Sandoval reports that the desert sequences for the movie were filmed during a three-day location shoot - March 3 - 5 1968 - in Palm Springs, California and that, in addition to the Monkees themselves, there was a '110-member film crew' (although this number must surely have included the extra actors required for the various scenes - including the entire Italian, Indian and Arab armies, the factory boss and his heavies, Victor Mature, etc - as well as explosives experts, helicopter-pilots, horse-handlers, tank drivers, stunt men, etc).

A comically gushing puff piece written during the making of the movie ('What a Crazy Film', Monkees Monthly, Page 23) gives the same estimate of crewmembers, while Davy Jones mentions that the location was previously used for the chase scene in It's A Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World (1963).

Sandoval also notes that most of the solo-Micky scenarios were executed on Day 2 of the shoot and as such he was the only Monkee required 'on-set'.

	#8888 CHANGES Revised Page January 24, 1968 34 130 CONTINUED: 130         MICKY (V.O.)         (continuing) I felt I couldn't go on. MICKY I can't. I can't go on. He lurches to his feet.         MICKY (V.O.) But something kept telling me I must. You must... You must... MICKY I must... CUT TO: 131 ANGLE - MICKY He staggers toward the CAMERA grasping and digging into his pockets. He puts his hand toward the unseen Coke Machine. We hear the chunk of the coin return. 131 132 INSERT FLASHING SIGN Empty flashes on the screen. Micky attacks the machine in a frenzy of kicks, shoves, pinches, punches and bites. He rests and does it again and then collapses, exhausted. 132 MICKY I quit...I quit! I QUIT!         MICKY (V.O.) Pathetic... MICKY I've had it...

Amusing to note that the script calls for Micky to reprise his attack on the Coke machine after a quick rest. In the event, this wasn't used, the edited sequence eventually comprising of a quite complex series of jump-cuts from several angles (including a nice near-strobe flashing effect of the 'Empty' sign as Micky pummels the coin-return slot in anger).

The Monkees were no strangers to product placement, their TV shows having been sponsored by Kellogs and Yardley of London (and later Kool-Aid). One may perhaps assume that Micky's violent attack on a stubborn Coke machine - while an advertising jingle plays sweetly over the soundtrack - might be a send up of such. Yet no mentioned is made at script stage of the jingle and it appears to have been included almost as an afterthought.

'Things Go Better With Coke'. had been a massive, long-running campaign (from 1965 to 1969, their biggest prior to the now-better-remembered 'It's The Real Thing') which had enlisted pop performers of the day, including the likes of The Moody Blues and The Bee Gees (not to mention Monkees song-contributors Boyce & Hart and Neil Diamond) to contribute short youth-friendly songs, all featuring the campaign's by-line somewhere in the lyrics (as per The Who's The Who Sell Out (1967) which includes their own version on the expanded edition of the CD). A rocked-up, surfin' version of the actual composition used in Head was performed by Jan and Dean as part of the same campaign.

It isn't clear whether the female-sung version of the jingle used in Head was specially arranged for the film or was simply a generic recording provided by Coca Cola themselves (some have suggested that Coca Cola money partly financed the production, although this hasn't been confirmed). However, despite its apparent 11th hour placement in this scene, it's likely that just such a jingle was intended for a sequence later in the script where Davy confronts the same Coke machine - a scene which ends with something akin to a much more traditional 'pack shot' (see 'Changes' - Page 81, Shot 260).

Production photos: Micky in the desert

During an interview with the NME, published on April 13 1968, Mike Nesmith described the Coke machine scene in rather more elaborate detail than it appears in the film (or indeed this version of the script), suggesting that before he discovers the machine is empty, Micky has problems with a bent coin. It's possible that something akin to this was in place by the time of the filming as it seems an odd thing to pull out of mid-air. On the other hand, during the same interview Nesmith also intimated that it was Davy rather than Peter who'd be body-slammed by Ray Nitschke during the War sequence and that the Black Sheik (see below) would be astride a camel rather than a horse. It has been suggested that the idea for the latter scene was actually contributed by Nesmith himself.

