• United States
  • 1968
  • 85 minutes
  • Color
  • 1.78:1
  • English
  •  
  • Spine #544

Hey, hey, it’s the Monkees . . . being catapulted through one of American cinema’s most surreal sixties odysseys. The brainchild of Bob Rafelson, making his directorial debut; his producing partner and Monkees cocreator Bert Schneider; and Jack Nicholson, a coscreenwriter on the project, Head was the fanciful beginning and ignominious end of the TV-bred supergroup’s big-screen career. In it, Micky Dolenz, Davy Jones, Michael Nesmith, and Peter Tork become trapped in a kaleidoscopic satire that’s movie homage, media send-up, concert movie, and antiwar cry all at once. A constantly looping, self-referential spoof that was ahead of its time, Head dodged commercial success on its release but has since been reclaimed as one of the great cult objects of its era.

Cast

Peter Tork
Davy Jones
Micky Dolenz
Michael Nesmith
MinnieAnnette Funicello
Lord High’n LowTimothy Carey
Off. Faye LapidLogan Ramsey
SwamiAbraham Sofaer
I. VitteloniVito Scotti
Inspector ShrinkCharles MacCaulay
Mr. and Mrs. AceT. C. Jones
Mayor FeedbackCharles Irving
Black SheikWilliam Bagdad
Heraldic MessengerPercy Helton

Credits

DirectorBob Rafelson
Written and produced byBob Rafelson and Jack Nicholson
Executive producerBert Schneider
ChoreographerToni Basil
Set decoratorNed Parsons
EditingMike Pozen and A.C.E.
Art directorSydney Z. Litwack
Incidental music composed and conducted byKen Thorne

Disc Features

  • New, restored high-definition digital transfer (with uncompressed monaural soundtrack and newly created, optional DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 soundtrack on the Blu-ray edition)
  • Audio commentary featuring the Monkees
  • New video interview with director Bob Rafelson
  • New documentary about BBS featuring critic David Thomson and historian Douglas Brinkley
  • Screen tests with the Monkees
  • Trailers and TV and radio spots
  • Ephemera, including behind-the-scenes photos by Henry Diltz
  • Rare 1968 television interview with the Monkees

Film Essays

One Big Real Place: BBS From Head to Hearts

By J. HobermanNovember 28, 2010

“What we need are good old American—and that’s not to be confused with European—Art Films.” . . . Read more »


Film Essays

Head-zapoppin’!

By Chuck StephensNovember 23, 2010

An overdub has no choice, an image cannot rejoice.—“Porpoise Song”Where there is choice, . . . Read more »

Film Essays

One Big Real Place: BBS From Head to Hearts

By J. HobermanNovember 28, 2010

“What we need are good old American—and that’s not to be confused with European—Art Films.” . . . Read more »


Film Essays

Head-zapoppin’!

By Chuck StephensNovember 23, 2010

An overdub has no choice, an image cannot rejoice.—“Porpoise Song”Where there is choice, . . . Read more »

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