Shampoo

Directed by Hal Ashby and written by Warren Beatty and Robert Towne, Shampoo is the story of a hairdresser who deals with his own issues on commitment while seducing many of his female clients in Los Angeles. Set in the span of 24 hours during Election Day in 1968, the film is an exploration into a man dealing with his own identity while his world is starting to change in the course of an entire day as it‘s loosely based on the life of a renowned hairdresser Jay Sebring who would be one of the victims of the infamous Tate-LaBianca murders by the Manson Family. Starring Warren Beatty, Julie Christie, Goldie Hawn, Lee Grant, Tony Bill, Carrie Fisher, and Jack Warden. Shampoo is an exhilarating and chaotic film from Hal Ashby.

Set in the day of the life of hairdresser George Roundy (Warren Beatty) on what is a very crucial day in American history that is Election Day 1968. The film plays into a world where a man’s often carefree life of doing women’s hair and fucking them starts to finally blow up as he faces his own identity as well as the fears in growing up and being committed to someone. Especially as he has a girlfriend in aspiring actress Jill (Goldie Hawn) while sleeping with a rich woman in Felicia (Lee Grant) whose husband Lester Karpf (Jack Warden) is having an affair with one of George’s former lovers in Jackie Shaw (Julie Christie) who still has feelings for George. In the day, George is working on Felicia and Jackie’s hair while trying to get a loan so he can start his own hair salon as he feels unappreciated by his boss Norman (Jay Robinson). Yet, it all comes to ahead through a couple of parties later in the night as it’s not just Roundy’s life that starts to fall apart but also the reality that is to come upon Richard Nixon in becoming the President of the United States of America.

The film’s screenplay by Warren Beatty and Robert Towne doesn’t just explore a man’s life starting to fall apart in a day where things are about to come to an end. It’s a film where a man is trying to grow up but he often succumbs to his own trappings in sleeping with women throughout the course of an entire day. Upon George’s own turbulent journey in juggling his affairs and work, there’s a lot that is happening as Jill just got a job offer that could help her as she befriends producer Johnny Pope (Tony Bill). While George deals with Felicia and Jackie, he would also have an encounter with Lester and Felicia’s 19-year old daughter Lorna (Carrie Fisher) who hates her mother. All of which plays into his own failings as a man and it would eventually start to blow up in a crazy night where he is invited by Lester to a dinner that Jackie, Felicia, and Jill attend with Pope as Jill’s date.

The screenplay also features some racy dialogue such as Jackie’s own drunken desires at the dinner while the script features this sense of foreboding as the world of free love and drugs is starting to come to a dark end. Especially as Lester is a conservative who has a lot of connections to the Nixon campaign though he is aware of politics’ fallacies while he would also encounter a party with hippies as he realizes that they’re not so bad. Yet, it’s an encounter that would also reveal more about George’s own issues with commitment as his own world starts to fall apart. After that climatic party, George not only faces himself but also the realities that are lurking as it becomes clear how distracted he is in his own bullshit and not knowing about the other people in his life. Even as he also deals with the world of women as it becomes clear that he still has a lot to learn about them.

Hal Ashby’s direction is very compelling for the way he creates a world where the characters are unaware of what is about to happen on Election Night and what is to come in the coming years. It plays into this sense of dramatic irony as the audience know what is coming as it would play into a sense that an end of an era is happening for George Roundy. Much of the film is set in Los Angeles where it plays into a world where the rich and established collide with the more idealistic youth culture as Ashby does create something where the two different cultures seem to try and get to know each other during Lester’s encounter with hippies as he decides to loosen up a bit and not worry about his reputation. Ashby infuses a lot of offbeat humor into these situations as well as the dinner-party scene where it is about a celebration of what is to come but it features a moment that showcases how absurd it is.