	#8888 CHANGES Revised Page January 24, 1968 35 132 CONTINUED: 132         MICKY (V.O.) It's...it's pitiful... MICKY Shut up!         MICKY (V.O.) You shut up! MICKY You shut up!         MICKY (V.O.) You! MICKY No, You! You! You shut up!         MICKY (V.O.) O.K. I will. A long pause.         MICKY (V.O.) Quiet isn't it, George Michael Dolenz? MICKY Huh? What? 133 OMITTED 133 134 ANOTHER ANGLE - MICKY CAMERA Begins to rise and goes straight up until Micky is just a dot in the midst of the desert expanse. 134         MICKY (V.O.)         (huge reverb) I said...quiet isn't it George Michael Dolenz?

Shot 132 alternates between two different angles of Micky - with one seemingly representing the POV of his voiceover. The exchange goes on for a bit longer than is scripted and culminates (with a sudden jump-cut to a now-standing Micky) with a ridiculously yelled "Shutupshutupshutupyou!" before the voiceover decides to take this advice.

	Production photo - Micky in the desert

The 'long pause' is yet another angle - of Micky down on his knees again, looking initially pleased with himself for having won the argument with his voiceover. This soon turns to worry and panic as the silence hits him - "I... I can't hear... I'm deaf! Come back! I've gone..." - and eventually despair as he slumps to the ground, a beaten man.

The subsequent Quiet isn't it..." voiceover is moved from Shot 132 to Shot 134, occurring as the camera rises above the scene (following a dramatic fanfare from Ken Thorne). Micky doesn't answer. Both lines feature the 'huge reverb'.

At some point during the writing of 'Changes', Nicholson and Rafelson evidently changed their mind as to who or what should be providing the voiceover for the final couple of lines. Although on this page it's clearly namechecked as a continuation of Micky's own self-narrative, in Head the lines aren't delivered by Micky but by a much deeper-voiced actor.

Moreover, the descriptions accompanying a 'reprise' of the scene on Page 87 (in a sequence sadly cut from Head which depicts Mike Nesmith's own dealings with the Coke machine), the voiceover is highlighted as 'God'.

What should perhaps be noted however is that Page 87 isn't marked as 'Revised', suggesting that 'God' rather than Micky's voiceover may have been part of an earlier draft of Page 35 as well. It's also plausible that the earlier draft didn't feature Micky's argument with his voiceover at all and simply depicted his defeat in the face of the Coke machine followed by God's voice taunting him. Note the 'omitted' Shot 133, which quite possibly introduced 'God' to the action before he got cuckolded by Micky's voiceover.

If so then the addition of this extra dialogue is responsible for the need to add an extra page - Page 35A, below - before we return to the earlier draft on Page 36.

	#8888 CHANGES Added Page January 24, 1968 35A 134 CONTINUED: 134 As the CAMERA holds and echos are dying out, WE HEAR faint HOOF BEATS and a rapidly moving plume of dust enters from the right side of the frame... 135 DESERT ANGLE In a LONG TELEPHOTO ANGLE, we watch a black garbed Arabian 135

The helicopter-filmed pull-back of the scene is particularly impressive here, Shot 134 executed perfectly. This may be a good time to note that two helicopters were evidently used during the Palm Springs shoot - as can be seen later in Head where one is utilised to film the other (which is carrying the black box).

