200 Motels

1971 American-British musical surrealist film February 2026 January 2025 200 Motels 200 Motels poster.jpg Promotional release poster Frank ZappaTony Palmer Herb CohenJerry D. Good Frank ZappaTony Palmer The Mothers of InventionTheodore BikelRingo StarrKeith Moon Frank Zappa Murakami-Wolf-SwensonBizarre ProductionsFilmAffinity United Artists 1971 10 29 Beverly Hills http://catalog.afi.com/Film/54139-200-MOTELS?sid=58593fec-b359-439a-9d5f-06c9beb2f7fe&sr=6.993937&cp=1&pos=0#3 200 Motels – Details AFI Catalog of Feature Films May 31, 2019 98 minutes English United StatesUnited Kingdom $679,000Rock Stars Film it Their Way Levine, Paul G. Los Angeles Times Jan 13, 1980 m6 Under $1 million 200 Motels is a 1971 surrealist musical film written and directed by Frank Zappa and Tony Palmer, and featuring music by Zappa. An international co-production of United States and the United Kingdom, the film stars the Mothers of Invention, Theodore Bikel, Keith Moon and Ringo Starr.http://allmusic.com/album/200-motels-r109870/review 200 Motels – Frank Zappa Richie Unterberger AllMusic 21 August 2011 dead https://web.archive.org/web/20110120214749/http://www.allmusic.com/album/200-motels-r109870/review 20 January 2011 A soundtrack album was released in the same year, with a slightly different selection of music. Plot The film attempts to portray the craziness of life on the road as a rock musician, and as such consists of a series of unconnected nonsense vignettes interspersed with concert footage of the Mothers of Invention.Miles, 2004, Frank Zappa, p. 207. Ostensibly, while on tour The Mothers of Invention go crazy in the small fictional town of Centerville ("a real nice place to raise your kids up"), wander around, and get beaten up in "Redneck Eats", a cowboy bar. In an animated interlude passed off as a "dental hygiene movie", bassist "Jeff", tired of playing what he refers to as "Zappa's comedy music", is persuaded by his bad conscience to quit the group, as did his real-life counterpart Jeff Simmons. Simmons was replaced by Martin Lickert (who was Starr's chauffeur) for the film. Almost every scene is drenched with video special effects (double and triple exposures, solarisation, false color, speed changes, etc.) which were innovative in 1971. The film has been dubbed a "surrealistic documentary".Canby, Vincent (November 11, 1971). "Film: Frank Zappa's Surrealist '200 Motels'". The New York Times. 60. Norman Katharine A Poetry of Reality: Composing with Recorded Sound, Volume 15, Parts 1-2 https://books.google.com/books?id=c-MAIn41xM4C 1996 Psychology Press 978-3-7186-5932-6 129 Zappa examined the relationship between rock and classical music in the "surrealist documentary" 200 Motels September 17, 2010 Cast Frank Zappa as himself The Mothers of Invention as themselves Theodore Bikel as Rance Muhammitz, the narrator/Master of Ceremonies (possibly the devil himself (or herself), he "is known by many names") Ringo Starr as Larry the Dwarf, dressed as Frank Zappa Keith Moon as the hot nun Howard Kaylan as himself Mark Volman as himself Ian Underwood as himself Ruth Underwood as herself Don Preston as himself Jimmy Carl Black as Lonesome Cowboy Burt Euclid James 'Motorhead' Sherwood as himself (uncredited) Aynsley Dunbar as himself George Duke as himself Jim Pons as himself (uncredited) Pamela Des Barres as the interviewer Martin Lickert as Jeff Janet Neville-Ferguson as Groupie #1 Lucy Offerall as Groupie #2 Dick Barber as Chunga – The Vacuum Cleaner Judy Gridley as the chorus leader Royal Philharmonic Orchestra as the bewildered orchestra Production 250 Frank zappa 200 motels.jpg Ringo star in 200 motels.jpg Frank Zappa (left) and Ringo Starr in the movie Principal scenes of 200 Motels, including the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, were filmed in a week at Pinewood Studios outside London, and featured The Mothers of Invention, The Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, Ringo Starr, Theodore Bikel, and Keith Moon. Tensions between Zappa and several cast and crew members arose before and during shooting.Watson, 1996, Frank Zappa: The Negative Dialectics of Poodle Play, p. 183. However, director Tony Palmer (on his 2009 reissue of 200 Motels) claims that all elements of the script derived from Zappa's trunk's worth of material were completed during production. It was the first feature film photographed on videotapeWorld Radio History - Studio Sound (page 23) and transferred to 35 mm film, a process that allowed for novel visual effects.Starks, 1982, Cocaine Fiends and Reefer Madness, 1579511899, p. 153. Release and reception United Artists' press kit for the film stated "For the audience that already knows and appreciates THE MOTHERS, [it] will provide a logical extension of our concerts and recordings."David Walley No commercial potential: the saga of Frank Zappa 22 August 1996 0-306-80710-6 136 Da Capo Press The film premiere was shown at Doheny Plaza Theater in Hollywood, California to mixed reviews.Lowe, 2006, The Words and Music of Frank Zappa, p. 94. 