"Great"

And so it begins, actually, the day before TCM's "31 Days of Oscars."  I'm talking about my review of 20 movies from the huge event (for those of us who love movies, it's a huge event).  So, actually the first movie I get to review from TCM actually isn't part of the 31 days, but it is part of AFI's comedy list (see earlier posts), so it counts for me.  A movie that takes the word "great" and turns its meaning upside-down.  I'm talking about the movie Shampoo.  

It seems apparent the type of character George Roundy (Warren Beatty) is going to be throughout the movie, with a married woman, Felicia Carp (Lee Grant) in his bed at the beginning and he has to go see his "girlfriend" Jill (Goldie Hawn) across town.  With a wonderful head of hair, George is a hairdresser to all kinds of women, well-to-do and the up-and-coming, and all of them want to sleep with him.  All George wants is his own hair salon...and women.  And it seems his ability to get his own salon will involve more than one female companion.

The only way it could get more difficult is the addition of another woman, which of course happens when Jackie Shawn (Julie Christie) enters the picture as Felicia's husband's mistress.  I know, and you thought George was the only sleazebag in the movie.  And it's not clear what is more important to George, the salon or sleeping with women.  With a very interesting couple scenes with Felicia's daughter (Carrie Fisher), George can't get much lower as a human being.

That's until Felicia and Jackie meet at an election night party (for Richard Nixon back in 1968) and the two women's looks at each other sends shivers down the spine (you know what I mean), but George's love for loving, he ends up screwing up all his relationships with women.  When he does figure out he wants to be with Jackie, she ultimately tells him he's too late, and he's left to himself as Jackie runs away with Felicia's ex-husband.  At the end, I'm not sure if I should feel sorry for him.  No, I don't feel sorry for him not getting the woman.  It doesn't seem possible to feel that way for George.  Actually I feel sorry for him because he's never going to find true love.  Whether or not Jackie was "the one," I'm not sure he would have stayed faithful to her.  There's nothing in this movie that makes me feel empathy for George.  But he'll most likely end up with a number of young and older women, and most likely one of them will have a significant other who doesn't take too kindly to George and will have him put away like a bad perm.

So this is not the comedy movie where you laugh at slapstick.  This is a movie that makes you think and chuckle at how absurd each person is in this complicated love triangle (rectangle? octagon?).  I'm glad to say I have seen this movie, but it's pretty certain that this will not be a movie added to the collection.  As much as I am jealous of Warren's hair, I will have to pass.  Even though the SO hasn't read this yet, I can already hear the sound of joy in her heart knowing that I won't be spending more money on DVDs.  I hope she's happy...

Well, I still have to tell you about a great purchase, and I also have two movies to review (it was the SO's weekend, so of course it's gotta be twice the torture...pleasure for movie viewing).  Later!