SHAMPOO (1975)

Los Angeles, 1968. Beverly Hills hairdresser George Roundy (Warren Beatty) has dreams of opening his own salon, but doesn't have the money. So, in order to raise the funds, he seduces a client (Lee Grant) and together, they try to convince her wealthy husband (Jack Warden) to finance George's salon. That's unethical as fuck (especially since George has a girlfriend of his own, Goldie Hawn, plus an ex that he’s still sleeping with, Julie Christie), but it has a good chance of working...if George can keep his dong in his britches. Unfortunately, George's sex drive is so out of control that he cannot help but to get in his own way.

As far as pre-RACQUET clones go, SHAMPOO is a good film. Strong acting by an impressive cast, quick pace, awesome fashions, interesting characters, a few funny moments, beautiful Los Angeles locations and some really great music during the party scene that fit absolutely perfect (especially the Buffalo Springfield song).

One thing that did go over my simple (yet still incredibly handsome) brain was all of the political themes and stuff going on in the background. Multiple times throughout the film there's a television featuring coverage of Richard Nixon's election. I don't know what the point of that was or why the film was set in 1968 instead of 1975, but even without understanding that extra layer of the story, I still enjoyed it. Maybe it has something to do with sexual revolution? And speaking of sex…I was surprised by the lack of sex in the film. Yeah, there’s sex talk and implied sex scenes, but SHAMPOO is much tamer than I expected it to be. I’m curious if SHAMPOO was considered risque or controversial when it came out?

Anyway, SHAMPOO is a fun film and worth checking out.  I am a little confused with Lee Grant winning the Best Supporting Actress Oscar for her role in this film.  I mean, she's definitely good, but it didn't stand out to me as award worthy.

HEAVEN CAN WAIT (1978)

Los Angeles, California 1978. Due to a Heavenly boner, professional football player Warren Beatty’s soul is mistakenly removed from his body nearly 50 years before he is supposed to die. By the time the blunder is discovered Beatty’s body has been cremated. A representative from Heaven, James Mason, tells Beatty that his soul can be placed into the body of somebody that is about to die. Mason and Beatty, now invisible, journey back to Los Angeles where a wealthy industrialist has been drugged and left to drown in his bathtub by his cheating wife, Dyan Cannon, and his evil secretary Charles Grodin. So, while the millionaires soul leaves the body (to be tortured forever in the fiery pits of Hell, I assume), Beatty’s soul slithers in (via the butt?) and takes over. Anybody with an I.Q. over 17 would naturally get rid of the people who literally just murdered the former resident of this body, but nope, not Beatty. Instead, he befriends Grodin and spends his time reading business reports while the dastardly duo continue trying to kill him!

The older (and more attractive) I get, the more I find myself absolutely fascinated with 1970's Cinema.  I don't know exactly what it is, but there's just something so unique about the films of that era.  For example, HEAVEN CANNOT WAIT is not particularly good.  In fact, the story is dumb, the direction is average and it's not even an attractive movie to look at (example: Heaven is just an empty soundstage filled with fog), but yet...it was nominated for nine Academy Awards, including Best Picture!  It even won for Best Art Direction-Set Decoration.  Which doesn't even make sense, cause it was hard for me to even take screenshots for this review due to the fact that the entire film was so drab looking.  There were zero visually standout moments.  (And don't even get me started on the fact HEAVEN CAN WAIT beat out Woody Allen's gorgeous INTERIORS in that category.)

Anyway, even though HEAVEN CAN WAIT is not a great movie and the story is just a series of plot holes and it probably didn't deserve even one Oscar nomination let alone nine...I still enjoyed it.  Warren Beatty is charming, the comedy is so unfunny that it's kinda amusing, impressive cast, completely illogical romance story.  Worth checking out, but it could definitely be remade into something better.