200 Motels currently holds a 50% rating on Rotten Tomatoes based on eight reviews.https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/frank_zappa_two_hundred_motels 200 Motels Rotten Tomatoes Roger Ebert gave the film three stars out of four, saying that the film; "is a joyous, fanatic, slightly weird experiment in the uses of the color videotape process", and also stating; "It assaults the mind with everything on hand".https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/200-motels-1971 200 Motels Roger Ebert November 29, 1971 Soundtrack 200 Motels (soundtrack) The soundtrack to 200 Motels was released by United Artists Records on October 4, 1971, and features a combination of rock and jazz songs, orchestral music and comedic spoken dialogue. The rock and comedy songs "Mystery Roach", "Lonesome Cowboy Burt", "Daddy, Daddy, Daddy", "What Will This Evening Bring Me This Morning" and "Magic Fingers", and the finale "Strictly Genteel", which mixes orchestral and rock elements, were noted as highlights of the album by reviewer Richie Unterberger. The score relied extensively on orchestral music, and Zappa's dissatisfaction with the classical music world intensified when a concert, scheduled at the Royal Albert Hall after filming, was canceled because a representative of the venue found some of the lyrics obscene. In 1975, he lost a lawsuit against the Royal Albert Hall for breach of contract.Zappa with Occhiogrosso, 1989, The Real Frank Zappa Book, pp. 119–137. When "Penis Dimension" was played to the judge, Mr Justice Mocatta, he responded "Have I got to listen to this?" The UK première was not until 29 October 2013, almost 20 years after Zappa's death.https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/music/news/frank-zappa-settles-an-old-score-after-42-years-banned-in-1971-200-motels-will-finally-be-played-in-the-uk-8755933.html Frank Zappa settles an old score after 42 years: Banned in 1971, '200 Motels' will finally be played in the UK Manning Sanchez 2013-08-11 11 August 2013 London The Independent 2013-08-11 https://web.archive.org/web/20130811014106/http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/music/news/frank-zappa-settles-an-old-score-after-42-years-banned-in-1971-200-motels-will-finally-be-played-in-the-uk-8755933.html deadGittins Ian 200 Motels – review https://www.theguardian.com/music/2013/oct/30/200-motels-frank-zappa-review 14 November 2013 The Guardian 30 October 2013 The album was not released on compact disc until 1997, as a result of a licensing deal between Rykodisc (at the time the licensee for all of Zappa's other albums from the Zappa Family Trust (ZFT), numbering over 60 titles) and MGM allowing them to re-release numerous rare movie-musical soundtracks on CD. With the addition of this title, Ryko was finally able to offer the complete catalog of official Zappa recordings, as numerous legal proceedings both during Zappa's lifetime and afterwards failed to cede ownership of the rights and tapes to ZFT. That 2-CD edition, now out of print, contained extensive liner notes and artwork as well as a small poster for the film, as well as bonus tracks consisting of radio promos for the film and the single edit of the song "Magic Fingers". Though many Zappa fans consider this album a key recording of the period, it was deemed by some music critics to be a peripheral album. AllMusic's Richie Unterberger critiqued what he referred to as the "growing tendency to deploy the smutty, cheap humor that would soon dominate much of Zappa's work", but said that "Those who like his late-'60s/early-'70s work [...] will probably like this fine". Legacy After 200 Motels, the band went on tour; the live album Just Another Band From L.A. included the 20-minute track "Billy the Mountain", Zappa's satire on rock opera set in Southern California. This track was representative of the band's theatrical performances in which songs were used to build up sketches based on 200 Motels scenes as well as new situations often portraying the band members' sexual encounters on the road.Miles, 2004, Frank Zappa, pp. 203–204. A show was produced in 2018 in France (Festival Musica Strasbourg and Philharmonie de Paris), staged by Antoine Gindt and conducted by Léo Warynski. This production was revivaled in Opéra de Nice in December 2023.https://theatre-musique.com/spectacle/200-motels/ T&M - Théâtre & Musique See also List of American films of 1971 List of films featuring hallucinogens References External links 0066732 200 Motels Review of the 2010 DVD release https://web.archive.org/web/20180801200034/http://sotcaa.org/editnews/200-Motels-On-DVD.html August 1, 2018 2013 Los Angeles Master Chorale Production with LAPhil.org 200 Motels Category:1971 films Category:1970s avant-garde and experimental films Category:1970s satirical films Category:American rock music films Category:British rock music films Category:American satirical films Category:American avant-garde and experimental films Category:British avant-garde and experimental films Category:British satirical films Category:Films directed by Frank Zappa Category:Films directed by Tony Palmer (director) Category:Films scored by Frank Zappa Category:Films shot at Pinewood Studios Category:Surrealist films Category:Self-reflexive films Category:United Artists films Category:Films with live action and animation Category:1971 English-language films Category:1971 American films Category:1971 British films Category:English-language satirical films