Michael Nesmith Movies
Multi-talented Michael Nesmith has come a long way from playing the quiet Monkee in the little wool cap on the popular 1960s sitcom The Monkees. Since then he has proven himself an innovator in musical genres and music videos -- his work in the latter area led to the creation of the MTV network. Nesmith is also a movie and television producer. Born in Houston, TX, Nesmith is the son of Bette Nesmith Graham, the woman who invented Liquid Paper correction fluid. Before auditioning for The Monkees in 1965, Nesmith had served a two-year stint in the Air Force, worked as a backup musician in Nashville, performed in a Los Angeles-based folk-rock duo with his friend John London, composed songs, including "Mary, Mary" and "Different Drum," and recorded a few singles. While with the Monkees, Nesmith wrote several of their hits and helped persuade the Monkees' "handlers" to allow them to produce their own records. He left the television group after completing their only feature film, Head (1968), to form his own band and then launched his solo career. In 1977, he designed a new television show called Popclips, in which he utilized live music clips while counting down the week's chart-toppers. The show is credited for inspiring the genesis of MTV. Nesmith's mother died in 1980 and left him half of her Liquid Paper fortune (worth over 20 million dollars). Nesmith then launched his own record and film production company, Pacific Arts, which became the number one source of American music videos in the '80s, and won the first Video Grammy for it in 1981. In the late '80s, Nesmith made his own filmmaking debut with the inventive music video "Elephant Parts." He reunited with the Monkees and continued to occasionally perform with them. In 1997, he and the group appeared in an hour-long television special and also released a new album, Justus. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi- 1997
The old axiom "Everything old is new again" was seldom truer than on February 17, 1997, when the Monkees, the four mop-topped Beatles clones who starred in their own popular musical-comedy series of the 1960s, were reunited in the 60-minute special Hey, Hey, It's the Monkees. Returning for more monkeyshines (albeit the middle-aged variety) were Peter Tork, Micky Dolenz, Davy Jones, and Michael Nesmith, who also wrote and directed the special. The fragmentary storyline finds the Monkees re-forming the act after thirty years, then preparing to perform at a posh country club. Of the supporting cast, only Chuck Woolery, who plays the boys' manager,and footballer Joe Greene, playing a security guard, could be described as "name" performers. The musical highlights include the theme song for the original Monkees' series, as well as "You and I", "Circle Sky", "Antarctica", "Regional Girl", and a closing medley of Monkees' hits. Telecast in stereo, Hey, Hey It's the Monkees originally aired on February 17, 1997, as a lead-in to ABC's coverage of the 11th annual American Comedy Awards. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- 1992
This video features former Monkee Michael Nesmith playing solo at the 1992 Britt Festival held in Jacksonville, OR. Like most of Nesmith's previous work, the 18 included songs reveal strong country & western influences. Nesmith's repertoire includes "Silver Moon," "Some of Shelly's Blues," and "Joanne." Fans may recall that Nesmith's solo career received a major boost years ago after he received a Grammy for his Elephant Parts music video. ~ Elizabeth Smith, Rovi
- 1989
Bill Dear and Bill Martin are along for the ride in this collection which features "Eldorado to the Moon," "I'll Remember You," "Magic," "Chow Mein and Bowling," "Cruisin'," "Light" and "Rio." ~ Rovi
In this high-energy satire of the music biz, Ivan Alexov (John Cusack) and Josh Tager (Tim Robbins) lose their jobs as security guards, and they decide to start their own video production company. Their first gigs are less than inspiring, including a rappin' commercial for a chicken-and-waffle place, a living will, and a right-wing Presidential-hopeful's (Clu Gulager) gala dinner. Eventually, they get to direct a heavy-metal music video which becomes a huge surprise success. But now the politician needs to get back a private videotape from the boys, and the Secret Service is put on their trail. This chaotic romp has cameos from more music celebs than you can shake a tape reel at, as well as a hopping little soundtrack by Fishbone. This is also the film that introduced a conservative folksinger/politician character who later got his own movie, Bob Roberts. ~ John Voorhees, Rovi
- Starring:
- John Cusack, Tim Robbins, (more)
