CONTENT WARNING: This review, film and/or soundtrack contains themes of war, sexual expression, illicit drugs and racial inequality.
Musicals: some love them, some hate them. I can’t claim to be a big fan of musicals until we get to the specific category of old musicals. “Hair” would fall under this category.
“Hair” started as an off-Broadway musical in 1967 and moved to Broadway the following year. Later the musical was released on film in 1979 with the same title. This story is an anti-war drama with comedy sprinkled in and follows a good ole’ Oklahoma boy being shipped off to Vietnam as he spends his last couple days in New York City. There, he meets a group of four hippies: Berger, Jeannie, Hud and Woof. They turn everything upside down for him and change his perspective.
Between the well written and performed songs, each telling a very different story, there are real world problems and lessons sprinkled throughout. Themes ranging from anti-war politics, hippie culture, drug use, racial stereotypes, socioeconomic status, sexual freedom and interpersonal relationships are present and well elaborated.
The movie itself is rated PG, telling of the standards of the time. With all the drug use, nudity, sexual language and slurs, it is surprising but times have changed. While it can be understood that drug use and light nudity would have fallen under that category at the time, the slurs surprised me to fall under that category until I remembered that they didn’t used to be considered slurs or even really profanity. They were more so considered rude language, especially when they were only said by people who could say them in theory.
The movie itself is riddled with controversy, some of it still relevant to this date. One of the foremost controversial songs might be the “Donna” portion of “Donna / Hashish,” describing a 16-year-old virgin. Overall, I think this movie would be rated R in today’s rating system.
Music
“Hair” Original Soundtrack album cover
All throughout the movie, the musical choices highlighted strong vocals with long notes and vibrato. Additionally it can be noted that there is a commonality between many songs where the main singers would sing a line or a word and the company or ensemble would sing a list of related words. A good example of this would be “I’m Black / Ain’t Got No.” Another noteworthy quirk of the songs in this movie would be the melding of multiple songs back to back with smooth transitions.
Most of the songs have a late 60s feel with lots of upbeat, plucky bass and layering of various voices. Two wonderful examples of this might be “I Got Life” and the title dropping song “Hair.” The latter might even be familiar.
There is choreography throughout the movie often in a free body style movement. To me, this well characterizes the values and mentality of hippie culture. There’s even a couple numbers with specific modern dance and even interpretive implements, as seen in “3-5-0-0.”
Themes
The biggest, most predominant theme in this movie would be anti-Vietnam war. One of the earliest scenes is of one of the main characters burning his draft card. There is a continuous push from the hippies to the main character, Claude, to not go off to war. As seen in songs “Walking in Space” and “3-5-0-0”, there is a perspective of how horrible the war is not only on the American youth but especially on the Vietnamese people.
Racial equity and stereotypes are addressed in this film pretty heavily. As seen in “Colored Spade,” many of the slurs and disrespectful phrases used in reference to Black people are highlighted by the character Hud, a Black man. He is one of the hippies but we later are introduced to his ex-fiancée and mother of his child. She is seen with her hair straightened and pulled back. He seemingly abandoned her to pursue his hippie lifestyle. It is implied he was involved in a regular lifestyle, as characterized by her reaction to his hair in a full afro. At the end of the movie, she too has her hair out and natural.
Interracial relationships are discussed with Hud’s relationship with one of the hippies, Jeannie. She is a white woman in a non committal or unlabeled sexual relationship with Hud and Woof, another hippie in their group. Many of the dance duos throughout the film are interracial. There are even two numbers dedicated to the issue: “Black Boys” and “White Boys.”
The film has several scenes depicting drug use, both among rags and riches. The group of hippies do drugs with Claude when he asks what he should do during his stay in New York. A large group of hippies do LSD in the park later in the film, where Claude has a strange trip. Even the philanthropist debutant and main love interest, Sheila, is seen doing drugs with her friends before her parents’ big party.
The film does an excellent job of showing off who hippies really were: rebellious kids of wealthy, or semi wealthy, families. The unofficial leader of the small hippie group, Berger, in a last-shot effort to get some quick cash, goes home to his family, which reluctantly provides.
The film illustrates the practice of sexual freedom. The loose titles and varying sexual relationships among the group show how truly “make love, not war” was exercised. A scene at some point depicts Woof being analyzed by a mental health profession in a prison setting asking him if he is gay. His response is “Well, I wouldn’t kick Mick Jagger out of my bed, but uh, I’m not a homosexual, no.” I believe this shows off that there was a middle ground that wasn’t necessarily well accepted at the time.
Lastly, the film portrays how quickly people in that subculture were willing to adopt. The group took Claude in as one of their own, as well as Sheila and Hud’s ex-fiancée. The group even chose to drive all the way to the military base in Nevada on a whim and a stolen car just to surprise Claude.
I can say with full confidence that this film is probably one of my favorites. While the film is not lacking in saddening moments, controversiality, and explicit material, it is also full of love and life. I feel that this movie is an expression of pain and beauty. “Hair” is a movie I would easily recommend to anyone, even someone who doesn’t like musicals.
— dj dragonfly
