Welcome to my new short series called Hippie Hotties where I plan to talk about a hippie-era movie that stretched the limits of free love and sex by showing off some sexy nudes on the big screen. This era of experimentation led to some pretty far-out films, so let's take a look!
It's time to let the sun shine in with our Hippie Hotties today. We are going to talk about the hippie rock musical Hair and its movie adaptation by Milos Forman in 1979.
Hair: The American Tribal Love-Rock Musical opened in 1968 at the Biltmore Theater. Gerome Ragni and James Rado wrote the book for the musical with music by Galt MacDermot about a young American man named Claude who is about to be drafted to fight in the Vietnam War and the colorful group of hippies that he hangs out with.
That is essentially the plot of the musical. There is not a ton of plot there. It's mostly about the idealism of the hippies clashing with the doom of the Vietnam War threatening to disrupt their peace and love.
While Hair has actually given us a bevy of musical classics and I do not think it gets credit for that ("Aquarius", "Hair", "Let the Sunshine In", "Good Morning Star Shine" - HOW MANY LASTING HITS CAN ONE MUSICAL PRODUCE?!), it remains most famous for its nude scene. It's true! The live musical Hair has a nude scene.
The nude scene happens during the song "Where Do I Go?" in which the hippies undress for the last 30 seconds of the song and stand totally naked in front of the crowd. That's literally it! Doesn't sound like much, right? This small amount of nudity - usually dimly lit - prompted major controversy.
Now those of us who love movie nudity know that people often get their panties in a bunch over a nude scene when there are typically way worse things to get upset at. Hair includes a lot of profanity, sexual innuendos, drugs, and the backdrop of the Vietnam War. Yet all anyone remembers is the nudity. Go figure!
Rado himself said that the reason for the nudity is to comment on the fact that people care more about nudity than violence. They definitely made that point!
I've seen Hair live a few times because it is - no surprise - my favorite musical. It always feels so raw and real. It feels like a party onstage and that feeling is definitely helped by the nude scene.
The movie, however, does not include this scene. At all. There IS nudity in the movie, but they leave out that pivotal scene...along with nearly half of the songs from the original musical.
The movie also infuses a lot more plot into the plot. In the movie, Claude is an idealistic man from Oklahoma who meets the hippies when he visits New York City and gets swept up with them. He becomes one of them despite the fact that he originally felt like an outsider to the hippies.
Beverly D'Angelo's character is also totally different. She is now a socialite who also gets seduced by the hippies. Part of that seduction includes skinny dipping with them!
Spoiler for the film here: Claude gets drafted and goes off to boot camp. The hippies come up with a plan to see Claude one last time before he ships off to war - singing "Good Morning Starshine" on their way to the army.
In an almost Looney Tunes-esque segment, Claude and the hippie leader Berger switch clothes so Claude can enjoy a moment of freedom while Berger sees what the army is like for a day. We all think that he will do a bunch of goofy hippie stuff in the army for our amusement, but that hope gets dashed almost as soon as he enters the barracks in Claude's uniform. The boys are told they are about to ship off to war. Now. Uh oh...
Suddenly, this carefree musical is filled with dread. Berger and Claude have switched spots at the worst possible moment. Berger gets sent off to war instead of Claude.
This surprise ending is NOT in the original musical, but I actually love it. Hippie idealism comes to a crashing halt with this switcheroo. We know that Berger is not likely to survive. He is about to have the shock of his life and his friends are all left to deal with his loss. The dream of the sixties that came to a scratching halt in the 70s is all personified with this one mistake.
Hair is a blast to watch. It's poignant, the music is great, and there is nudity whether you watch the movie or see it live. Get your tickets, get your popcorn, and unbuckle your pants for the rock musical that changed theater forever by showing that a musical can be thought-provoking, modern, and sexy all at once. Far out!
Want proof? Here's Bev showing her boobs in the movie:
