# Shampoo (film)
**Shampoo** is a 1975 American satirical sex farce directed by [Hal Ashby](https://www.edgepedia.org/hal-ashby), written by [Warren Beatty](https://www.edgepedia.org/warren-beatty) and [Robert Towne](https://www.edgepedia.org/robert-towne), and produced by Beatty, who stars as George Roundy, a Beverly Hills hairdresser whose romantic entanglements collide on the eve of the 1968 United States presidential election.[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/55477-SHAMPOO) • [2](https://www.criterion.com/films/28821-shampoo) The film was nominated for four Academy Awards, with Lee Grant winning Best Supporting Actress, and was chosen as one of the American Film Institute's 100 Funniest Movies.[3](https://www.sonypictures.com/movies/shampoo)
| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Release | February 1975; New York opening 11 February 1975; distributed by Columbia[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/55477-SHAMPOO) |
| Running time / rating | 112 minutes; MPAA rating R[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/55477-SHAMPOO) |
| Setting | November 4, 1968, election eve, in Beverly Hills and Los Angeles[4](https://www.criterion.com/current/posts/5983-shampoo-first-as-farce) |
| Principal cast | Warren Beatty (George), Julie Christie (Jackie), Goldie Hawn (Jill), Lee Grant (Felicia), Jack Warden (Lester), Carrie Fisher (Lorna)[2](https://www.criterion.com/films/28821-shampoo) |
| Key crew | Director Hal Ashby; screenplay Beatty and Towne; cinematography László Kovács; music Paul Simon; editing Robert C. Jones[2](https://www.criterion.com/films/28821-shampoo) |
| Awards | Four Academy Award nominations; Lee Grant won Best Supporting Actress; Jack Warden nominated for Best Supporting Actor[3](https://www.sonypictures.com/movies/shampoo) • [5](https://www.criterion.com/current/posts/925-shampoo) |
| Critical scores | Metascore 65 (generally favorable); Rotten Tomatoes 75% from 107 reviews[6](https://www.metacritic.com/movie/shampoo/critic-reviews/) • [7](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/shampoo) |
## Spoilers
### Plot and setting
The story unfolds over roughly twenty-four hours beginning on November 4, 1968, the day before the presidential election between [Richard Nixon](https://www.edgepedia.org/richard-nixon), Hubert Humphrey, and [George Wallace](https://www.edgepedia.org/george-wallace).[4](https://www.criterion.com/current/posts/5983-shampoo-first-as-farce) • [8](https://www.framerated.co.uk/shampoo-1975/) George Roundy, a promiscuous Beverly Hills hairdresser who wants to open a salon of his own, spends the day cutting hair and shuttling between lovers: his girlfriend Jill ([Goldie Hawn](https://www.edgepedia.org/goldie-hawn)), his former girlfriend Jackie (Julie Christie), his wealthy client Felicia (Lee Grant), and Felicia's teenage daughter Lorna (Carrie Fisher).[2](https://www.criterion.com/films/28821-shampoo) • [9](https://cravedfw.com/2025/08/20/retro-film-review-shampoo-1975/) All three of the last are connected to Lester (Jack Warden), a conservative businessman whom George approaches for financing, and who is himself keeping Jackie.[3](https://www.sonypictures.com/movies/shampoo) • [10](https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/shampoo-1975)
The farcical payoff comes at a black-tie election-night dinner for Republican donors at the Bistro restaurant, where George and several of his lovers collide.[4](https://www.criterion.com/current/posts/5983-shampoo-first-as-farce) The film ends with George alone on a hill overlooking Beverly Hills as Jackie recedes from his life, while Nixon's victory speech plays in the background.[10](https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/shampoo-1975) • [11](https://watch.afi.com/movie/shampoo)
## Production
Beatty had kicked around the idea of a film about a promiscuous hairstylist as early as the mid-1960s, and by the time production neared he had been nursing the project for six or seven years; early on it carried the title *Hair*, and the AFI catalog records an alternate title, *Keith's My Name, Hair's My Game*.[12](https://silver.afi.com/movies/detail/0100002615/) • [4](https://www.criterion.com/current/posts/5983-shampoo-first-as-farce) • [1](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/55477-SHAMPOO) Several studios turned the project down before Beatty negotiated a deal with Columbia in 1974, by which point [Julie Christie](https://www.edgepedia.org/julie-christie), Goldie Hawn, and Hal Ashby were already signed.[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/55477-SHAMPOO)
Beatty and Towne had each written screenplays along the way, and Ashby served as referee for what Beatty called "the most creative ten days of my life, probably," a volatile collaboration in which the two versions were merged.[4](https://www.criterion.com/current/posts/5983-shampoo-first-as-farce) Towne said the initial premise was inspired by [William Wycherley](https://www.edgepedia.org/william-wycherley)'s Restoration comedy (bawdy 1675-era English comedy of sexual intrigue; the plot's model) *The Country Wife* (1675).[13](https://www.mobt3ath.com/uplode/book/book-60632.pdf) Shooting ran from March 11 to late June 1974.[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/55477-SHAMPOO)
A 1975 *Los Angeles Times* article speculated that George Roundy was based on well-known Beverly Hills hair stylists, including Gene Shacove, who served as technical consultant on the film; Shacove believed George was a composite of [Jay Sebring](https://www.edgepedia.org/jay-sebring), George Masters, and himself.[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/55477-SHAMPOO) [Carrie Fisher](https://www.edgepedia.org/carrie-fisher), then seventeen, made her first film appearance as Lorna, and Towne makes a cameo as a party guest.[4](https://www.criterion.com/current/posts/5983-shampoo-first-as-farce) • [1](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/55477-SHAMPOO)
