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Shampoo



Shampoo gives us a day in the life of George, a Beverly Hills hairdresser and Lothario who runs around town on the eve of the 1968 presidential election trying to make heads or tails of his financial and romantic entanglements. His attempts to scrape together the money to open his own salon are continually sidetracked by the distractions presented by his lovers—played brilliantly by Goldie Hawn, Julie Christie, and Lee Grant (in an Oscar-winning performance). Star Warren Beatty dreamed up the project, cowrote the script with Robert Towne, and enlisted Hal Ashby as director, and the resulting carousel of doomed relationships is an essential seventies farce, a sharp look back at the sexual politics and self-absorption of the preceding decade.

SPECIAL FEATURES

• 4K digital restoration, with uncompressed monaural soundtrack on the Blu-ray
• Alternate 5.1 surround soundtrack, presented in DTS-HD Master Audio on the Blu-ray
• New conversation between critics Mark Harris and Frank Rich
• Excerpt from a 1998 appearance by producer, cowriter, and actor Warren Beatty on The South Bank Show
• Trailer
• PLUS: An essay by Rich

Very slim extras, but I guess without Criterion we'd be getting it via Twilight Time with even less

Biggest letdown ever! I think this is easily Ashby's best film.

I’m guessing Beatty nixed other extras.

Randall Maysin wrote: Mon Jul 16, 2018 8:10 pm I think this is easily Ashby's best film.

This movie will always be difficult to get good scholarship on because there’s strong opinions still held by some of the involved parties about whether this is Ashby’s film or Beatty’s. I’m so happy it’s coming, though!

Randall Maysin wrote: Mon Jul 16, 2018 8:10 pm Biggest letdown ever! I think this is easily Ashby's best film.

This one is neck-and-neck with The Last Detail as my favorite Ashby, even though Beatty is pretty much the auteur of the film. Disappointed as well that the extras are meager, but I imagine new interviews with surviving cast members would have been the only other route apart from the critical discussion.

Hasn't the old DVD been OOP for a while? At least there's that.

Actually, now that I've given it a second thought, an interview with screenwriter Robert Towne would have been very welcome. But like "Ribs" said above, anything that draws attention away from Beatty would probably not have gotten through. Note the carefully worded description "...enlisted Hal Ashby as director".

Surprised then, that Beatty didn't want to sit down for an interview.

Roger Ryan wrote: Mon Jul 16, 2018 8:18 pm

Randall Maysin wrote: Mon Jul 16, 2018 8:10 pm Biggest letdown ever! I think this is easily Ashby's best film.

This one is neck-and-neck with The Last Detail as my favorite Ashby, even though Beatty is pretty much the auteur of the film. Disappointed as well that the extras are meager, but I imagine new interviews with surviving cast members would have been the only other route apart from the critical discussion.

Being There and Harold and Maude are easily Ashby's best, but Last Detail is great as well. Any Ashby release is welcome though, love that guy

Ribs wrote: Mon Jul 16, 2018 8:15 pm This movie will always be difficult to get good scholarship on because there’s strong opinions still held by some of the involved parties about whether this is Ashby’s film or Beatty’s. I’m so happy it’s coming, though!

Can't they both be? Auteur theory doesn't mean there is only one author necessarily.

I mean, I basically think he has as much of a claim here as with Heaven Can Wait, where he was able to wrestle a shared credit out of it (and is basically unknown as a Buck Henry film). I like both of these filmmakers a tremendous deal, as I’ve discussed in the threads about their other movies, so I really see no reason to be possessive about it and think “it’s both of theirs” is the right approach. But neither of them saw/see it that way.

What a terrific announcement! I know this is a divisive film, but I think this is easily Ashby's best film. The special features do leave a lot to be desired though. I mean, one new interview and that's it? It's especially unfortunate considering how well regarded the film is in a decade full of classics. This is a film that is begging for an audio commentary, but I guess that's what the new discussion is for. I would have loved a Molly Haskell feature with her take on the sexual politics of the film. Honestly, they should hire her more as she's always informative, insightful and generally delightful.
I guess I shouldn't be that surprised though as Beatty has stated that he doesn't like participating in extras. Hawn doesn't seem interested in talking about her career and has never done special features as far I know. Hal Ashby is dead, so that's out. Julie Christie has done some interviews about her films though, so it's disappointing they couldn't get her to sit down for an interview. I've noticed that she tends to skip discussions of films she's done with her Beatty, maybe its due to the fact that they dated? At the very least Lee Grant could have participated considering she won an Oscar for this. You're telling me that they couldn't even manage to interview someone from the crew? Oh well, I guess I should just be happy with the new restoration.

It's all the more galling to realize that, not too long from now, we will probably live in a world where a "deluxe special edition" of John Schlesinger's smelly, pathetic compost heap of a film The Day of the Locust exists, while this sensational film gets next to nothing, LOL!

Aww, I like the Schlesinger which is really fascinating for the way it views the Sutherland character.

Yeah, I say bring on the "deluxe special edition" of Locust. It's flawed for sure, but Sutherland gives one of his best performances as does Burgess Meredith.

Randall Maysin wrote: Tue Jul 17, 2018 5:15 pm It's all the more galling to realize that, not too long from now, we will probably live in a world where a "deluxe special edition" of John Schlesinger's smelly, pathetic compost heap of a film The Day of the Locust exists, while this sensational film gets next to nothing, LOL!

I haven't seen in a while TDOTL but I fail to see how they're related in any way, besides I doubt it will come anytime soon considering it's from Paramount. On another note, it really is too bad that the special features turned out to be such duds. While there weren't much, at least I was expecting a case of less is more and unfortunately that doesn't seem to be the case.
Anyway, here's a terrific article on the making of the film and it sheds a light on why the people involved choose not to participate on the Criterion edition:

https://cinephiliabeyond.org/hal-ashbys ... innocence/

Very, very telling that they got Lee Grant to sit down for In the Heat of the Night but not this...

Telling of what? (real question, I don't understand the insinuation)

That either no one involved wanted to talk about this, or was allowed to by Beatty's vetting. There's no reason they would talk to Grant for that over this, her Oscar-winning role, unless this was off the table or removed by Beatty

Ah, yeah Beatty doing one over Cimino sounds about right.

Gerald Christie wrote: Sun Oct 14, 2018 3:22 pm Anyway, here's a terrific article on the making of the film and it sheds a light on why the people involved choose not to participate on the Criterion edition:

https://cinephiliabeyond.org/hal-ashbys ... innocence/

This is a really good (and long) read, thanks!

That was indeed a great read.