The Projector 6: Stars and Suds (Patreon)

by Keith Phipps

There are two ways of looking at Shampoo, neither of them necessarily wrong or incompatible. Los Angeles Times gossip columnist Joyce Haber, writing shortly after its February 1975 release, called it “welcome as a welcome mat because it carries no message except fun and fantasy.” A year later, writing in the same paper after Shampoo became a multiple Oscar nominee (and eventual winner, thanks to Lee Grant), Charles Champlin talked to Warren Beatty about its long gestation, its roots in the turmoil of the late '60s, and the many drafts he and Robert Towne — sometimes working separately — went through before it assumed its final form. The conversation suggested Beatty at least always thought the film was about something important, noting that it once included a “heavy-handed subplot set in Watts” and that he knew he had to return to it after Nixon won the presidency again in 1972.

So which is it?: Frothy sex farce or political commentary in comedic disguise? The film likes a why-not-both? approach, as we discuss in this week’s episode. That doesn’t make it unique but it does make it unusual. For as much as Shampoo has in common with Once Upon a Time in… Hollywood via its setting and underlying concerns they’re very different films. Shampoo strikes a tough balance and, honestly, it’s hard to think of too many films the play all that much like Shampoo. Can you? Feel free to send in suggestions at comments@nextpictureshow.net. (I’ve never seen the 1976 blaxploitation film Black Shampoo, so maybe that one? The presence of a chainsaw fight in the trailer suggests it’s a very different film, however.)

What else? Oh yeah, Succession is back. Look for a bonus episode about its second-season premiere later this week. Genevieve, Scott, and I had so much fun taping it we’re talking about revisiting it down the line. (Scott's also recapping it at Vulture.) We’re also considering a future pairing that sounds mindblowingly counterintuitive until you think about it. I won’t spoil it here (and we may not end up doing it, in which case I’ll spill the beans down the line).

Want stuff to read? Check this stuff out!:

At The Guardian, our own Scott Tobias wrote about The Abyss on its 30th anniversary.

The Once Upon a Time in… Hollywood commentary continues with a Vulture piece in which Jen Chaney suggests it has an unpleasant aftertaste.

Also at Vulture: Should there be an Oscars for stunts? Bilge Ebiri makes a convincing argument for why.

Is Brad Pitt a character actor cursed by leading man looks? Well, maybe “cursed” is the wrong word, but Buzzfeed’s Alison Wilmore explains why she thinks he’s an ace supporting player at heart.

See you next week!