Main Cast: Howard Hesseman, Warren Beatty, Julie Christie, Goldie Hawn, Lee Grant, Jack Warden, Carrie Fisher
Release Year: 1975
Country: US
Run Time: 109 minutes
MPAA Rating: R
Plot
A frankly adult comedy about the sex lives of the aimless and the rich, Shampoo is also a pointed commentary on the demise of 1960s idealism at the dawn of the Nixon era. It is Election Day, 1968, and randy Beverly Hills hairdresser George Roundy (Warren Beatty) is too worried about attending to all of his women's tonsorial and sexual needs, while trying to swing a bank loan to fund his own salon, to notice the fateful Presidential race. As George juggles the demands of girlfriend Jill (Goldie Hawn) and mistress Felicia (Lee Grant), not to mention Felicia's daughter (Carrie Fisher), he meets Felicia's husband Lester (Jack Warden) to get money for the salon and discovers that his beloved ex-girlfriend Jackie (Julie Christie) is now Lester's mistress. Lester asks George to escort Jackie to a banquet for Nixon supporters, leading to a series of climactic confrontations at the dinner and a Hollywood orgy that expose the conflicting demands of sex, love, and security among these terminally narcissistic L.A. denizens. As Nixon's victory speech drones in the background the following day and Paul Simon's mournful '60s music plays on the soundtrack, George's free-wheeling world collapses around him for reasons that he can barely begin to comprehend. Produced and co-written (with Chinatown scribe Robert Towne) by its star Warren Beatty, Shampoo became Beatty's second critical and popular success as a producer after Bonnie and Clyde, and it bolstered Hal Ashby's track record as director. Shampoo earned Grant an Oscar for Best Supporting Actress, as well as a Supporting Actor nomination for Warden and Beatty's first nomination as writer. With Nixon's 1974 Watergate disgrace adding an extra edge to the humor for 1975 audiences, this tragic bedroom farce became one of the highest-grossing films in Columbia Pictures' history at the time. ~ Lucia Bozzola, All Movie Guide
Review
A sex comedy crossed with social satire, Shampoo (1975) is a vital 1970s Hollywood work. Co-written by top '70s screenwriter Robert Towne and star/producer/avowed Democrat Warren Beatty, Shampoo's witty examination of the Los Angeles rich and lustful eulogizes the 1960s hedonism brought low by the Richard Nixon years, while Nixon's 1974 Watergate demise adds an extra unspoken bite to the proceedings. Along with the politics, Beatty tweaks his own Lothario image as the popular ladies' man hairdresser who may have lots of hair, but not lots of brains. Beatty's beautifully dim George may be what Julie Christie, Goldie Hawn, Lee Grant, and a comically precocious Carrie Fisher want, yet he and his orgy-attending milieu should never underestimate the power of Jack Warden's Lester and his Rolls. Directed with a low-key gift for humor and sensitivity by estimable '70s filmmaker Hal Ashby, Shampoo spreads the blame equally without over-judging the characters' weaknesses. Proving his mastery of the zeitgeist once again, Beatty scored his second enormous box-office success as a producer-star, and earned his first Oscar nomination for writing; Shampoo went on to become one of the top hits of 1975. ~ Lucia Bozzola, All Movie Guide
Tony Bill - Johnny Pope; Jay Robinson - Norman; George Furth - Bank Officer; William Castle - Sid Roth; Jack Bernardi - Izzy; Susan Blakely; Hal Buckley - Kenneth; Howard Culver - Newscaster; Brad Dexter - Senator East; Howard Hesseman - Red Dog; Richard Kalk - Younger Detective; Sharon Kelly - Painted Lady; Joan Marshall - Mrs. Schumann; Susan McIver - Customer; Kathleen Miller - Anjanette; Sue Moore - Gloria; Mike Olton - Ricci; Dina Ousley - Hairdresser; Doris Packer - Rosalind; Michelle Phillips - Girl at Party; Daryl Roach - Boy at Party; Randy Sheer - Dennis; Constance Smith - Twin; Ann Weldon - Mary; Cynthia Wood - Beauty Shop Customer; Luana Anders - Devra; Wally Crowder - Malone's Delivery Boy; Andrew Stevens - Boy #2; Sean Walsh - Boy with Twins; George Justin - Producer; Cherie Latimer - Girl in Car
