Shampoo (1975)

Overview

Shampoo is one of the quintessential American films of the 1970s—a satirical, sexually charged character study wrapped in political subtext and social critique. Directed by Hal Ashby (Harold and Maude, Being There) and co-written by star Warren Beatty and legendary screenwriter Robert Towne (Chinatown), the film takes place on the eve of the 1968 presidential election, using the personal exploits of a Los Angeles hairdresser to comment on sexual politics, identity, hypocrisy, and the fading illusions of the 1960s.

At once farcical and melancholic, Shampoo works both as a sharp comedy of manners and a portrait of cultural disillusionment.

Plot Summary

The story unfolds over the course of a single day—November 5, 1968. George Roundy (Warren Beatty) is a successful but frustrated Beverly Hills hairdresser who’s sleeping with several of his female clients. His dream is to open his own salon, but his inability to commit, both professionally and personally, keeps him adrift.

George juggles relationships with his current girlfriend Jill (Goldie Hawn), his ex-lover Jackie (Julie Christie), and a client, Felicia (Lee Grant), who is married to a powerful businessman, Lester (Jack Warden). George also ends up entangled with Felicia’s daughter, Lorna (played by a teenage Carrie Fisher in her film debut).

As election night unfolds, George’s tangled web of relationships begins to unravel, revealing his essential emptiness and confusion. The film ends on a note of quiet devastation as the personal fallout mirrors the political turning point of Nixon’s election—marking the end of the liberal dream and the rise of a more cynical era.

Themes

Sex and Power

Shampoo uses George’s sexual charisma to explore power dynamics between men and women, but it does so with a keen sense of irony. Though George is surrounded by women and sex, he has little control over his life. His allure is both his gift and his curse, and the film ultimately reveals his promiscuity as a symptom of existential drift rather than genuine satisfaction.

Identity and Image

The choice to centre the film on a hairdresser—a person whose job is to shape appearances—becomes metaphorically potent. George is constantly shaping the way others look and feel, but he’s unable to shape his own path. He is a man who has mistaken surface for substance, charm for depth, sex for love.

Political and Social Change

Set during Nixon’s election but released in the aftermath of Watergate, Shampoo is deeply political without ever being explicitly about politics. The juxtaposition of George’s personal chaos with Nixon’s rise captures a moment of cultural reckoning. The free love ethos of the '60s is crumbling, and a more conservative, self-interested world is about to take over. The film's subtle commentary on the death of idealism makes it a poignant time capsule.

Performances

Warren Beatty delivers one of his most iconic performances. His George is charming but hollow, driven but aimless. Beatty’s performance balances vanity and vulnerability, embodying a man who is desirable to everyone but true to no one—not even himself.

Julie Christie, in her second collaboration with Beatty (after McCabe & Mrs. Miller), brings a haunting, icy grace to Jackie. Her character is a mirror to George—beautiful, elusive, and ultimately more emotionally self-aware.

Goldie Hawn gives a quietly heart breaking performance as Jill, the woman who sees through George’s charm but wants to believe in him anyway.

Lee Grant (who won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for this role) plays Felicia with sharp comedic timing and sad sophistication.

Jack Warden is excellent as Lester, the unknowing (or perhaps wilfully ignorant) cuckold and political symbol of the new conservative order.

Carrie Fisher, in her first screen role, delivers a sharp, precocious performance with memorable bite.

Direction and Style

Hal Ashby directs the film with a deft touch, blending farce with realism. The pacing is deliberate, almost leisurely, but it’s filled with tension beneath the surface. The cinematography by László Kovács captures 1970s Los Angeles with sun-drenched beauty and emotional detachment, emphasizing the gap between the characters’ glamorous exteriors and their internal voids.

Ashby’s background as an editor (he won an Oscar for In the Heat of the Night) shows in the film’s rhythm—scenes cut together with subtle precision, allowing the comedy and melancholy to coexist without ever tipping into melodrama.

Cultural Impact and Legacy

When Shampoo was released, it was both a commercial hit and a critical success. It captured the zeitgeist of the mid-'70s, when America was reassessing its values in the wake of the Vietnam War, the sexual revolution, and political disillusionment. It remains one of the best films at diagnosing the end of the 1960s dream without resorting to overt moralizing.

In retrospect, it’s clear that Shampoo is not just about a man with too many women—it’s about a man who is out of time, caught between liberation and conformity, freedom and emptiness. It’s also one of the few films to genuinely critique masculinity from within, showing how the very traits that make George seductive also make him miserable.

Conclusion

Shampoo is a razor-sharp, melancholic comedy that uses sex, style, and satire to reflect the social and political anxieties of a generation in transition. It's funny, sexy, sad, and smart—anchored by one of Warren Beatty’s best performances and guided by Hal Ashby's patient, observational direction.

Far from being just a period piece, Shampoo remains resonant today in its exploration of identity, power, and the illusion of having it all.