GLEEB> head
HEAD
By the time The Monkees' TV show stopped airing in reruns on NBC in July 1968, they were already headlong into their next project. Envisioned as a satire of their creating and show business in general, HEAD would be one of the final projects before their breakup.
Columbia Pictures alotted $750,000, a pretty nice amount at the time, for the Monkees' first motion picture outing. Bert Schnieder and Bob Rafelson were signed on as producers, but they still didn't have a script. So, one weekend, everyone piled into Mike's limo and drove up to a golf resort in Ojai, California. There they smoked *alotta* weed and said all their thoughts for this new movie into a little tape recorder. The end product, ladies and gentlemen, is what airs on AMC to this day.
HEAD in general had no plot, which you could expect from a movie taken entirely from drug-induced ideas. There was a lot of symbolism, though. Micky, at first the only one (because he's the lead singer), jumps off a bridge, as if to say that his pop image is dead. At the end of the film, Davy, Mike, and Peter follow and jump also. There is a man (Victor Mature) who follows the guys continually throughout the movie and tries to step on them while they're very small. This could be viewed as a take on Don Kirshner's music supervision. HEAD is a strange and wild trip, kinda like this entire website, but in the end it's very interesting and great to watch in a.. uhh.. '60s fashion.
"HEAD" Movie Stills
The Monkees discussing the nothingness that has become their careers.. just joking!
They had to remind Micky what the big thing in the middle was
Mike at his "birthday party"
Peter takes some advice from a Swami. In a sheet. Peter, drugs are bad.
"HEAD" clip (241kb)