Credit
Charles H. Maguire - Associate Producer, Mike Fenton - Casting, Jane Feinberg - Casting, Anthea Sylbert - Costume Designer, Art Levinson - First Assistant Director, Hal Ashby - Director, Robert Jones - Editor, John Barry - Composer (Music Score), Paul Simon - Composer (Music Score), Thomas E. Case - Makeup, W. Stewart Campbell - Production Designer, Richard Sylbert - Production Designer, Laszlo Kovacs - Cinematographer, Charles H. Maguire - Production Manager, Warren Beatty - Producer, George P. Gaines - Set Designer, Robert Resh - Set Designer, Charles M. Zacha, Jr. - Set Designer, Tom Overton - Sound/Sound Designer, Warren Beatty - Screenwriter, Robert Towne - Screenwriter
Shampoo is a 1975satire that is directed by Hal Ashby and stars Warren Beatty, Julie Christie, Goldie Hawn, Lee Grant, Jack Warden, Carrie Fisher and Tony Bill. The film is set in 1968, the night before Richard Nixon was first elected to the White House, and was released as the Watergate scandal was reaching its messy conclusion; the political atmosphere of the setting therefore provides a source of dramatic irony, since the audience, but not the characters, are aware of the direction the Nixon presidency would eventually take. However, the main theme of the film is not presidential politics but sexual politics; it is renowned for its sharp satire of late-1960s sexual and social mores.
The lead character, George Roundy, is based on actual hairdresser Jay Sebring and on Jon Peters, the film producer, who is a former hairdresser.[citation needed]
Shampoo is set in a 24-hour period in 1968, on the eve of the presidential election which would result in Nixon's ascension to the American presidency. George Roundy (Warren Beatty) is a successful hairdresser, whose charisma has provided him the perfect platform from which to meet, and bed, beautiful women, including his current girlfriend Jill (Goldie Hawn). Despite this, George is dissatisfied with his professional life; he feels that his current position, in which he plays second fiddle to a mediocre hairdresser, is beneath him, and dreams of setting up his own hairdressing business. Lacking the cash to do so, George turns to his wealthy mistress, Felicia (Lee Grant), and her unsuspecting husband, Lester (Jack Warden). In a further twist, George learns, upon meeting with Lester at his office, that Lester, too, has a mistress - Jackie (Julie Christie) - with whom George has previously enjoyed a sexual relationship.
The tangled sexual politics come to a head when Lester invites George to an election night party, at which George finds himself in the same room as a number of present and former sexual partners, including his current girlfriend, current mistress, ex-girlfriend, and various other previous conquests. The night quickly descends into drugs, alcohol and sexual indulgence. In the film's dramatic climax, Lester and Jill catch George and Jackie in the throes of very active sexual intercourse on a kitchen floor. While Lester sees that sexual intercourse is taking place, Lester speaks the memorable line "Now, THAT'S what I call fucking!" Immediately afterwards, a refrigerator door comes open, with the light from the refrigerator revealing to Lester's astonishment that Jackie is the woman George is having sex with. At that point, George realises that Jackie is his true love, and proposes to her. By then, however, it is too late; Jackie announces that Lester is divorcing Felicia and taking Jackie to Acapulco. The film thus pairs sexual revelation with George's deeper moral development, but ends bleakly for the protagonist, despite his epiphany.
Upon its release, the film generally received positive reviews from critics who lauded its talented cast and sharp, satirical writing. However, the praise was not universal; some critics, including Roger Ebert[1], pronounced it a disappointment.
