Great Moments: Shampoo (1975)

I've got Warren Beatty on the brain since that tribute on Monday night at the Golden Globes. So, here's a moment I love from Hal Ashby's Shampoo (1975) written by The Bening's husband and Robert Towne. This scene always gets to me because Carrie Fisher seems like she's a hundred years-old. She was actually somewheres around 18 and this was her debut. There's a split second late in the scene when the teenager peeks through as she glances quickly back and forth, too aware that she's playing a naughty adult game. Great cameo-ish performance.

Warren Beatty plays George, a womanizing hairdresser. He's been invited into Lorna's kitchen for a snack.


Lorna: Want some lox?

George: No, thanks.

Lorna: You're my mother's hairdresser.

George: I do hair, yeah.

Lorna: Chopped liver?

George: No, thanks.

Lorna: Are you gay? Want a baked apple? They're cold, but good.

George: No, thanks.

Lorna: Did you hear me?

George: Yeah.

Lorna: Well, are you? Are you queer?

George: Sure.

Lorna: Come on. Are you or aren't you?

George: [chewing on celery] This is great, huh.

Lorna: Come on, tell me. Don't be afraid.

George: Why do you want to know so bad?

Lorna: See if you're making it with my mother.

George: Why would my being a faggot have anything to do with that?

Lorna: Nothing, I guess. Have you ever made it with a guy?

George: You ever make it with a girl?

Lorna: Are you?

George: Am I what -- what are you talking about?

Lorna: Making it with my mother?

George: I'd love to do your hair sometime.

Lorna: Do you have a thing about older women? Because that's sort of faggoty, isn't it?

I never get my hair done. In fact, I don't think I've ever been to a beauty salon in my whole life. You think that's funny, don't you?

George: Yeah.

Lorna: Beverly Hills hairdresser. You might as well be a faggot. You think that's funny, too?


George: No.

Lorna: Then what do you think?

George: You know, I think you got exactly the same eyes as your mother. And your chin's a little bit like hers, too.

Lorna: No, it isn't. No.

Goerge: I think it is.

Lorna: No, no... and my eyes aren't like hers either.

George: They are. Because they...

Lorna: No, they're not.

George: They really are.

Lorna: [suddenly angry] No, they're not, they're not. I'm nothing like my mother!

George: I'm not trying to insult you, you know. Can't we just be friends?

Lorna: Okay.

You want to fuck?

*

And... Scene