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HEAD is one cool flick, man. And as of now, there hasn't been much in-depth discussion on HEAD on most Monkees sites, let alone any new information about the making of HEAD or the movie itself. So I decided to uncover and reveal some interesting factoids about this comedic masterpiece. Heh.

HEAD QUOTE, straight from Jack Nicholson:

"I saw it a thousand and one times and I loved it. It was the best rock and roll picture ever made because it was the anti-rock and roll. It had no form, no structure, and believe me, that's a difficult, unique thing to achieve in movies."


  • Head was made for $750,000 and originally made only meager $16,111. That blows.
  • ...of course, HEAD was only released in 6 theaters nationwide in 1968.
  • The script was written by the Monkees, Bob Rafelson and Jack Nicholson, yet The Monkees receive no writing credit for it.
  • When Mike found out that the Monkees would not receive writing credit for HEAD, he locked the tapes they made in Ojai in the trunk of his car and wouldn't let Rafelson have them. Nez rules.
  • They also didn't show up for work the first day of filming (except Peter) because they wanted to renegociate their contracts so they would get more money.
  • There's an extra twenty-four minutes of HEAD floating around somewhere. It was originally 110 minutes long. Where's the damm footage, Rhino?
  • There were many scenes cut from the film. Peter was supposed to get a telegram ("a wire for a Monkee") from a man dressed in an old Western Union outfit and the letter was from the President of the United States telling him that he's in the army. Obviously that scene was changed to something more...bizarre (the whole "STOP" part, in Mike's dream). In the war scene, Peter was also supposed to rescue a bunny. Also, after Lady Pleasure kisses each of the guys, they had a scene of each of them looking into a mirror wearing an outfit that describes how the public views them; Mike (top hat, tux, cane), Peter (clown outfit), Micky (WW2 Officer), Davy (Sheik). Also, there were scenes shot of Mike in a jean jacket and cowboy hat, and Micky as a devil.
  • John Brockman, who was in charge of promoting HEAD, was the dude who's face appears in the HEAD ad campaigns and on the CD.
  • John Lennon was supposed to be in HEAD.
  • Jack Nicholson structured HEAD on an acid trip.
  • Some of the credits at the end of HEAD are backwards, the last one spells out "FRODIS"
  • The Monkees' Pad from the TV show is used as their pad in HEAD, except they got rid of a bunch of signs (and poor Mr. Schneider) and made it look all ominous and creepy.


    Random Head Information

    Run Time: 86 minutes/directors cut 110 minutes
    Working Titles: Changes, Untitled, DASturb
    Director: Bob Rafelson
    Written By: Bob Rafelson, Jack Nicholson, Micky Dolenz, Peter Tork, Mike Nesmith, Davy Jones (uncredited)
    Cast and Crew: (brought to you by IMDB

    Cast (in credits order) verified as complete 
    Peter Tork ....  Peter  
Davy Jones ....  Davy (as David Jones)  
Micky Dolenz ....  Micky  
Michael Nesmith ....  Mike  
Annette Funicello ....  Minnie  
Timothy Carey ....  Lord High 'n' Low  
Logan Ramsey ....  Officer Faye Lapid  
Abraham Sofaer ....  Swami  
Vito Scotti ....  I. Vitteloni, Tank Commander  
Charles Macaulay ....  Inspector Shrink  
T.C. Jones ....  Mr. & Mrs. Ace  
Charles Irving (II) ....  Mayor Feedback  
William Bagdad ....  Black Sheik  
Percy Helton ....  Heraldic Messenger  
Sonny Liston ....  Extra  
Ray Nitschke ....  Private One  
Carol Doda ....  Sally Silicone  
Frank Zappa ....  The Critic  
June Fairchild ....  The Jumper  
Teri Garr ....  Testy True  
I.J. Jefferson ....  Lady Pleasure  
Victor Mature ....  The Big Victor  
Terry Chambers (I) ....  Hero  
Mike Burns (III) ....  Nothing  
Esther Shepard ....  Mother  
Kristine Helstoski ....  Girl Friend  
John Hoffman (VI) ....  The Sexfiend  
Linda Weaver ....  Lever Secretary  
Jim Hanley (I) ....  Siderf  
rest of cast listed alphabetically  
Jon C. Andersen ....  Himself (uncredited)  
Toni Basil ....  Dancer (segment "Daddy's Song' sequence) (uncredited)  
Dennis Hopper ....  Himself (uncredited)  
Helena Kallianiotes ....  Belly Dancer (uncredited)  
Tiger Joe Marsh ....  Security Guard (uncredited)  
Jack Nicholson ....  Himself (uncredited)  
Bob Rafelson ....  Himself (uncredited)  
  
