...while there are certainly humorous moments in this film, overall I found it mostly poignant. After watching this film I always feel a sense of longing, loss and nostalgia for the past. Is this what George is feeling when finally proposing to Jackie? A feeling that perhaps the past was better than what is currently being experienced and a compulsion to try and re-create some of that magic that existed when he was younger? The closing scene of him watching Jackie being driven away by Lester (wonderfully portrayed by Jack Warden) is one of the most touching scenes of loss in modern film? To finally recognise what is important only when it is too late is one of the most affecting human tragedies.

Dismissing George as a simple playboy I think also sells this movie short. Certainly George is a womanizer in this film, but I feel he could also be seen as much used as the user. Certainly the women in this film (Felicia, Lorna, Jill and to some extent Jackie) could be seen as the aggressors in most of the sex that occurs. The constant demands of all the women in this film, even the women on the street that come up to George and demand "call me," make George in some ways a character that deserves some sympathy.

Overall I find Shampoo to be very under-appreciated, being written off as a mere sex/comedy farce. There is a lot more depth to it than that. To really appreciate it, it should be looked at in the context of the time it was made, the end of one era (swinging 60's) and the beginning of another, characterized more by the loss of innocence (Watergate, end of Vietnam, 70's recession). Surely this translates equally well to the passing of any era and the moving on into new times that may not be that comfortable to those that fully enjoyed what went before.

A day in the life of a Southern California hairstylist (Beatty) as he beds three women (Christie, Hawn and Lee Grant) while at the same time trying to seek a loan from businessman Lester (Oscar nominee Jack Warden) to help him open his own salon… His world soon starts to fall apart as he realizes what he fervently wishes in life and the limitations of his cheerful posture toward others…

Lee Grant won an Oscar for playing Lester's bored wife who can't seem to take her eyes off Beatty, and even her nymphet daughter (a young Carrie Fisher) desperately wanted him to be engaging in reciprocal sex… Grant's actually quite jovial and adorable in her role as we heartily feel for her character near the climax…

Warren Beatty appears either excitable or distracted through most of the story… He lies, hides, and denies facts, doing whatever it takes to make everyone happy...

If you like to see Julie Christie notoriously fellating Beatty underneath an elegant dinner table… well don't miss this funny sex comedy which received four Oscar nominations…

Hal Ashby always leavened his comedic films (Harold and Maude, Being There, Last Detail) with sharp social commentary and observation, and "Shampoo" is no different. Taking place on the eve and day of the 1968 Presidential Election, it's as concerned with the "free love" hedonism as it is with the profound and dark social changes that had taken place by 1975 (the year "Shampoo" was produced).

Beatty has never been more charming - or revealing as emptily vain as anyone so "successful" with women can become, and the film switches between surprisingly adult material even for now with a concern for mid-life crises, cultural politics, and ultimately, a cynical view of how the free-wheeling 60s counterculture didn't take themselves seriously enough. Robert Towne's influence in the script is clearly evident.

Already "dated" when it came out, it's a great snapshot of the times, its concerns and issues, and is relevant today.