The Monkees, Head, and the 60s by Peter Mills;

Author:Peter Mills;
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Lightning Source Inc. (Tier 1)
Published: 2016-09-13T00:00:00+00:00

Dolenz Of Arabia

We hear Micky’s voice: ‘My canteen is empty, where once it was full …’ At first it is a classic non-diegetic voiceover, heard only by the viewer and not the character: ‘I felt I couldn’t go on … But something, something kept telling me I must.’ But then we hear the voice address Micky: ‘You MUST!’ Suddenly we see that Micky hears the voice too – the non-diegetic sound becomes diegetic, heard by the character within the film world, and that the dialogue is all taking place in Micky’s head. What is this other voice? His conscience? The angel/devil on the shoulder trick we are familiar with from cartoons?

This dialogue is also by way of prelude to the scene’s first great visual joke, and one of the best in the movie, where the technique of the startling non sequitur is truly effective. Continuing toward the camera, Dolenz staggers up a dune, leans in toward the camera and – what? – inserts a coin. The coin rattles and shakes and as it does so his expression changes from weary anticipation to painfully vexed frustration, screwing up his eyes and letting fly with a tantrummy ‘OhhhhhNOOOO!’ as he slams his right hand against something. As he does this, the shot changes and we see him from behind, grappling with a mid-60s Coca-Cola vending machine. As visual surprises go it’s a pretty good one. It also looks exquisite, the machine’s red and white colours standing inert and idiotic on the crest of a sandy dune ridge, the brilliant blue sky behind it, Dolenz stripped to the waist in khaki trousers.

This sequence again provides Micky with the chance to show off his physical acting skills – cruelly denied, he attacks the machine, scrambling up its racked side, punching it, shaking it, kicking it, flinging himself against the rocks. He rages and grunts and howls in frustration while the machine stands inert, enigmatic and motionless, as indifferent to the assault by a Monkee as the obelisk in 2001: A Space Odyssey when attacked by the apes. The impotence of his rage and frantic scrabbling is coolly confirmed over and over again as the EMPTY sign fills the screen four, now five times, before reaching an almost subliminal flash-speed of editing.

At this frantic moment, a real Coke jingle strikes up – which may be a little comment on the band’s track record in corporate sponsorships, or it may simply have been added to lighten the mood as the scene is intense. The last beat of the song is provided by his final kick against the foot of the machine. Coca-Cola was not happy about the use of its product and livery in this way and, it is said, tried to serve an injunction on the movie. By the time the movie started to be seen more widely via cable, videotape, and disc, Columbia Pictures had actually been bought up by the Coca-Cola corporation and the issue, if it was noticed at all, was set aside.

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