Friday 5 June 2009

I don't fuck anybody for money! I do it for fun!

No 146 - Shampoo
Director - Hal Ashby

I am somewhat disappointed. I have vague memory of a scene in a camp 70s musical where a lady hides a bomb in her wig and tries to sabotage a TV set... I don't think it is Hairspray... but was convinced it was Shampoo. It isn't. Shampoo isn't a big camp musical number. It isn't even really a comedy. It is incredibly 70s though.

Like, so 70s it seems like a cliche!

This is a film about a hairdresser who is trying to break away from his employer and go it alone... at the same time he is shagging away with pretty much EVERYONE. It is quite hilarious. However for a film with an awful lot of sex there isn't any nudity... how disappointing. There are some very glamorous ladies though.
As this film was made in 1975, there are a number of women who appear in it and who are considerably younger than I have seen them before (or at least considerably younger looking). The first is Goldie Hawn playing Jill, the poor girlfriend to Warren Beaty's serial shagger. Her character is full of Goldie Hawn's trademark ditsy charm and she comes off as utterly adorable - it is in this film where you can see the similarities between her and her daughter.

The other character is Carrie Fisher. Now, everyone talks about the Return of the Jedi bikini, but there is something about Carrie Fisher's character Lorna (the daughter of one of Warren Beatty's conquests) that mixes childlike youth and exuberance and also a sexual predator teasey element. It is quite a performance!

I do find the sex element of the film very amusing, especially as the film was written and produced by Warren Beatty. Who also stars! How amusing....

Moving away from the sex for a minute (which is easier said than done) I wish to talk about one of the minor characters who struck a chord. Sadly he is such a minor character that he doesn't seem to appear in google-land. I will therefore describe it...
His name is Johnny Pope (played by Tony Bill) and he is the director of an advert which Jill is auditioning for.
The reason I think he is so awesome is that he looks just like my dad looked in the 80s. Only he has a handlebar moustache, which is far cooler than a full beard (sorry dad). So if you know my dad, it has added comedy value for that reason.

More universal comedy comes from the power of the 70s and a complete lack of political correctness. Especially on the fact that Warren Beatty's character is a hairdresser. Expect a lot. And I mean A LOT of references to the fact that hairdressing is a job for faggots.
What I particularly like is that when Warren Beatty admits to sleeping with older women, the reply is "You have a thing for older women? That's kind of faggoty".
You also have your typical rich snobs (complete with black working staff) and the most hideously un-pc line ever.
"I don't want to get pregnant after 30, it increases the chances of your baby being a Mongolian Idiot"

Quite the scandal.
The other scandal is that this film has NOTHING to do with this....

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