborn child. Her journey takes her to Tokyo, where she battles the yakuza.
Jackie Brown is a 1997 American crime film written and directed by Quentin Tarantino, based on the 1992 novel Rum Punch by Elmore Leonard. It stars Pam Grier as Jackie Brown, a flight attendant who smuggles money between the United States and Mexico. Samuel L. Jackson, Robert Forster, Bridget Fonda, Michael Keaton, and Robert De Niro appear in supporting roles.
William Hal Ashby was an American film director and editor. His work exemplified the countercultural attitude of the era. He directed wide ranging films featuring iconic performances. He is associated with the New Hollywood wave of filmmaking with filmmakers such as Martin Scorsese, Woody Allen, Mike Nichols, and Sidney Lumet.
Pamela Suzette Grier is an American actress, singer, and martial artist. Described by Quentin Tarantino as cinema's first female action star, she achieved fame for her starring roles in a string of 1970s action, blaxploitation and women in prison films for American International Pictures and New World Pictures. Her accolades include nominations for an Emmy Award, a Golden Globe Award, a Screen Actors Guild Award, a Satellite Award and a Saturn Award.
Foxy Brown is a 1974 American blaxploitation action film written and directed by Jack Hill. It stars Pam Grier as the title character who takes on a gang of drug dealers who killed her boyfriend. The film was released by American International Pictures as a double feature with Truck Turner. The film uses Afrocentric references in clothing and hair. Grier starred in six blaxploitation films for American International Pictures.
Death Dimension is a 1978 American B-list action thriller and martial arts film by Al Adamson starring Jim Kelly, Harold Sakata, George Lazenby, Terry Moore, and Aldo Ray.
Coffy is a 1973 American blaxploitation action thriller film written and directed by Jack Hill. The story is about a black female vigilante played by Pam Grier who seeks violent revenge against a heroin dealer responsible for her sister's addiction.
Town & Country is a 2001 American romantic comedy film directed by Peter Chelsom, written by Buck Henry and Michael Laughlin, and starring Warren Beatty, Diane Keaton, Goldie Hawn, Garry Shandling, Andie MacDowell, Jenna Elfman, Nastassja Kinski, Charlton Heston, and Josh Hartnett. Beatty plays an architect, with Keaton as his wife, and Hawn and Shandling as their best friends. It was Beatty's and Keaton's first film together since 1981's Reds, and Beatty's third film with Hawn, after 1971's $ and 1975's Shampoo.
$, also known as Dollar$, Dollars or $ (Dollars), and in the UK as The Heist, is a 1971 American heist comedy film starring Warren Beatty and Goldie Hawn, written and directed by Richard Brooks and produced by M.J. Frankovich. The supporting cast includes Gert Fröbe, Robert Webber and Scott Brady. The film is about a bank security consultant (Beatty) who develops a scheme with a prostitute, Dawn Divine (Hawn), to steal several criminals' money from a bank vault.
The Landlord is a 1970 American comedy-drama film directed by Hal Ashby, adapted by Bill Gunn from the 1966 novel by Kristin Hunter. The film stars Beau Bridges in the lead role of a privileged and ignorant white man who selfishly becomes the landlord of an inner-city tenement, unaware that the people he is responsible for are low-income, streetwise residents. Also in the cast are Lee Grant, Diana Sands, Pearl Bailey, and Louis Gossett Jr. The film was Ashby's directorial debut.
Black Shampoo is an American exploitation film directed by Greydon Clark. Released in 1976, the comedy film is considered an example of the blaxploitation and sexploitation subgenres of exploitation film. Produced on a budget of $50,000, the film stars John Daniels as Jonathan Knight, an African American businessman and hairdresser who frequently has sex with his predominantly white female clients, and Tanya Boyd as Brenda, Jonathan's secretary and girlfriend, who was previously in a relationship with a white mob boss, who, out of jealousy towards his ex's new lover, begins to regularly send goons to trash Jonathan's hair salon. The violence escalates as the film progresses.
Killer Diller is a 1948 American musical comedy race film directed by Josh Binney and released by All American. Academic and comedienne Eddie Tafoya wrote that "Killer Diller is really more concerned with showcasing black talent appearing at Harlem's legendary Apollo Theater than it is with providing audiences with a satisfying story." The movie features The Clark Brothers, Nat King Cole, Moms Mabley, Dusty Fletcher, Butterfly McQueen, the Andy Kirk Orchestra and the Four Congaroos. René J. Hall was the film's arranger.
Blaxploitation is an ethnic subgenre of the exploitation film that emerged in the United States during the early 1970s, when the combined momentum of the civil rights movement, the black power movement, and the Black Panthers spurred African-American artists to reclaim the power of depiction of their ethnicity, and institutions like UCLA to provide financial assistance for African-American students to study filmmaking. This combined with Hollywood adopting a less restrictive rating system in 1968. The term, a portmanteau of the words "black" and "exploitation", was coined in August 1972 by Junius Griffin, the president of the Beverly Hills–Hollywood NAACP branch. He claimed the genre was "proliferating offenses" to the black community in its perpetuation of stereotypes often involved in crime. After the race films of the 1940s and 1960s, the genre emerged as one of the first in which black characters and communities were protagonists, rather than sidekicks, supportive characters, or victims of brutality. The genre's inception coincides with the rethinking of race relations in the 1970s.
Johnathan Daniels, known professionally as John Daniels, is an American former actor. He is most notable for his role as 'The Baron' in the 1975 film The Candy Tangerine Man.
Carole Enwright White was an American hairdresser, author, and spokesperson. She was known as the "First Lady of Hairdressing," who styled Jennifer Jones, Betsy Bloomingdale, Elizabeth Taylor, Goldie Hawn, Camille Cosby, Ann-Margret, Elvis Presley, Sharon Tate, Brad Pitt, and Sandra Bullock, among others.
Kathleen Miller was an American actress who gained fame for her appearances in several films directed by Hal Ashby. She also had a lead role on the television series Sirota's Court from 1976 to 1977.
Jay Sebring....Cutting to the Truth is a 2020 American documentary film that studies Jay Sebring's life as the first international pioneer in the industry of men's style and hair. Cited as the inspiration for Warren Beatty's character in the 1975 film Shampoo, Jay Sebring's life ended at age 35 when he and four others were killed by the Manson family in what would become known as the Tate murders.
Notes
Bibliography