Director of the first Police Academy movie, Hugh Wilson is also responsible for the action comedy-caper Burglar. Bernice Rhodenbarr (Whoopi Goldberg) is a retired cat burglar who works at a bookstore. Bad cop Ray Kirschman (G.W. Bailey) blackmails her, so she agrees to do a job for Dr. Cynthia Sheldrake (Lesley Ann Warren) in order to get the money. While she is doing the robbery, she accidentally stumbles onto the scene of a murder. Since she is the prime suspect, Bernice is forced into many chase scenes as she plays detective to find out who the real murderer is in order to clear her name. She is aided by her only two friends: the hapless dog groomer Carl Hefler (Bob Goldthwait) and the drunken floozy Frankie (Elizabeth Ruscio). Along the way, she almost gets killed by numerous tough guys while being closely followed by two stupid cops (Anne DeSalvo and John Goodman). ~ Andrea LeVasseur, Rovi
- Starring:
- Whoopi Goldberg, Bobcat Goldthwait, (more)
- 1987
This is the official Monkees videography. It is a behind the scenes look at the phenomenon that was and still is the Monkees. The video features several clever music videos from their album Pool It, amusing tour footage, vintage film clips, interviews, and many special surprises. This reunion tour does not include Mike Nesmith in the lineup. ~ Karla Baker, Rovi
- 1985
Former Monkey member Michael Nesmith presents humorous skits, songs and commercial parodies in this video. ~ Kristie Hassen, Rovi
- 1985
Michael Nesmith (famed as the talented one from '60s pop-band The Monkees) directed this melange of music and comedy clips starring Whoopi Goldberg, Garry Shandling, Rosanne Cash, Jay Leno and Jimmy Buffett. ~ John Bush, Rovi
Alex Cox's directorial debut was a wickedly funny and willfully bizarre story that became a major cult item once it began making the art-house rounds a year after its release (an initial run in a string of Southern grind houses and drive-ins, where it was billed as an action film, was a resounding failure). Having lost his job and his girlfriend, punk rocker Otto (Emilio Estevez) meets a guy named Bud (Harry Dean Stanton) who offers him $25 to drive his wife's car out of a "bad area." When a handful of angry people start chasing Otto, he realizes that something is up, and he discovers that Bud repossesses cars for a living. With few immediate prospects, Otto joins Bud at the repo yard and is soon "ripping" cars with the best of them. When an anonymous source posts a $20,000 reward for a missing 1964 Chevy Malibu, it turns out that what's valuable isn't the car itself, but what's in the trunk, which is very hot, glows brightly, and kills anyone who comes in contact with it. A vaguely surreal modern-noir science-fiction comedy with echoes of Kiss Me Deadly (1955), Repo Man is packed with more incongruous sight gags than anyone can absorb in one viewing; keep your eyes peeled for the air fresheners, the generic newspaper box, and the watches without hands. Harry Dean Stanton gives a superb comic performance as the intense but laid-back Bud, Emilio Estevez delivers perhaps the best work of his career as the petulant but goofy Otto, and Tracey Walter is hilarious as the spaced out repo-yard man Miller. Iggy Pop wrote and performed the theme song and The Circle Jerks appear as a lounge band. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi
- Starring:
- Harry Dean Stanton, Emilio Estevez, (more)
Given the off-the-wall premise in this sci-fi western -- that a motorcyclist rides his bike through a time warp right into the Wild West, into the middle of a gang of outlaws, and cannot figure out what happened -- the glitches and gaps in the plot fit right in with the spirit of the adventure. When the outlaw Reese (Peter Coyote) catches sight of the macho bike, he decides that several hundred horsepower are better than his one and is out to rustle the vehicle any way he can. Unfortunately, the bike does not run on high-octane hay -- an issue that bites the dust when pistol-packing Clair (Belinda Bauer) appears on the scene. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, Rovi
- Starring:
- Fred Ward, Belinda Bauer, (more)
- 1981
Former Monkee Mike Nesmith, a pioneer in the music video industry, created the one-hour music and comedy pastiche Elephant Parts--the title derives from the old fable of the six blind men and the elephant. There is no real throughline, merely a series of satirical vignettes, some running several minutes, others a few seconds. The bits include Nesmith's rendition of "Cruisin'", the opening "Rodan" gag, an extended "Name That Tune" parody involving the proper identification of controlled substances, and Nesmith's out-of-left-field diatribe about the oil industry. Nesmith tried to transfer the insouciance of Elephant Parts to television, but the ensuing Television Parts failed. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- 1981
Each installment of An Evening With presents a performer, band, group, or other public figure in a setting aimed to please fans looking for a representative sampling of what a particular person or group of people does best. On this tape, Bill Martin, co-author of Elephant Parts, brings his strange brand of comedy to the stage. Other volumes in the series include An Evening with Robin Williams and An Evening with Roberta Flack. ~ Rob Ferrier, Rovi
- 1969
