Shampoo [DVD]

Shampoo was billed as a sex comedy when it was first released in 1975, cashing in on the priapic reputation of its leading man and producer Warren Beatty. More than a quarter of a century on, that tag looks somewhat inadequate. Against a background of aimless bed-hopping and power-broking, Shampoo satirises the cultural and political wasteland of late-1960s Beverley Hills society. Ladies who lunch are married to ambitious, unfaithful husbands with mistresses; their daughters are dysfunctional; and the mistresses spend more time with their dogs than their lovers. George, the philandering hairdresser, is the common denominator who services them all. But he has private ambitions and is hustling for investment in his own salon. Beatty's restless performance as the man who can't say "no" is intriguing, waking up suddenly and too late to the chaos and vapidity of his life.

The humour is bleak, sharpened by the background of Nixon's ascent to the White House: Shampoo is a cynical by-product of the Watergate scandal. There are good performances from Julie Christie and Goldie Hawn as two of George's leading conquests, and from a pre-Star Wars Carrie Fisher as the teenager who tries to seduce him. But Lee Grant garnered the awards as the embittered wife who finally calls "time".

On the DVD: Shampoo is presented in 1:85.1 anamorphic widescreen, replicating the glossy production values of the original theatrical experience. The mono Dolby Digital 5.1 soundtrack is well balanced. There are no extras apart from standard subtitles. --Piers Ford

Features: none
Languages in Dolby Digital Mono: English, French, German, Italian, Spanish
Subtitles (Movie Only): Arabic, Bulgarian, Czech, Czech, Danish, Dutch, English, Finnish, French, German, Greek, Hebrew, Hindi, Hungarian, Icelandic, Italian, Norwegian, Polish, Portuguese, Spanish, Swedish, Turkish
Widescreen 1:85.1

Shampoo is a racy, star-studded bedroom farce set in the decadent, sexually liberated Los Angeles of the late 1960s. Written by Warren Beatty and Robert Towne and directed by Hal Ashby, the film was nominated for four Academy Awards and has been chosen as one of the American Film Institute's 100 Funniest Movies.

George (Beatty) is one of LA's most desirable men, a Beverly Hills Hairdresser who makes all his famous clients look and feel better than ever. Encouraged by his girlfriend Jill (Goldie Hawn) to open his own salon, George approaches conservative businessman Lester (Jack Warden) for financing. Unbeknownst to Lester, George is sleeping with his wife (Lee Grant), his mistress (Julie Christie) and his teenage daughter (Carrie Fisher). Can George resist temptation and settle down with Jill or will he get tangled up in even more scandalous affairs?