MovieChat Forums > Shampoo (1975) Discussion > NORMAN WAS THE MAN!!! Learn to nickel an...

NORMAN WAS THE MAN!!! Learn to nickel and dime.

posted 19 years ago by mcintyro
5 replies | jump to latest

I have watched this movie all the time since I first saw it in the spring of 1975 at aged 15. I never saw anything like it. It was so laid back.

Nothing was forced. You felt you were a part of things.

Also, the music was great. They did not overblow the use. They underplayed it so you could barely hear it the way it happens in real life.

NORMAN.

As a kid, I always thought his character was comic relief. But the more I saw it as the older I got, he was like a paternal figure to George, warning him to think about saving for his future. Also, I felt for Norman, when his son died and the officer brought news to the shop. Norman was the last one you'd have figured had a son, but that only serves to deepen his character.

[–] 19 years ago

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[–] buby1987 19 years ago

This shows the richness of this film. I assumed that Norman is gay, because of his demeanor and appearance, but then it turns out he has a son. A lot of the male characters in the film assume George is gay, too, but one of the points is that these supposedly effeminate men are actually getting more women into the sack than the "real men."

I never thought of Norman as a father figure for George, but that makes some sense. George is rebelling against Norman, because he wants to open his own shop -- he tells the bank executive, "I'm better than the guy I work for." I think Lester is another father surrogate, and George sleeps with Lester's wife, daughter and mistress.

One of the things I love about Shampoo is how the Vietnam War is going on but isn't commented upon. These characters are leading a very sheltered existence, so when a Marine shows up at the salon with bad news, it is like a rude reminder of reality, the grim reaper appearing at the orgy. I love the way Ashby stages this scene. No melodramatics, no speeches. You just see the Marine in the background. Less is more.

[–] mcintyro 19 years ago

Yeah, Fluffer, you're spot on with your reply and then some.

I totally agree with you about Lester. I think Lester is a cool character as well as a father figure to George.

It's implied that Lester is a ruthless gangster, but, he is played so well and sympathetically by Jack Warden that you can't help but like him.

Before he finds out that George has been sleeping with everything he owns, Lester's one prejudice of George is he thinks he's gay.

But a man like Leste respects George because George wants to do something that his own son doesn't want to do.

[–] 19 years ago

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[–] Ironman54 15 years ago

"...supposedly effeminate men are actually getting more women into the sack than the "real men."

No supposedly about it !! They were !! This is one of the things seldom talked about or revealed in retrospects of those days. A lot of 'red neck' men (sorry) used to get soooo p*ssed because the guys with the long hair or pierced ears or the whole transgendered 'look' started by Jagger/Bowie and even Alice Cooper got these guys girls by the truck load ! And the boys back in home town USA who copied the look were doing same with the local female population.