The direction also has Ashby use some very inventive framing devices in the way he puts his actors into a frame. Some which involve an actor in the background while the other is shot in a near close-up where the actor in the background is obviously listening or wanting to do something. There’s also moments in the framing where there’s these intricate crowd scenes as it’s shot in a wide frame where the main characters are in the background or in the middle of the frame in a medium shot to play into the sense of chaos they’re in. All of which plays into Roundy’s own messy life as its ending is him trying to come to terms with his life and what he wants to do. Especially in who he wants to be with where it’s an ending full of irony where even though he says that he wants to grow up and live a normal life. It is clear that he is more likely to screw things up and live the same life that he knows. Overall, Ashby creates a very witty yet tender film about a man’s life falling apart in the span of an entire day.

Cinematographer Laszlo Kovacs does excellent work with the film‘s cinematography with the colorful look of its daytime interior/exterior scenes to the use of lights for some of the scenes at night as well as the psychedelic party that many of the characters go to. Editor Robert C. Jones does brilliant work with the editing with its seamless approach to rhythms for some of the film‘s humorous scenes along with some unique cutting for some of the dramatic reactions in the film. Production designer Richard Sylbert, with set decorator George Gaines and art director W. Stewart Campbell, does fantastic work with the many homes of the characters to play into their personalities as well as the psychedelic party where most of the characters go to. Costume designer Anthea Sylbert does amazing work with the costume in the design of the late 60s clothing that many of the characters wear to play into their personalities.

Hair stylist Jan Van Uchelen and hairdresser Kathryn Blondell do terrific work with the design of the hair styles and cuts some of the women characters would sport to play with what George is creating Sound editor Frank E. Warren does superb work with the sound in the way some of the music is presented as well as the radio and television as it would play into the sense of foreboding in the film‘s political climate. The film’s music by Paul Simon is wonderful as it’s a very low-key piece that is only used sparingly to play into George’s melancholia with its simple folk-based sound. The film’s music soundtrack includes pieces by the Beatles, the Beach Boys, the Jimi Hendrix Experience, Buffalo Springfield, the Monkees, Herb Alpert, Jefferson Airplane, and the Cookies as it’s all played on location to capture that period in time.

The casting by Jane Feinberg and Mike Fenton is incredible as it features a few cameo appearances from Michelle Phillips of the Mamas & Papas, co-writer Robert Towne, and Howard Hesseman as partygoers in the psychedelic party, Jay Robinson as George’s worrisome boss Norman, Ann Weldon as a salon co-worker, and in her film debut, Carrie Fisher as Lester and Felicia’s daughter Lorna who would have a few tricks up her sleeve as a way to react her hostilities towards her mother. Tony Bill is terrific as the producer Johnny Pope who tries to help Jill with her career while being a very good guy though he is mistaken by Lester as George’s boyfriend. Jack Warden is excellent as Lester Karpf as this rich businessman with all sorts of connections who offers George the chance to run his own salon while dealing with his own marriage to Felicia as well as his affair with Jackie as it’s role that is a bit comical but also a bit serious.

Lee Grant is amazing as Lester’s wife Felicia as she is one of George’s many lovers as she is very demanding while becoming tired in her marriage where her discovery about the things in her life starts to show her acting out. Goldie Hawn is brilliant as George’s girlfriend Jill as this insecure and neurotic aspiring actress who is unsure about the part she is to get as she also starts to question about the state of her relationship with George until she makes her own discoveries. Julie Christie is fantastic as Jackie Shaw as this very posh woman who is torn in her devotion for Lester and her feelings for George as she starts to unravel about the decisions she’s making. Finally, there’s Warren Beatty in a phenomenal performance as George Roundy as this very immature man who is good at his job but the years of sleeping around with women and such has made him lose sight of things as he wants to become a responsible adult but has so many issues that prevents him from doing what is right as it’s Beatty at his most vulnerable.

