Shampoo (1975)

☆ ☆ ½

Shampoo (1975) – H. Ashby

There’s a downbeat seventies feel to Shampoo, even as it seems to be a satire on the sexual mores of the Beverly Hills set.  Warren Beatty is the hairdresser who sleeps with all of his clients (“heads”) despite stringing along Goldie Hawn who really loves him (maybe).  But Beatty’s character is so empty we never get inside him, even as he can’t make up his mind about whether he should commit to Julie Christie, who enters back into his life as the mistress of the businessman husband (Jack Warner) of one of his clients (Best Supporting Oscar winner Lee Grant).  Beatty is so empty that he defeats the film’s attempt to make this a character study, although emptiness may be the focus of the screenplay (by Chinatown’s Robert Towne).  The action occurs on the night of Nixon’s election in 1968, sounding another bum note in the apparent tribute to hedonism (and narcissism) that was soon to come crashing down.  (And poor Julie Christie has a few crude scenes that just don’t feel right).  Still, that is one hell of a party (with Beatles, Hendrix, Buffalo Springfield soundtrack) they seemed to be having in 1968.  Unfortunately, no one here has a sense of what they really want and the film drifts as they attempt to find out.  I expected more from director Hal Ashby and this team.