Produced by 
Jack Nicholson   (producer)  
Bob Rafelson   (producer)  
Bert Schneider   (executive producer)  
  
Original music by 
Carole King   (song) (uncredited)  
Michael Nesmith   (song) (uncredited)  
Ken Thorne    
Peter Tork   (song) (uncredited)  
  
Cinematography by 
Michel Hugo    
  
Film Editing by 
Michael Pozen    
  
Art Direction by 
Sydney Z. Litwack    
  
Set Decoration by 
Ned Parsons    
  
Costume Design by 
Gene Ashman    
  
Production Management 
Harold Schneider ....  unit production manager  
  
Second Unit Director or Assistant Director 
Jon C. Andersen ....  assistant director (as Jon Andersen)  
  
Art Department 
Jack H. Williams ....  property master  
  
Sound Department 
Les Fresholtz ....  sound  
  
Special Effects by 
Chuck Gaspar ....  special effects  
Burton Gershfield ....  special color effects  
Bruce Lane (II) ....  special color effects  
  
Other crew 
Toni Basil ....  choreographer  
Igo Kantor ....  music coordinator  
Marilyn Schlossberg ....  assistant to producers



    Symbols/Inside Jokes In HEAD
    (where do they come from?)


    • "The Black Box"- There really WAS a black box. The producers of the tv show built it for the Monkees during the second season because they were being too loud and crazy in their dressing rooms. The black box was a place where they could play loud music, smoke weed, get it on with chicks and conduct business. Ya know.
    • "Victor Mature"- Victor Mature was a symbol for RCA VICTOR Records, the Monkees' label.
    • "Au contraire"- Mike says this to Davy by the canteen. This was also said, and responded to in the same way, in "Monkees Marooned".
    • "Monkees running away from a tank"- In the end scene, in the desert. This is a direct parody of the Beatles' movie "Help!"
    • "I've been looking all over for you Creeps."- Timothy Carey says this to the guys. "The Creeps" was one of the few band names that Rafelson and Schneider wanted before they chose The Monkees.
    • Annette Funicello- Symbolic of Hollywood Typecasting, and of those Beach Party flicks. She plays the same character in every movie, including HEAD.
    • "Don't Worry Teresa"- Davy calls Annette Funicello's character this name, yet in the credits, her character is "Minnie" (perhaps a jibe at her connection with Disney?)
    • "I'm Always the Dummy"- Peter says this during the boxing scene, as he was always portrayed as the dumb one on the TV show.
    • "Frank Zappa"- He plays "The Critic" and critiques Davy's dance number and the Monkees music. This is ironic because in real life, Frank Zappa was one of the Monkees' supporters, and also, was famous for hating rock critics.
    • "Oh, I understand, it's for your niece"- Peter says this during the canteen/punching the transvestite scene to an old man getting an autograph. This type of situation, of people asking for autographs "for their daughter/niece/whatever" was a typical occaision for rock stars in the 60s. Old people would want to have your autograph cos you "were famous" but they wouldn't admit it was for themselves.
    • "Black Sheik"- the same dude plays a sheik in the Monkees episode "Everywhere a Sheik, Sheik". Which c an also relate to HEAD's theme of parodying Hollywood and Hollywood stereotypes.
    • "Mike throws a fish at an Indian and kills him"- Not so much a symbol, but something that's really fucking hilarious.
    • "Coke Machine"- HEAD's sponsor, represents America's obsession with materialism and being manipulated by corporations.





      ( Some things never change... )