Shampoo is a remarkable film from Hal Ashby that features great performances from Warren Beatty, Julie Christie, Goldie Hawn, Lee Grant, and Jack Warden. Along with a great script from Beatty and Robert Towne as well as witty commentary on a world that is changing through a sex-obsessed hairdresser. The film is definitely of Ashby’s finest films as well as showcasing a period in time where many of the behaviors and attitudes of the 1960s would start to fall apart in a much bleaker decade. In the end, Shampoo is a spectacular film from Hal Ashby.

Hal Ashby Films: The Landlord - Harold & Maude - The Last Detail - Bound for Glory - Coming Home - Being There - Second-Hand Hearts - (Lookin’ to Get Out) - (Let’s Spend the Night Together) - (Solo Trans) - (The Slugger’s Wife) - 8 Million Ways to Die

© thevoid99 2014

The Landlord

Based on the novel by Kristin Hunter, The Landlord is the story about a young rich white man who decides to buy an inner-city tenement where he would befriend the tenants and begins to find meaning in his life. Directed by Hal Ashby and screenplay by Bill Gunn, the film marks an exploration into the life of a naïve young man who finds himself in a new world as it would play into the themes Ashby would explore with the rest of his films in the 1970s. Starring Beau Bridges, Lee Grant, Marki Bey, Diana Sands, Pearl Bailey, and Louis Gossett Jr. The Landlord is a remarkable debut film from Hal Ashby.

Elgar Enders (Beau Bridges) is a 29-year old man from a rich white family who is eager to start his own life as he decides to buy an inner-city tenement in the hopes to get rid of its tenants and create a place all for himself. Upon arriving to Brooklyn at the building he just bought, he realized that he is in a place that is very different from the world he’s been living in as he befriends a middle-aged woman named Marge (Pearl Bailey) and later a woman named Fanny (Diana Sands) who is also a tenant. Elgar decides to become the landlord as he tries to get to know everyone while meeting another young woman named Lanie (Marki Bey) who is a dancer at a club. While Elgar’s family is shocked by Elgar’s sudden news, Elgar decides to defy them in the hopes to start something new for him.

While Elgar’s mother (Lee Grant) reluctantly decides to help him out as she briefly befriends Marge, Elgar’s relationship with Lanie goes well though a party at Fanny’s apartment leads to something as she laments her troubled relationship with her boyfriend Copee (Louis Gossett Jr.). After taking Lanie to a party where Elgar’s whole family is there, things go wrong where Elgar leaves very abruptly as he is later confronted by his mother over his actions. Things get worse when Elgar receives news that would change his life as it also gets him into bigger trouble. In the aftermath of everything he’s been through, Elgar makes a decision that would become a major turning point in his young life.

What happens when a young rich and privileged white man decides to buy an inner-city tenement in Brooklyn in the hopes to create something of his own and later become part of a strange community? That is simply the idea of the film as it is really about a naïve man who tries to interject his own place into a world that is foreign to him only to become part of this new world where he eventually becomes embraced though he still has a lot to learn. Yet, it would baffle his very rich family that lives this very sheltered and privileged life as they have a hard time accepting his new decisions as it would escalate into bigger problems.

Bill Gunn’s screenplay is very engaging for the way it explores the big difference between the world of rich white folks and urban blacks from the perspective of this young and rich white man. In the course of the film, Elgar would not only have a realization about the building he owns but also the people whom he would grow to care for as he would slowly but carefully do whatever it takes to help them. In the women he meets such as the tenant Fanny and the mix-skinned dancer Lanie, Elgar would get not just a unique perspective about women but also the idea that skin-color doesn’t make a difference. Still, Elgar is flawed and he knows that as he is still a child at heart while finding himself more at odds with his parents old ways. When he starts to be more on his own away from his family and more into the inner-city community that he’s begun to embrace, trouble does brew due to his time with Fanny. Notably in an aftermath where Elgar begins to do something in his life that would finally have take a major step into adulthood.