A plagiarism suit followed the film's release. Former manicurist Bernice Mann claimed portions of her registered script *Woman—Plus* had been incorporated into *Shampoo*; in 1979 a jury awarded her $185,000, but a Superior Court judge overturned the decision, ruling that Towne's 1970 script version was an independent effort.[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/55477-SHAMPOO)
## Reception
The film's sexual activity and taboo-breaking language shocked some viewers in 1975; *The New Republic* called it "disgusting," but it was a commercial blockbuster and popular with many critics.[5](https://www.criterion.com/current/posts/925-shampoo) Vincent Canby of *The New York Times* called it "the film comedy of the year," while [Pauline Kael](https://www.edgepedia.org/pauline-kael)'s New Yorker review praised Ashby's handling of the farce structure.[5](https://www.criterion.com/current/posts/925-shampoo) • [6](https://www.metacritic.com/movie/shampoo/critic-reviews/) Roger Ebert, by contrast, gave it three stars and found the timing not confident enough to pull off its ambitious conception.[10](https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/shampoo-1975) Retrospective aggregation gives a Metascore of 65 and a Rotten Tomatoes score of 75 percent from 107 reviews.[6](https://www.metacritic.com/movie/shampoo/critic-reviews/) • [7](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/shampoo)
At the Academy Awards the film drew four nominations, and [Lee Grant](https://www.edgepedia.org/lee-grant) won Best Supporting Actress for her role as Felicia; [Jack Warden](https://www.edgepedia.org/jack-warden) was nominated for Best Supporting Actor.[3](https://www.sonypictures.com/movies/shampoo) • [5](https://www.criterion.com/current/posts/925-shampoo)
## Themes and later view
Contemporary critics compared the plot to [Restoration comedy](https://www.edgepedia.org/restoration-comedy), and the film's farcical collision at a dinner party carries echoes of golden-age Hollywood comedy such as [George Cukor](https://www.edgepedia.org/george-cukor)'s *Dinner at Eight*.[4](https://www.criterion.com/current/posts/5983-shampoo-first-as-farce) Beatty himself described the subject as "the commingling of sexual hypocrisy and political hypocrisy."[14](https://www.bfi.org.uk/sight-and-sound/features/endings-shampoo-hal-ashby-1975) It was his idea to set the picture on the eve of Nixon's election rather than in the present; he said, "I think that's when the American people came face to face with who they really were."[5](https://www.criterion.com/current/posts/925-shampoo)
The characters, rich and poor alike, are largely oblivious to the political tumult of 1968, caring about the election only as it may affect their bottom line; the Beverly Hills of the film has been read as a counterpart to the corrupt Los Angeles of Towne's *Chinatown*.[4](https://www.criterion.com/current/posts/5983-shampoo-first-as-farce) Frank Rich, writing in Criterion's essay "Shampoo: First as Farce," argued that the film, greeted in 1975 as a lighthearted goof on Beatty's persona, stands in retrospect as one of Hollywood's most prescient portraits of post-Watergate politics.[4](https://www.criterion.com/current/posts/5983-shampoo-first-as-farce) The film was released in the same crowded year as *Jaws*, *Nashville*, *One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest*, and *Dog Day Afternoon*.[15](https://www.avclub.com/nixon-looms-in-the-background-of-the-superb-warren-beat-1844071680)
## References
1. [Shampoo (1975), AFI Catalog of Feature Films](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/55477-SHAMPOO)
2. [Shampoo, The Criterion Collection](https://www.criterion.com/films/28821-shampoo)
3. [SHAMPOO, Sony Pictures Entertainment](https://www.sonypictures.com/movies/shampoo)
4. [Frank Rich, "Shampoo: First as Farce," The Criterion Collection (2018)](https://www.criterion.com/current/posts/5983-shampoo-first-as-farce)
5. [Danny Peary, "Shampoo," The Criterion Collection (1991)](https://www.criterion.com/current/posts/925-shampoo)
6. [Shampoo critic reviews, Metacritic](https://www.metacritic.com/movie/shampoo/critic-reviews/)
7. [Shampoo, Rotten Tomatoes](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/shampoo)
8. [Cian McGrath, "SHAMPOO (1975)," Frame Rated (2025)](https://www.framerated.co.uk/shampoo-1975/)
9. [Retro Film Review: Shampoo (1975), CravedFW](https://cravedfw.com/2025/08/20/retro-film-review-shampoo-1975/)
10. [Roger Ebert, "Shampoo," Chicago Sun-Times (1975)](https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/shampoo-1975)
11. [Shampoo, American Film Institute](https://watch.afi.com/movie/shampoo)
12. [Shampoo, AFI Silver Theatre and Cultural Center](https://silver.afi.com/movies/detail/0100002615/)
13. [Everybody's Doing It—Aren't They? (book chapter on Hollywood sex films)](https://www.mobt3ath.com/uplode/book/book-60632.pdf)
14. [Sheila O'Malley, "Endings: the final scene of Hal Ashby's Shampoo," Sight and Sound (2021)](https://www.bfi.org.uk/sight-and-sound/features/endings-shampoo-hal-ashby-1975)
15. ["Nixon looms in the background of the superb Warren Beatty sex farce Shampoo," The A.V. Club](https://www.avclub.com/nixon-looms-in-the-background-of-the-superb-warren-beat-1844071680)
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*Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Screen and stage › Film and television › Films and standalone screen works › Individual films by title and year › Comedy and romantic films (individual works) › Comedies of the 1970s › Released 1970 to 1976*
*Initially written Sep 17, 2026 · Reviewed: Sep 30, 2026; Oct 3, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Sep 30, 2026; Oct 3, 2026; Oct 25, 2026; Nov 1, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026*
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