Ember's analysis
- Pacing
- Brisk
- Intensity
- Strong
- Complexity
- Layered
- Violence
- Mild
- surreal
- psychedelic
- irreverent
- counterculture film night
- classic rock movie night
What critics said
Critics broadly recognized the film's bold anti-sitcom experimentation and praised its willingness to reject a conventional storyline, though many found its chaotic nonsense alienating and inaccessible.
What sets it apart
May contain story progression spoilers
The Monkees disrupt their sitcom image through absurd vignettes, confrontational behavior, and direct resistance to the entertainment machinery surrounding them.
The film moves through wild west, desert war, Confederate war, science fiction, and musical sequences without settling into a firm storyline.
The big black box repeatedly symbolizes the group's imprisonment by social and entertainment forces.
The film's surreal vignettes, discontinuous transitions, and deliberately nonsensical action create a hallucinatory counterculture atmosphere.
Films like Head, and why
The Beatles: Yellow Submarine
surreal musical comedy, countercultural satire, and anti-establishment energy
The Trip
psychedelic pop music, fragmented storytelling, and self-conscious celebrity satire
Zabriskie Point
irreverent rock musical style, New Hollywood experimentation, and social commentary
The Rocky Horror Picture Show
absurdist comedy, musical performance, and an entertainment-industry critique
Movie Details
- Director
- Bob Rafelson
- Release Date
- 1968-11-06
- Runtime
- 86 min
- Rating
- 6.2 / 10 (108)
Cast
- Peter Tork
- Davy Jones
- Micky Dolenz
- Michael Nesmith
- Annette Funicello
- Timothy Carey
- Logan Ramsey
- Vito Scotti
- Charles Macaulay
- T.C. Jones
Where to watch in United States
- Streaming
- fuboTV, Criterion Channel
Streaming options come from TMDB and change over time.
Common questions
- What is Head about?
- The Monkees turn a surreal rock spectacle into a rebellious attack on manufactured fame, genre convention, and the cages of show business.
- What is Head like to watch?
- Ember's analysis rates the pacing of Head as brisk, its intensity as strong and its storytelling as layered.
- Is Head violent?
- Only mildly. Ember rates the violence in Head as mild.
- What did critics think of Head?
- Critics broadly recognized the film's bold anti-sitcom experimentation and praised its willingness to reject a conventional storyline, though many found its chaotic nonsense alienating and inaccessible.
- Which films are like Head?
- Films with a similar feel include The Beatles: Yellow Submarine, The Trip, Zabriskie Point, and The Rocky Horror Picture Show.
- How long is Head?
- Head runs 86 minutes.
- Where can I watch Head?
- In United States, Head streams on fuboTV, Criterion Channel.
