On Election Day, 1968, a hairdresser and ladies' man is too busy cutting hair and dealing with his various girlfriends and his mistress, whose husband he meets and finds out is having an aff... Read allOn Election Day, 1968, a hairdresser and ladies' man is too busy cutting hair and dealing with his various girlfriends and his mistress, whose husband he meets and finds out is having an affair with his ex-girlfriend.On Election Day, 1968, a hairdresser and ladies' man is too busy cutting hair and dealing with his various girlfriends and his mistress, whose husband he meets and finds out is having an affair with his ex-girlfriend.
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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 for 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 for the venture. Felicia at least convinces Lester to consider investing in George. On Monday, November 4, 1968, the eve of the presidential election, this group spends the evening together, first at a dinner party hosted by Lester, and then another private party. Lester asks his potential new business partner, George, to accompany his mistress Jackie, not knowing that George and Jackie know each other. Jill, who is invited to the party by Jackie, invites director Johnny Pope as her date, he who is considering her for a role in his next movie filming in Egypt and perhaps more. Over the course of the evening, George may come to the realization of what he wants in life both professionally and personally, but achieving happiness will depend upon others in his life, they who have known George up to this time only as an uncommitted narcissist. —Huggo
Top review
70's movie-making at its best
An almost perfect balance showing at once the beauty and shallowness of Los Angeles and those who live there. The film is famous for being about Lothario, but the film is really about a cultural malaise that is Los Angeles. The movie industry has infected everyone in Los Angeles and as a result, you can't get your car repaired without hearing some namedropping (especially today, but even back in 1968) and velvet rope sightings.
Some people seem content to try and write off this film as a Hollywood porn film, but it's much more than that. Porn is cheap and often mechanical. Shampoo is full of rich characters and the story, as it should, has the tangles of wet hair. How often has you seen a film where you look forward to each scene? To know what the characters will do next? Shampoo at its center, has Beatty, playing both a fictional character, and to some I'm sure, a bit of the ladies man he was in the public eye for years and years. (Actually, the character is based on a real hairdresser who had a sad ending, being murdered in the terrible Manson murders along with Sharon Tate.) The film not only entertains, but deepens with time. (Anyone, whether here or on other sites, tries to compare movies made years ago with movies today, is either naive or terribly arrogant. Would you hold Wuthering Heights next to Saw? Would you compare Nat King Cole to Marilyn Manson? All were or are popular, so what's the difference? Plenty, I doubt most Blacks would like to go back in time and compare the civil rights laws, if even existed, to today's laws.) Besides Beatty, there are many other fine performances, from Lee Grant, Julie Christie, Goldie Hawn, Tony Bill, Carrie Fisher, Jack Warden among others. Restored on DVD, it's a very good watching experience now as well.
Some people seem content to try and write off this film as a Hollywood porn film, but it's much more than that. Porn is cheap and often mechanical. Shampoo is full of rich characters and the story, as it should, has the tangles of wet hair. How often has you seen a film where you look forward to each scene? To know what the characters will do next? Shampoo at its center, has Beatty, playing both a fictional character, and to some I'm sure, a bit of the ladies man he was in the public eye for years and years. (Actually, the character is based on a real hairdresser who had a sad ending, being murdered in the terrible Manson murders along with Sharon Tate.) The film not only entertains, but deepens with time. (Anyone, whether here or on other sites, tries to compare movies made years ago with movies today, is either naive or terribly arrogant. Would you hold Wuthering Heights next to Saw? Would you compare Nat King Cole to Marilyn Manson? All were or are popular, so what's the difference? Plenty, I doubt most Blacks would like to go back in time and compare the civil rights laws, if even existed, to today's laws.) Besides Beatty, there are many other fine performances, from Lee Grant, Julie Christie, Goldie Hawn, Tony Bill, Carrie Fisher, Jack Warden among others. Restored on DVD, it's a very good watching experience now as well.
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- mbhuens1
- Apr 3, 2006
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