thelifeofmeaning The Monkees had a few songs that could be described as protest songs, like "Last Train to Clarksville" or "Circle Sky", songs that were clearly against the Vietnam war. This movie compiles in my opinion the best Monkees songs. Classics like "The Porpoise Song", "As we Go Along", "Daddy's Song", and a lot of other great classics. However, as the Monkees' protest songs are mainly against war, this film seems to be a protest film in itself, one of the first of its time in 1968. Not just a protest against Vietnam as always, but a protest against how they thought their creativity was ruined by their increasingly silly television show where they all met (This is why they keep getting trapped in that black box throughout the movie in case you didn't know). The Monkees were involved in this project from beginning to end, but they must have been pretty angry when they found out that only Jack Nicholson and Bob Rafaelson were getting screen credits for writing this psychedelic masterpiece, even though there really isn't that much in terms of a proper script. In the end, however, you may be thinking that I'm thinking too much into this film, and that it's just a bit of fun fluff in a surreal little package, and they may be true, but I will never care to know. I do know one thing though."Hey Hey we are the Monkees You know we love to please A manufactured image With no philosophiesThe money's in, we're made of tin, we're here to give you more."

gavin6942 The Monkees are tossed about in a psychedelic, surrealist, plot less, circular bit of fun fluff.The film comes from the collective that includes Jack Nicholson (who wrote the script), Bob Rafelson (who directed) and Dennis Hopper (who has a cameo). To see it play out in a surreal, psychedelic manner should be no surprise.Renata Adler commented that Head "might be a film to see if you have been smoking grass, or if you like to scream at The Monkees, or if you are interested in what interests drifting heads and hysterical high-school girls." Rather, it is more than that. The film turns all the genres on their head -- western, horror, war and more are all handled in a very different way.

Mike Kiker I love The Monkees, probably the most underrated pop group of all time. Well known for being TV darlings in the '60s, but not as well known for trying their best to shake off the image by actually playing their instruments in concert (unlike the pop stars of today, but that's for a different website), writing their own songs, supporting some major breakthroughs in music like the Moog Synthesizer, and helping give (at the time) struggling artists like Frank Zappa, Tim Buckley, and Harry Nilsson a fair shake.And for the evidence to everything I just said, look no further than 'Head', considered by many Monkees fans (including this one) and the Monkees themselves to be their crowning achievement. Yes, it is a plot less mess, but it's on purpose (or could you say "on porpoise"? Sorry had to get that joke out. Yes, it is terrible, but on porpoise. D@MN! Did it again, sorry, back to the review...) But within this plot less mess are some great shots taken at the entertainment industry, the faux spirituality that seems to run rampant with celebrities (And this was 35 years before Tom Cruise was promoting Scientology!) and the political climate of 1968. For example; the dandruff commercial, Mickey torpedoing the Coke machine, the War! cheer, the punching scene, the black box, the Swami and Peter know-nothing speeches, the Frank Zappa and Cow commentary. All present various allegorical statements on their treatment in the media, and what they've come to know in the world of fame, and are done brilliantly.As for the music and their accompanying scenes, top notch! First the Monkees' Theme parody "Ditty Diego-War Chant" is set to random television gridlock imagery. The scene for Mike Nesmith's "Circle Sky", intermingles footage of prepubescent female hormonal cacophony from a live Monkees show with the footage of war, "Porpoise Song" (written by classic songwriting team Carole King and Gerry Goffin), a song that's up there with the trippiest of pop songs, is set to solarized negative images of Mickey Dolenz and 2 mermaids, emphasizing the song's psychedelic nature. Great cover of Harry Nilsson's "Daddy's Song" set to an equally visually stunning dance number by Davy Jones and Toni Basil. "Can You Dig It?" by Peter Tork set to Middle-Eastern belly dancers. King & Goffin's serene "As We Go Along" is set to slow motion footage of The Monkees in the woods. And "Long Title: Do We Have To Do This All Over Again?" gets the best scene of all by subtly being overtaken by Mike Nesmith's grief during the trippiest of tripped out parties, only to end suddenly with Mike Nesmith berating everything, including Christmas! So, in a nutshell, expect everything you know and love about the Monkees to be shattered! But enjoy this ride, in a present state or an altered one!

asdodge As their entire career was a pale impersonation of The Beatles, it is no surprise that, shortly after the great fiasco of the Beatles "Magical Mystery Tour," the Monkees would follow up with their own insipid and creative morass of a movie, called "Head." Both movies are not so much a true story with a plot (though MMT attempted to define a plot) as they are a hodge-podge of skits and snippets, interspersed with music and songs and out-takes."Head" has no plot, other than the pre-fab-four trying to break free of "the box" they are in (i.e. the type-casting of being "Monkees" and the surrounding commercialism) and yet, always finding themselves back in the box. Most skits involve breaks in the "fourth wall" and crossing over into other, seemingly unrelated scenes. Filled with anti-Vietnam war messages and attempts by the group to show their other talents, the film bounces around haphazardly- also to be blamed on the multiple directors.The film, like Magical Mystery Tour, is now excused by some fans as "wonderful symbolism and misunderstood artistic statements." Phooey. Like MMT, it is too many guys with access to too many drugs all trying to make something artsy and making crap.Like MMT, "Head" has some clever moments and offers some relatively unknown Monkees songs that are quite decent. It does develop a bit more charm than MMT and is a bit easier to sit through, but it is not ironic at all that, like everything else the Monkees did, this was just a mimicry of something the Beatles did first... even when it comes to laying an egg.