Dre Rivas,
Jul 19, 2007
Hairspray is making its way to theaters soon and we thought it would be a good idea to pay homage to some of the more interesting hair styles that the cinema has had to offer. I've split them up into two groups to double our fun. Enjoy!
So Bad They're Good:
These are the five best dos I would totally sport if I could pull it off.
1. Daniel Day-Lewis in Gangs of New York
I don't know if Bill "The Butcher" was mixing Fop Hair Grease or Dapper Dan in his hair but whatever it was it worked. I would probably draw the line at wearing a top hat, though. That'd just be ridiculous.
2.Tim Robbins in Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy
This movie is a treasure trove for great hair and it broke my heart not to include Brian Fantana's wicked bouffant. There have been many great man-perms in the history of cinema, but this one just might be my favorite. Making his public access TV anchor a pipe smoker as well was a masterstroke.
3. Will Ferrell in Zoolander
All behold ... Mugatu! This is a sort of meld of a wolverine's do and a poodle's do. I dream of this haircut but I know there is only one man on God's green earth who could pull it off and he did it beautifully in Zoolander.
4. Samuel L. Jackson in Pulp Fiction
The story is the stuff of legend. Tarantino told his hairstylist he wanted an afro for the character of Jules. Amazingly, the stylist didn't understand the difference between a 'fro and Jheri curls, but Tarantino loved the result so much he went with it. Can you blame the guy? No, you can't.
5. Ben Stiller in Dodgeball
Stiller's mega-bouffant is beautifully accentuated with brilliant blonde highlights. It's a whole lotta hair and the blow-dryer must be equipped with some pretty heavy artillery (like a 747's twin engine), but it would so be worth the effort.
Just Plain Bad:
Okay, here are some pretty rough specimens. These are hairdos I don't even want to be caught in a coffin in.
1. TWO-WAY TIE: Bill Murray and Woody Harrelson in Kingpin
These are probably the most awful-looking cuts to ever grace the screen (as they're intended to be). Woody is just a mess. He doesn't have a whole lot of hair left, but what he does have he shamelessly combs over in Homer-esque fashion. Meanwhile, you can write an entire thesis paper about Murray's top. It's a quasi-pompadour, a bouffant and a comb-over ... all at once!
2. Patrick Swayze in Roadhouse
One of the things I love about TBS's refusal to air anything but Road House every other week is the unintentional comedy that is Swayze's mullet. I almost put this on the "So Bad They're Good" list because I'd like to sport this one for a day or two. It would almost be worth the eternal shame. See, sometimes you make fun of something enough, you begin to envy it.
3. Tim Robbins in High Fidelity
Robbins is the only fellow lucky enough to make both lists. Sometimes it's not so much the hairdo as much as how you look wearing it. For example, when Steven Seagal worked the ponytail in Marked For Death, he looked pretty bad-ass. I wouldn't mess with that guy. But when Robbins first appears in this film, bringing his patchouli stink with him, I thought I'd died and been sent to hair salon hell. His ponytail was a hippie/flower child disaster, completed with perfection by those circular purple-lensed oculars.
4. Joan Cusack in Working Girl
Ah, the big hair of the '80s, the number one source for comic gold. There were three things that frightened me when I was growing up and I will list them in order:
1. The possibility of the Soviets invading the United States
2. Freddy Krueger
3. Joan Cusack's hair
5. Christopher Guest in Waiting for Guffman
Corky St. Clair's bowl haircut came a few decades too late I think. He didn't exactly help matters when he decided to go with the knee-high socks, shorts and suspenders. It's a complete train wreck and a glorious one at that.
I know, I know. I left out so many. I literally had to pare these babies down from about fifty and I tried to mix in some not-so-obvious ones. Make your voice heard below and give a shout-out to your favorite hairdo.
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Dre writes three times a week for Film.com. He has an eight dollar haircut. E-mail him!
