Quentin Tarantino (Via "Sharon Tate") Likes The Monkees Better than The Beatles
Quentin Tarantino, in his novelization of "Once Upon A Time in Hollywood," gave Sharon Tate this "opinion" (favorable) of the Monkees circa their biggest years of success:
Page 167:
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"(Sharon) would never tell this to Roman(Polanski), or any of their hip friends like John and Michelle Phillips and or Cass Elliott or Warren Beatty, but to be completely honest, she liked the Monkees more than the Beatles.
She knows they're not even a real group. They're just a TV show made to capitalize on the popularity of the Beatles. Neverless, in her heart of hearts, she prefers them. She thinks Davy Jones is cuter than Paul McCartney(as evidenced by her attraction to Roman and Jay Sebring, she does have an attraction to cute short guys who look like 12-year old boys. ) She thinks that Mickey Dolenz is funnier than Ringo Starr. She's more attracted to Mike Nesmith's "quiet one" than to George Harrison. And Peter Tork seems just as much of a hippie as John Lennon but less pretentious and probably a nicer fellow. Yeah, sure , the Beatles write their own music, but what the fk does Sharon care about all that? If she likes Last Train to Clarksville better than A Day in the LIfe, she likes it better..."
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Ha. Well. First of all, we can figure that none of those thoughts are the thoughts of Sharon Tate back then; they are the thoughts of QT TODAY. And fair enough thoughts they all are(though I see Peter, and not Mike, as 'the quiet Monkee.". ) Truth be told, I think the Beatles DID like the Monkees and sometimes hung out with them US to UK. And The Monkees show was developed by Bob Rafelson, who would do Five Easy Pieces with Jack Nicholson, and Jack Nicholson was a "hanger on" TO the Monkees(he co-wrote their weird sole movie -- Head -- which came out right after they were over as a TV group.) Jack Nicholson's stardom emerged from his connection to the Monkees. (I think they all remained friends even after Jack got big.)
Anyway, Mike Nesmith was always MY favorite Monkee -- the cool one, the funny one, the one with a career after them -- and though I'm glad that Mickey is still with us...bye bye to another piece of Boomer childhood...