Shampoo

Movies 365: Day 27 – Shampoo

Shampoo is the long gestating passion project of it’s star Warren Beatty. Originally thought up by Beatty in the late sixties, Beatty had his friend Robert Towne (Chinatown) write the script, and like everything Towne ever wrote, and everything Beatty produced, it took a long while for Shampoo to make it to the screen.

Shampoo follows a day in the life of George Roundy (Beatty), a hair stylist who is attempting to open his own salon, though many of the husbands of his clients think he’s gay, Roundy is in fact quite the Lothario, with Jill (Goldie Hawn) his girlfriend at home, his mistress Jackie (Julie Christie), who’s also the mistress of Lester Karpf (Jack Warden), who’s also married to another of George’s conquests Felicia (Lee Grant). If it sounds confusing, it kind of is, but it’s also a lot of fun, Beatty is very good here as George, but it’s the supporting cast who really shines, especially Jack Warden. Hal Ashby directs everything well, not as much of a visual stylist as his New Hollywood peers, Ashby was obsessed with the editing of the picture, and it shows. The movie moves along quite well, and each transition is smooth. A fun, if somewhat antiquated film, Shampoo is definitely worth the watch.