One year after the cancellation of the TV series The Monkees, the "pre-fab four"-- Micky Dolenz, Davy Jones, Mike Nesmith, and Peter Tork -- reunited for the hour-long NBC musical special Thirty-Three and One-Third Revolutions Per Monkee. Written by Jack Good and Art Fisher (who also directed), the special was advertised as a "super-psychedelic" journey into the Monkees' history, with a demented sorceror chronicling the group from its beginnings to the present. Guest performers include Fats Domino, Little Richard, Jerry Lee Lewis), the Clara Ward Singers), and Paul Arnold and the Moon Express. Given surprisingly little publicity by NBC, Thirty-Three and One-Third Revolutions Per Monkee originally aired on April 14, 1969, in the Monday night time slot normally occupied by Rowan and Martin's Laugh-In. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
The Monkees -- Micky Dolenz, Mike Nesmith, Davy Jones and Peter Tork -- didn't really enjoy being labelled the Prefab Four back when their TV series was all the rage in 1966. With the help and support of Bob Rafaelson (co-producer, co-writer and director) and Jack Nicholson (co-producer, co-writer, and, if you look closely, bit player), the Monkees expressed their displeasure over being packaged for popular consumption in the non sequitur masterpiece Head. At least, it seems that the film is an indictment of the merchandising of pop stars. It's hard to tell at times, because Head literally has no plot; it is instead a patchwork of loopy sight gags, instant parodies, "camp" cutups, musical numbers and wry inside jokes. Clips of such old movies as the 1934 Karloff-Lugosi epic The Black Cat pop up every so often, as does an impressive lineup of pop-culture icons: Victor Mature, Annette Funicello, Sonny Liston, Frank Zappa (he's the one leading a cow) and Ray Nitschke, as well as such movie-trivia "answers" as Timothy Carey, Vito Scotti, Teri Garr, Percy Helton, Logan Ramsey, Carol Doda, and pre-Divine cross-dresser T.C. Jones. The best bits include a lengthy Golden Boy parody which does double duty as a lampoon of the network's efforts to create "personalities" for the individual Monkees, and a psychedelic buck-and-wing performed by Davy Jones. One gag, in which Micky Dolenz blows up a Coca Cola machine, is usually excised from TV showings. Head did zero business when it first came out thanks to poor distribution, but it has since become a fixture of midnight-movie showings and campus cinema classes. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- Starring:
- Peter Tork, Davy Jones, (more)
- 1968
Suffering from writers' block, Peter visits a nightclub hypnotist, The Great Oracullo (Monte Landis). But instead of curing Peter, Oracullo drugs the poor Monkee and places him under his evil spell. The other Monkees try to rescue Peter by pretending to succumb to Oracullo's hypnotic powers -- but are they merely pretending? Watch for cameo appearances by frequent Monkees' director James Frawley as Oracullo's henchman Rudi Bayshore, Burgess Meredith in his familiar Batman guise as the Penguin, and Frank Zappa -- as Mike Nesmith. Songs: "Daily Nightly", "Gonna Buy Me a Dog, "Valleri, and "Mother People", the latter tune written by Zappa. First broadcast on March 11, 1968, "Monkees Blow Their Minds" was written by Peter Meyerson. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- 1968
A fascinating exercise in cross-dressing, late-1960s' style, "Some Like It Lukewarm" finds the Monkees entering yet another band contest. Discovering that all the contestants must be mixed-gender groups, the boys decide to add a female member to their aggregation through the simple expedient of disguising Davy as a girl. Complications ensue when an all-girl group comes up with the same notion, disguising their lead singer Daphne as a male named William McCochrane. Deana Martin, daughter of Dean Martin, plays Daphne, while radio DJ and rock impresario Jerry Blavat ("The Geator with the Heater") appears as himself. Songs: "The Door Into Summer" and "She Hangs Out". First telecast on March 4, 1968, "Some Like It Lukewarm" was written by Joel Kane and Stanley Z. Cherry. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- 1968
The Monkees head to England when Davy inherits the lavish estate of Sir Malcolm Kibbee. Upon arrival, the boys discover that they'll have to remain for five years, lest the estate fall into the grubby hands of family wastrel Lance Kibbee the Sot (Jack Good). Bernard Fox (The Andy Griffith Show, Bewitched) appears as Sir Twiggley Topper Middle Bottom, while veteran character-actor Reginald Gardiner is seen as the butler. Song: "Star Collector". Written by Coslough Johnson, "Monkees Mind Their Manor" represents the directorial debut of Monkee Peter Tork, who uses his given name of Peter H. Thorkelson for this purpose. The episode originally aired on February 26, 1968. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- 1968