	#8888 36 135 CONTINUED: 135 HORSEMAN drive his steed across the expanse of dunes to a halt, directly in front of Micky. (There is no coke machine) 136 ANGLE - HORSEMAN AND MICKY The arab quiets his steaming mount, then looks for a moment at the agog Micky. Then, as he motions him over to him: 136 ARAB Pst! Micky moves close. The Arab motions still closer. Micky now stands at the man's stirrups and strains upward to hear. ARAB Pst! And he drives his horse off into the desert, leaving a cloud of dust which grows into a small sand storm, behind him. We HEAR his receeding [sic] hoofbeats mingle with the whistling SOUND of the wind until they have faded out of earshot. Then we HEAR coming towards us from the same prospective sound direction a clammering motor SOUND which builds ominously until from the dust emerges a huge old World War II tank. 137 ANGLE - TANK It creaks to a rusty halt and then shudders off in front of Micky. After a pause, the hatch cover creaks up and out comes a dusty ITALIAN TANK COMMANDER. The minute he sees Micky, he bursts into wild gesticulation and shouts of laughter and joy and leaps from the tank. The CREW emerges, smiling and happy behind him. He crosses to Micky, shouting in Italian something not unlike: 137 COMMANDER Friend, at last we found you. He hands Micky his gun and whatever else and kisses him on each cheek. COMMANDER         (continuing) We surrender. It is an honor. At last, come on, men. The crew has by now assembled and thrown their arms at Micky's feet. The Commander puts his hands behind his head POW style, and marches off into the dust and is followed by his crew, who are now followed by the entire limping and bedraggled Italian infantry who litter the ground as they pass by, throwing down their arms at the feet of the begogged Micky. CAMERA follows the last man as he disappears into the dust cloud. Again, we listen as the thunderous tramping of feet recedes into the distance and again silence falls.

	William Bagdad in 'Everywhere A Sheik Sheik'

The Arabian Horseman is played by William Bagdad and listed in the Head credits as 'Black Sheik'. As mentioned before, Bagdad had also appeared in the Season 2 Monkees episode 'Everywhere A Sheik Sheik' playing a similar role - including a facial scar, albeit on the opposite cheek.

As well as an alternate spelling of 'Psst!', there's no mention in the script of the word being subtitled...

The scene will be back-referenced twice in 'Changes' - although both of these will end up being cut from the finished film. On both occasions, 'Psst.' is spelt as it is in Head.

There's a slight possibility that the scene references a famous Clairol product - Pssst spray-on shampoo (ads for which had been running during showings of The Monkees in 1968).

	Aerial shot from 'NY Action'

Quite why Shot 135 suddenly decides there is 'no Coke machine' is unclear - unless they'd temporarily decided that the machine was some kind of mirage. In the event, the way the shot is edited doesn't expressly show the machine during the Black Sheik's approach - although an unused section of the first helicopter shot as featured in 'NY Action' (the longest unbroken clip in that trailer, running at a full three and a half seconds) shows that it's still there - and also shows Micky staggering to his feet as his tormenter draws near.

Several other offcuts from the sequence are also featured in the trailer, including a few bits of the Black Sheik emerging over the dune and coming to rest beside Micky.

Part of the beginning of Shot 137 - showing the tank emerging over the sand dune - was snipped, visually reversed and used for the 'reprise' of the desert scene towards the end of the movie (see 'Changes' - Page 93, Shot 292).

Incidentally, Micky's reaction to the arrival of the tank coincides with the first reel-change in cinematic prints of Head. Evidently the reel-change markers (ie the small circles which appear in the top right-hand corner of the screen as a cue for the projectionist) are also present on the original negative - which accounts for Criterion's decision to zoom in during those shots for the Blu-ray edition...

Rhino VHS		Rhino DVD		Criterion Blu ray

We'll probably add a standalone differences-between-the-various-editions page at some stage. This is just to note that even Criterion can take certain liberties with the source material when they feel it necessary...

	Vito Scotti and Micky Dolenz in 'The Case Of The Missing Monkee'

The Italian Commander - listed in the Head credits as 'I. Vitteloni', an amusing reference to Federico Fellini's I Vitteloni (1953) - is played by Vito Scotti. Scotti had also previously appeared in a Monkees episode - 'The Case Of The Missing Monkee' (NBC, January 9 1967) as 'Dr Marcovitch'

The surrender scenario was built upon by the time of the shoot - with the Italian Commander's benign chattery explanation of the situation in his mother tongue falling to make much impression. Eventually he hits upon a solution, places his gun in Micky's hand, raises his hands and says, happily, "Surr-ender!" (before cautiously pushing the barrel of the gun away from him - "Oh ah... boom boom!").

