[Marge smiles, relieved]

A key part of the joke is that the Monkees were a manufactured band; if not the first, then almost certainly the one that popularised the concept; and as such were very much not about rebellion. In a certain light however, what Dr Zweig (played with aplomb by Anne Bancroft) is saying is sort of true. The wheels fell off the bid for the young foursome to be the public faces of some corporate media project as opposed to a band rather quickly, presumably due to populating the band with actual aspiring musicians… and also Davy Jones was there.* Before the first season of the TV series had finished airing, they’d ousted the organ grinder and managed to take more active roles in musical side of things; writing songs, playing instruments, etc. (though there were still a lot of songs by other people, however by then they actually got some say in which ones they took). The mid-period of the Monkees is pretty interesting, not least because they all seemed to be pulling in different directions stylistically. Anyway, this failure of the record company to outright control their Frankenstein band lead the group’s erstwhile producer to assemble the Archies (or rather the faceless musicians behind them) instead. Being entirely fictional, they had very little attitude to contend with, and the public would be unlikely to notice any replacements.

So, yeah, we arrive at Head, or ‘the Monkees try and alienate everyone’, if you prefer. It is a strange film. The poster rather optimistically refers to it as ‘the Monkees’ first film’, when the film seems a very hard sell. Given as it’s the Monkees, it seems like its dismissal by counterculture poseurs** was perhaps inevitable, but the film’s almost certainly too weird for most kids (and perhaps too subversive for their parents, circa 1968). Intentional or not, the film serves as an obvious end point to the Monkees experiment. Outside the music arena at any rate, though the group itself was starting to drift at this point too. The plot, as the film points out, is basically non-existent, with things just bleeding together in a stream of consciousness, with bizarre matter-of-fact things happening with no comment, much less explanation, both in the foreground and background. It’s an odd affair. Each member gets their own turn in the spotlight as the scenario drifts back and forth and in and out in a rudderless fashion. The overwhelming theme of the bits and pieces tends to be escape; the different members of the group tend to find themselves trapped, literally or figuratively (or both), in situations that they want out of, only to inevitably be thwarted and end up pretty much where they started. The situations in question incidentally include the film; cast members break the fourth wall to express their disgust at certain scenes or storm off in a huff, thereby giving way to the next scenario, a method of ending a scene to be later seen in Python. Not that the fourth wall is in all that much play anyway, as Peter Tork spends large parts of the film grappling with the existential problems involved in playing oneself-who-is-not-oneself and the responsibilities of storytelling.

It’s a fascinating bit of psychedelia as the band try quite literally to escape the less literal binds placed on them. They fail, as a final ‘fuck you’, I guess, even if reality was perhaps a bit kinder. Regardless, the fact that they were able to make a film, an officially sanctioned film, no less, that effectively destroys their carefully manufactured image is quite a feat. Check out the bit where screaming teenage girls at a concert is crosscut with footage from the Vietnam war (including the ever-infamous execution of Nguyễn Văn Lém). It’s pretty damn gutsy for a film ostensibly aimed at such an audience; quite openly scathing of the establishment, of which the Monkees are, perhaps begrudgingly but self-acknowledgedly, a part.

Also the film makes no comment on the subject of Michael Nesmith's hat.

* Yeah, yeah, I know. Davy Jones was a musical theatre type and seemingly the first one to be cast, prior to the open auditions for the rest of the group.



** As distinct from the ones who were actually part of the business. Frank Zappa of all people appears in the film, as does Dennis Hopper. And, yes, the writer is that Jack Nicholson.

At time of writing, I was unable to find Head on any streaming service. It doesn't even have a JustWatch page. Sorry, kids. Alternatively, physical copies are reportedly available for rent via Cinema Paradiso.

The film is currently rated PG, having been an 'A' rating at the time. One wonders if anyone was perturbed by that; the Beatles films and the vast majority of other filmic vehicles for pop stars at that point seemed to keep to 'U' territory. Anyway, there's probably nothing to get too worked up about, but it does include actual Vietnam war footage, as I mentioned.

Bonus