Anticipating the Monkees' 1969 feature film Head, this episode begins on a Pirandellian note, as the "pre-fab four" walk off the set of their TV series, complaining about the lousy scripts (the boys' frequent director James Frawley appears as himself in this sequence). While the NBC and Screen Gems executives tear out their hair in Hollywood, Micky, Mike, Peter, and Davy fly to Paris, where they have a high old time with the local mademoiselles. The proceedings (filmed on location) come to a zany conclusion as the boys are chased through the Parisian streets by four overzealous female fans, not to mention a flock of gendarmes. Songs: "Love is Only Sleeping", "Don't Call on Me", "Star Collector", and "Goin' Down". Written and directed by Bob Rafaelson (who borrowed liberally from the two Beatles' films directed by Richard Lester), "Monkees in Paris" was originally telecast on February 19, 1968. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- 1968
Taking a break from his customary duties on The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour, Pat Paulsen acts as the "official narrator" of this Monkees-style science-fiction spoof. When Micky is kidnapped by aliens from the planet Zlotnick, he is replaced by a look-alike robot. Quickly realizing that their fellow Monkee isn't "himself," Davy and Peter try to warn the Department of UFO Information of an imminent alien attack. Nita Talbot co-stars as Pat Paulsen's assistant, while perennial James Garner sidekick Stuart Margolin plays the captain. Song: "Star Collector". Written by Coslough Johnson, "Monkees Watch Their Feet" first aired on January 15, 1968. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- 1968
Departing from their usual series format, the Monkees offer their own "improv-theater" version of a familiar fairy tale. Using fragmentary costumes and minimalist sets, the boys relate the story of a brave cobbler and a "beautiful" princess -- both played by Mike Nesmith. With the help of the cobbler, innkeeper Micky Dolenz, tailor Davy Jones, and medieval layabout Peter Tork rescue "Princess" Mike from the evil Harold (Murray Roman and Richard (John Lawrence), the twin scourges of Fairy Tale Land. Song: "Daily Nightly". First broadcast January 8, 1968, "Fairy Tale" was written by Peter Meyerson. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- 1968
Telecast as the final first-run episode of The Monkees on March 25, 1968, "Mijacogeo" was co-written and directed by Monkee Micky Dolenz. The title was an amalgam of the names of the Dolenz family: Micky, his mother Janelle, his sister Coco, and his father George (the episode is also known as "The Frodis Caper" -- another "inside joke" in the Dolenz clan). This time around, the Monkees try to save the world from Glick the Wizard (Rip Taylor), who has created a device capable of "freezing" people to their TV sets (something the sponsors of this series wouldn't have minded in the least!). Songs: "Zor and Zam" and "Songs of the Siren". In addition to Dolenz, Dave Evans and John C. Anderson contributed to the teleplay for "Mijacageo." ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- 1968
When The Monkees are hired to perform at a swank nightclub, seedy magician Mendrek (Hans Conried) is fired. Short on funds, Mendrek sells Micky a monkey's paw, explaining that the object has the power to grant three wishes. What the magician fails to reveal is that the paw is cursed -- which the Monkees find out all too soon. Songs: "Goin' Down" and "Words". Written by Coslough Johnson (with an uncredited posthumous assist from W.W. Jacobs), "The Monkee's Paw" first aired on January 29, 1968. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- 1968
In the best of his many Monkees' guest appearances, Monte Landis is cast as the devilish Mr. Zero. When he sees a lovely harp for sale, Peter wishes that he had the talent to play the instrument. Suddenly, Mr. Zero appears, offering to grant Peter the ability to play the harp in exchange for his soul. When the time comes for Mr. Zero to collect on his unholy bargain, Mike demands that Peter be given a fair trial. Unfortunately, the jury is comprised of Zero's former "clients," including Billy the Kid (Peter Canon, Attila the Hun (Lee Kolima), and Blackbeard (Ted de Corsia), and presiding over the proceedings is the infamous Judge Roy Bean (Vincent Beck). Songs: "Salesman" and "No Time". Scripted by Robert Kaufman from a story by Kaufman, Gerald Gardner, and Dee Caruso, "The Devil and Peter Tork" was originally telecast on February 5, 1968. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- 1968
The Monkees climb into their trusty Monkeemobile in hopes of helping racing driver T. N. Crumpets (William Glover). On the eve of an important race, Crumpets' car is sabotaged by his principal rival, The Baron (David Hurst), and his henchman Wolfgang (Stubby Kaye). Incidentally, the Monkeemobile was designed by George Barris, who receives special mention in the closing credits; however, director Bob Rafaelson's cameo role is unbilled. Song: "What Am I Doin' Hangin' Round?". Written by Dave Evans, Dave Elias, and Dave Pollack, "Monkees Race Again" (aka "Leave the Driving to Us") first aired on February 12, 1968. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
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