Whereas the Criterion subtitles simply describe the commander's excitable witterings as '[Continues In Italian]', the English subtitles on the Rhino DVD edition actually make a decent stab at transcribing it. So, if you've ever wondered, here's that transcription and a basic Google Translation:

COMMANDER Americano?		COMMANDER American?
MICKY What?		MICKY What?
COMMANDER Ma sei Americano?		COMMANDER But you're American?
MICKY Americano.		MICKY American.
COMMANDER Oh, finalmente! Esco. Aspetta un minuto, eh? Aspetta. Che piacere! Accidenti! (leaps from tank, approaches Micky) Americano, eh? (claps, embraces him) Che piacere che ti ho trovato! Senti un po', noi arrendiamo, perché sotto queste circostanze... Noi ci arrendiamo. Arrendere. Io arrendo. (places gun in Micky's hand, raises arms aloft) Surrender?		COMMANDER Oh, finally! Esco. Wait a minute, eh? Wait. What a pleasure! Damn! (leaps from tank, approaches Micky) American, eh? (claps, embraces him) What a pleasure that I found you! Look here, 'we give up, because, under these circumstances ... We give up. Surrender. I give up. (places gun in Micky's hand, raises arms aloft) Surrender?

Production photos taken at Palm Springs during the tank scene...

All this occurs before the crew reveal themselves. Contrary to the script they're never seen emerging from the tank but simply walk into shot from beside it.

There are probably no more than twelve or so extras representing the crew and the 'entire limping and bedraggled Italian infantry' but a neat bit of creative editing between multiple takes from different angles makes it look like hundreds. A delightful patriotic march from Ken Thorne - which sounds like he was channeling some kind of John Wayne movie score - accompanies their collective surrender.

	#8888 37 138 ANGLE - DESERT Micky now stands amid a huge pile of arms, etc. facing the imposing fascade of the tank. He moves tentatively toward it, his footsteps now magnified by the eery silence which has fallen over the desert since the wind and sandstorm seems to have been taken along by the Italian army. 138 139 ANGLE - TANK Micky slowly clanks and clongs to the hatch and enters. 139 CUT TO: INT. TANK - DAY 140 Micky enters and begins to poke around, puts on ear phones, sits in the gun turret seat. He pushes a button and the turret begins to revolve and of course, Micky who is seated in the gunners seat, revolves with it. The revolving mechanism makes a high metallic whine as it turns... 140 CUT TO: EXT. TANK - DAY 141 As the sound continues and the cannon barrel slowly swings directly into camera and stops. 141 CUT TO: INT. TANK - DAY 142 Micky looks around the turret and as he has been doing, reaches out to touch something. 142 CUT TO: 143 FLASH ANGLE Cannon booms! 143 CUT TO: 144 FLASH ANGLE Coke machine is blown up...to bits. 144 CUT TO: 145 ANGLE - MICKY Close on beaming Micky 145 POP TO:

Note that Shots 140 and 142 seem to call for an interior view of Micky controlling the tank. If such shots were ever attempted - and these would have probably been planned for a studio date anyway, with a purpose-bult tank 'interior' built at Columbia studios - then they didn't make it to the edit, which instead opts for a simpler exterior view of Micky operating the tank - with the cameraman perched precariously atop the gun turret - as production photos of the session reveal!

Production photos - filming the tank scene

The Coca Cola machine isn't the only thing being blown up for Shot 144. The explosion comprises of two 'angles' of the detonation - a close-up and a wide shot in quick succession. However, closer examination reveals these to be the exact same shot: the close-up is actually a hard-matte of a small area of the wide shot. The composition of 'new shots' by zooming in on smaller sections of the action occurs frequently throughout Head. In terms of the desert sequences, most of these are detectable by the presence of an odd circular shading around the edge of the picture - more visible in 'full frame' editions, but not entirely absent from the letterboxed version).

A genuine alternate angle of the explosion was filmed however, and can be seen when the Coke machine scenes are revisited towards the end of the film (See 'Changes' - Page 93 Shot 296). The latter comprises of three shots: the close-up hard-matte as before; an alternate angle of the detonation (with four dummies of the Arabs placed in dangerously close proximity); and what appears to be a shot of a far-less life-threatening smoke-bomb exploding (while the supposed debris from the machine is dropped from above and the actual Arabs run into view bemoaning the loss of their soft drink dispenser).

The Monkees - Head - 'Changes'

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