Hal Ashby’s direction is very stylish in the way he portrays the differing worlds of white and black culture. Notably in how very staged and precise Ashby frames the world of white culture from the car show they attend as well as a scene where Elgar is playing croquet with his family as they’re all dressed in white and positioned in some way. For the scenes in Brooklyn, things are much looser and more lively as there’s this great mix of comedy but also some light drama as well as more entrancing compositions in some of the love scenes. Ashby also employs a lot of humorous moments including a scene between Elgar’s mother and Marge that shows the similarities between the two women as well as strange fantasy sequences about a life where things get mixed up. Overall, Ashby creates a very captivating yet witty film about a young man growing up in a new world that is different from everything he had lived before.

Cinematographer Gordon Willis does excellent work with the film‘s very colorful and stylish cinematography from the way many of the interior scenes look as well as the contrast in visual palettes that differentiate the world of white rich places and the ghetto. Editors William A. Sawyer and Edward Warschilka do brilliant work with the editing as it plays to a lot of editing styles from jump-cuts and dazzling montages to play out some of the film‘s humor. Production designer Robert F. Boyle and set decorator John Godfrey do terrific work with the sets from the look of the posh home that Elgar‘s family lives in to the world of Brooklyn that he starts to embrace.

Costume designer Domingo A. Rodriguez does nice work with the costumes from the clothes many of the African-American characters wear to the more posh clothes that Elgar‘s mother wears. Sound editors Marvin I. Kosberg and James Richard do wonderful work with the sound from the chaos in some of the big group scenes to the more intimate moments that occur between characters. The film’s music by Al Kooper features a wonderful mixture of folk, soul, and rock to play up the energy and dramatic elements of the film as the soundtrack itself features music from Lorraine Ellison and the Staple Singers who collaborate with Kooper in the opening song.

The casting by Lynn Stalmaster is incredible for the ensemble that is created as it features some noteworthy small roles from Susan Anspach as Elgar’s very liberal sister Susan, Will Mackenzie as Elgar’s buttoned-up older brother, Walter Brooke as Elgar’s more conservative father, Douglas Grant as Fanny’s son Walter Gee, Stanley Greene as the Enders family butler Heywood, and Mel Stewart as the Afro-centric Professor Dubois. Louis Gossett Jr. is wonderful as the conflicted activist Copee who thinks he’s also a Native American as he becomes more unhinged. Marki Bey is very good as the light-skinned, mixed-race young dancer Lanie who dates Elgar as she deals with his immaturity. Diana Sands is terrific as Fanny who has a tryst with Elgar while dealing with her own issues in her tumultuous family life.

Pearl Bailey is great as the middle-aged Marge who shows Elgar around the building and almost become a mother of sorts for him as she also meets Elgar’s mother in a superb scene. Lee Grant is amazing as Elgar’s mother Joyce who tries to deal with her son’s new life as well as the world he’s in as it’s a very complex role to a woman who really doesn’t understand the world of the ghetto while trying to make sense of what her son is doing. Finally, there’s Beau Bridges in a marvelous performance as Elgar Enders as a young man eager to start a life of his own as he later deals with his new surroundings while getting a big understanding on what he has to do to become an adult as well as embrace his new life.

The Landlord is an excellent debut film from Hal Ashby that features a terrific Beau Bridges in the lead role. Along with superb supporting performances from Lee Grant and Pearl Bailey, the film is an engaging future about a young man entering a new world and embracing his new surroundings while rebelling against the privileged lifestyle he once lived in. For those new to Ashby, this film is a good start though his subsequent films in the 70s are better introductions. In the end, The Landlord is a brilliant film from Hal Ashby.

Hal Ashby Films: Harold and Maude - The Last Detail - Shampoo - Bound for Glory - Coming Home - Being There - Second-Hand Hearts - (Lookin’ to Get Out) - (Let’s Spend the Night Together) - (Solo Trans) - (The Slugger’s Wife) - 8 Million Ways to Die

© thevoid99 2012