Shampoo
If it wasn't for the talent involved in this film – Warren Beatty, director Hal Ashby and screenwriter Robert Towne – I would never have considered watching it. Nothing about it appeals to me. The cover, the story, Warren Beatty in a puffy shirt and tight pants – it's all a big turn off really.
Shampoo is actually quite funny and well-written, with some great performances from Beatty, as well as the supporting cast of 'ladies': Julie Christie, Goldie Hawn and a young Carrie Fisher. However, it's not brilliant, and it really needed to be, for the reasons mentioned above.
It does aspire to something greater than the standard 'sex comedy'. There's a political backdrop to the main story, but it's more scenery than plot. In the second half, it becomes a bit Easy Rider in it's depiction of the cultural divide betwee the young and the old, but it’s fleeting. When I got to end, which was an unlikely one for such a film, I realised that I'd enjoyed it, but that was all, and that was probably the biggest disappointment of all.