Film

Head

Name: Head
Genre: Comedy, Music
Released: 1968
Cast: Peter Tork, Davy Jones, Micky Dolenz, Michael Nesmith, Annette Funicello

*Head* is a 1968 fever dream that uses the Monkees as vessels for surreal comedy, musical numbers, and genuinely pointed anti-war satire. It's less a story than a cascade of sketches held together by vibes and ambition. Weird, funny, touching, and utterly of its moment—a genuine oddity that audiences still stumble onto and love.

TMDb rating

3.1

Should you watch it?

Watch it if you like anarchic, collage-style comedy where the jokes arrive faster than the plot can keep up, and you enjoy a 1960s pop band poking fun at its own manufactured image.

Skip it if you want a story that builds steadily toward something, since this runs as loose sketches and musical interludes that can feel scattered, and its satire is more bruising than cozy.

What it asks of you: Under ninety minutes, it asks you to stop hunting for a through-line and simply ride the sudden shifts in mood and style, which can feel either delightful or exhausting.

Not sure? Find tonight's pick in a minute.

If you liked this

A Hard Day's Night1964

The Beatles' film proved rock bands could anchor real cinema. It's playful, inventive, and uses music as genuine narrative language—the spiritual ancestor *Head* was clearly reaching toward.

But It's from the early 60s and shows its age visually. Some of the British humour lands softly by modern standards.

200 Motels1971

Frank Zappa's equally unhinged film about the absurdity of touring. It's bizarre, satirical, angry, and completely unafraid to confound its audience. A true kindred spirit in experimental rock cinema.

But It's aggressively weird with no narrative to hold onto. Zappa's sense of humour is very specific and sometimes mean-spirited.

Pennies from Heaven1981

Like *Head*, it weaves fantasy and reality through music, but with genuine emotional depth. Steve Martin is brilliant, and the tonal shifts between despair and musical colour are heartbreaking.

But It's darker and sadder than you might expect from the premise. Depression and infidelity are the actual story.

Not sure tonight? Get a pick in a minute, starting from Head

The wildcard

Something you would not have found on your own.

Magical Mystery Tour1967

Both are post-television films made by performers trying to prove artistic legitimacy through pure visual and musical invention. Both embrace chaos as form.

This TV special is *Head*'s closest cousin—a psychedelic, plotless journey through dream logic and colour that baffled people at the time. It's gorgeous, absurd, and proves the Beatles understood what the Monkees were attempting.

But There is no story. It's a sequence of sketches and songs that some viewers found boring even in 1967. No narrative payoff whatsoever.

Phantom of the Paradise1974

Brian De Palma's glorious rock opera is campy, bloody, theatrical, and completely committed to its own insanity. It has the same gleeful genre-mixing and musical ambition as *Head*.

But It's genuinely violent and crude. The tone is uneven deliberately, which works brilliantly but might feel scattered.

Zachariah1971

A genuinely strange rock Western that plays with form and genre as playfully as *Head*. Dreamy, funny, and filled with a band (Country Joe and the Fish) doing what the Monkees attempted.

But It's obscure for good reason—the ideas outpace the execution. Pacing is languid and the narrative barely exists.

Across the Universe2007

A Beatles jukebox musical that embraces the surreal and symbolic. Big, colourful, sincere, and genuinely weird in how it uses songs as story. Unashamed in its love of the source material.

But It's a jukebox film with a weak plot. The Beatles songs sometimes feel shoehorned, and the earnestness can feel overwrought.

8½1963

Fellini's masterpiece about artistic chaos and a man drowning in his own imagination. *Head* borrows its fractured structure and dream logic. It's about confusion, ego, and making art.

But It's three hours, in Italian, and demands patience. The narrative dissolves purposefully, which frustrates people wanting story.

Hair1979

Milos Forman's sprawling, theatrical musical about the counterculture. It has *Head*'s commitment to music and youth culture as genuine narrative substance, with actual emotional stakes.

But The plot is thin and the tone shifts wildly. Some dated attitudes about sexuality and identity haven't aged perfectly.

Performance.1970

A genuinely unsettling film about identity, power, and androgyny featuring Mick Jagger. Like *Head*, it uses music and performance to blur reality. Hypnotic and dangerous.

But It's sexually explicit and genuinely disturbing. The narrative is elusive and the atmosphere is claustrophobic and unpleasant.

Singin' in the Rain1952

Both use music not as interruption but as the primary narrative language. Both believe dance and song can say what dialogue cannot.

A musical where the story and songs genuinely interweave, and the performers' joy is infectious. Gene Kelly and Donald O'Connor prove that rock bands didn't invent the idea of using cinema for exuberance.

But It's from 1952. If you're expecting something edgy or dark, this is the opposite—pure confidence and charm.

The Committee1968

Both are 1968 films attempting to channel youth counterculture into cinema. *Head* does it with resources and charm; *The Committee* does it with rage and no budget. They're the same impulse in different registers.

A simultaneously released underground film that's a political fever dream—absurdist, anarchic, genuinely angry at the establishment. It's what *Head* might have been if it were made by actual rebels instead of a studio band.

But It's nearly unwatchable: grainy, intentionally incoherent, with terrible sound. The satire is blunt and the joke is often that there is no joke. Some will find it tedious rather than brave.