Fifty years ago, Shampoo brought layers to its satirical story of a lothario hairdresser during the swinging ’60s. Director Hal Ashby’s comedy stars Warren Beatty as George, a playboy hairstylist juggling romances with girlfriend Jill (Goldie Hawn), ex Jackie (Julie Christie) and mistress Felicia (Lee Grant), all against the backdrop of the 1968 election of Richard Nixon as president. Also among the cast was Carrie Fisher, making her feature debut.
Beatty penned the script with screenwriter Robert Towne (Chinatown), and Hawn remembers the star talking her into playing Jill. “I told Warren, ‘I love the script, but I’m just not inspired that much about the character,’ ” Hawn tells THR. Shampoo became Hawn’s second of three movies opposite Beatty, and she came to appreciate that her character finally pushes George to shape up: “Oddly enough, I thought that Jill actually was the most heroic because she said things to George that he needed to hear.” Hawn, who was friendly with Beatty, Towne and Ashby, recalls all three offering notes to her during the shoot. “There was a lot of direction coming from everybody,” she recalls. “My response was, ‘OK, guys. I got it, I got it and I got it. But I need one voice.’ ”
Columbia premiered Shampoo on Feb. 11, 1975, just six months after Nixon resigned amid the Watergate scandal. The film was a major hit, earning $49 million ($288 million today) to rank as the year’s third-highest-grossing title, with Grant winning the Oscar for best supporting actress. In 2000, the AFI named the existential comedy one of the 100 funniest films. Says Hawn, “Shampoo is very emotional, hilariously funny, but also [asks,] ‘Who are we?’ ”
This story appeared in the Feb. 5 issue of The Hollywood Reporter magazine. Click here to subscribe.
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