Shampoo (1975)

Lovers undo a hairdresser from Beverly Hills around Election Eve in 1968.

Director:

Hal Ashby

Writers:

Robert Towne, Warren Beatty

Stars:

Warren Beatty, Julie Christie, Goldie Hawn

Won 1 Oscar. Another 2 wins & 10 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Warren Beatty	...	George
Julie Christie	...	Jackie
Goldie Hawn	...	Jill
Lee Grant	...	Felicia
Jack Warden	...	Lester
Tony Bill	...	Johnny Pope
George Furth	...	Mr. Pettis
Jay Robinson	...	Norman
Ann Weldon	...	Mary
Luana Anders	...	Devra
Randy Scheer	...	Dennis
Susanna Moore	...	Gloria
Carrie Fisher	...	Lorna
Mike Olton	...	Ricci
Richard E. Kalk	...	Detective Younger

Storyline

Thirty-something George Roundy is a Beverly Hills hairdresser, who spends as much time sleeping with his female clients as he does doing their hair. Whether they want to admit it, all the women in his life are on the most part aware that they are are not the only one with whom he is sleeping. And some, such as the wealthy and married Felicia Karpf, have a stronger emotional dependence on George than they would like to admit. George's current girlfriend is Jill, an up and coming actress. Jill's best friend is Jackie Shawn, one of George's old girlfriends who left him because he couldn't make a true commitment to her. In turn, Jackie is currently having an affair with Lester Karpf, Felicia's wealthy businessman husband. George is unhappy working at a salon owned by Norman, with whom he is constantly butting heads. In his first act of wanting finally to be a grown up, George wants to open his own salon, but doesn't have the financial resources to do it, and no bank will lend him money ...

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Plot Keywords:

party | hairdresser | director | actress | bank | 

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Taglines:

In a town where anything goes, everything does in this funny bedroom farce.

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Genres:

Comedy | Drama

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Certificate:

R

Details

Official Sites:

Sony Movie Channel [United States]

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

13 March 1975 (USA)

Also Known As:

Holivudski frizer

Filming Locations:

240 N Canon Drive, Beverly Hills, California, USA

Company Credits

Production Co:

Persky-Bright / Vista, Columbia Pictures Corporation, Rubeeker Films

Technical Specs

Runtime:

109 min

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Perhaps to give audiences impression the film was au courant, the movie's poster featured pictures of three leads (Beatty, Christie and Hawn) as they appeared in 1975, not as characters with dated hairstyles they sport in film set in 1968.

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Goofs

Coca-Cola can George drinks from while chatting with Lorna is a post 1968 design.

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Quotes

[to George]
Jill: You never stop moving! You never go anywhere!

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Crazy Credits

In opening credits, horror film producer/actor William Castle is billed as "Bill Castle," but in end credits is back to "William Castle."

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Connections

Featured in The 72nd Annual Academy Awards (2000)

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Soundtracks

Born Free
(1966) (uncredited)
Music by John Barry
Lyrics by Don Black
Sung a cappella by Jack Warden

User Reviews

best script ever

Robert Towne's "Chinatown" is considered the greatest script of the past 30 years, but I think "Shampoo" (written by Towne and Beatty) is even better. It is an intricately constructed sex farce, with realistic, flesh-and-blood characters. Beatty's character, George, is trying to serve two masters -- his own uncontrollable libido, and his desire to set up his own hair salon. These two desires come into direct conflict when he seeks funding from wealthy financier Lester (Jack Warden), while also having affairs with Lester's wife Felicia (Lee Grant), Lester's mistress Jackie(Julie Christie), and even Lester's daugther (Carrie Fisher). In fact, George beds all of these women in a 24-hour period, while also trying to maintain his relationship with his steady girlfriend (Goldie Hawn). All of these incompatible desires are compressed into a short time frame, and George's life unravels spectacularly, as he learns some very hard lessons by the end.

Structurally, "Shampoo" is brilliantly devised. Each character has an opposite. George, the satyr, has Lester, the cuckhold, as his opposite. George exudes natural sexual appeal, whereas Lester is loved merely for his wealth. Tony Bill's character, an ad executive, is the younger version of Lester. Tony Bill dangles a job offer to Goldie Hawn in order to bed her. Despite his hip outward appearance, this character is as staid as Lester. In fact, the two characters are linked by separate scenes in which each one stares out of a skyscraper window, gazing at a panoramic view of L.A., and makes a world-weary comment about the craziness below (in Bill's case, he says, "Jesus, this town"). There is also a contrast between George and Jackie. George, in his own words, "doesn't f*** for money, I do it for fun," whereas Jackie ends up as a kept girl (by Lester). Goldie Hawn's character also prostitutes herself, in a very subtle way. In the moral universe of Beverly Hills in 1968, Beatty's promiscuity seems more pure than the money-driven machinations of everyone else.