Main Cast: The Mothers of Invention, Theodore Bikel, Ringo Starr, Janet Ferguson, Lucy Offerall
Release Year: 1971
Country: UK
Run Time: 98 minutes
MPAA Rating: R
Plot
Less a movie than a purposely crude series of musical vignettes and inside jokes for die-hard fans, Frank Zappa informs viewers in the opening scene that "Touring can make you crazy, ladies and gentlemen, and that is what 200 Motels is all about." The rest of the plot-less production is filled with more self-reflexive reminders, as the close-up eye and tape recorder signal that Zappa is watching everything his bandmembers are doing. Reasonably, the Mothers of Invention make up the cast, notably Jimmy Carl Black, who repeatedly remarks how he just wants to quit the band and go play real music, have a beer, and get laid. The character of Jeff, played by Martin Lickert, was written for bassist Jeff Simmons, who actually did quit the band just prior to shooting. Other cast members include real-life groupies appearing in some bizarre nudity sequences, along with the Who's drummer Keith Moon as the Hot Nun who overdoses on drugs. Ringo Starr appears as Larry the Dwarf and lends some humorous narration, but that does not clarify any of the proceedings. The action supposedly takes place in Centerville, which is really a kind of poorly dressed set guarded by soldiers. The scenes are randomly assembled and interspersed with performances, including the songs "Lonesome Cowboy Burt," "Magic Fingers," and "Strictly Genteel." ~ Andrea LeVasseur, All Movie Guide
Review
A truly bizarre head movie, 200 Motels claims to be about life on the road for the touring musician. One of the first feature-length movies to be shot on videotape and transferred to 35 mm film for the theatrical release, it was made in less than a week in England with a minimal budget. Having no plot to follow coupled with the amateurish cinematography makes for an intentionally disturbing cinematic experience. However, the tacky production design, bold colors, and jarring edits that seem to be chosen at random are classic components of late-'60s and early-'70s psychedelia. Made during Zappa's artistic fascination with the rock & roll touring lifestyle as evidenced in his albums of the time (Chunga's Revenge, Fillmore East), the cast includes real-life groupies including Pamela Miller, who later authored I'm With the Band: Confessions of a Groupie. A must-see for Zappa fans, the dialogue is filled with in-jokes and references. Like Zappa's music, 200 Motels is provocative, funny, and an over-the-top satire; but unlike the musician's recordings, it is not as finely crafted. Featuring the music from the album of the same name with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, this project met one of Zappa's longtime goals of recording with a full symphony. ~ Andrea LeVasseur, All Movie Guide
Pamela Miller - Interviewer; George Duke - Member of Mothers of Invention; Royal Philharmonic Orchestra; Howard Kaylan - Member of Mothers of Invention; Keith Moon - The Hot Nun; Tony Palmer; Don Preston - Member of Mothers of Invention; Mark Volman - Member of Mothers of Invention; Frank Zappa - Himself; Jimmy Carl Black - Lonesome Cowboy Burt
Credit
Leo Austin - Art Director, Nick White - Art Director, Gillian Lynne - Choreography, Sue Yelland - Costume Designer, David Alexander - First Assistant Director, Tony Palmer - Director, Frank Zappa - Director, James Ruxin - Editor, Richard Harrison - Editor, Elliot Solomon - Composer (Music Score), Frank Zappa - Composer (Music Score), Tony Palmer - Cinematographer, Herb Cohen - Producer, Jerry Good - Producer, Richard Alonzo - Special Effects, Bert Luxford - Special Effects, Tony Palmer - Screenwriter, Frank Zappa - Screenwriter
The US$600,000 film budget resulted in a seven-day shoot and eleven days of editing. Its low production values and frenetic schedule contributed to the insanity which the film attempted to evoke. Although the film's main theme is "life on the road" for a touring rock musician in the late twentieth century, it makes broader comments about the surreal state of the political and cultural life of America and the world during that time.
Its references include Mephisto, Kafka, Kubrick's2001, work re-education/concentration camps and an animated sequence with a cameo of Donald Duck featured as part of a video/musical collage. These broader, symbolic culture references coexist with specific characters and places: i.e. "Lonesome Cowboy Burt", a non-union roofer who savagely beats up hippies and leftists, and two groupies, Lucy Offerall and Janet Neville.
The film's creative talents include the Mothers of Invention and the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, the actor Theodore Bikel, and rock-stars Ringo Starr (playing Larry the Dwarf and Frank Zappa) and The Who's drummer, Keith Moon (in drag, playing a nun).
The plot is both nebulous and nonexistent as a narrative or as a series of vignettes and production numbers. According to Zappa, only a third of his script was filmed. The director, several actors and a band member quit mid-production. These events accounted for several radical, last-minute changes.
To keep costs down, the film was shot and edited entirely on 2 inch Quadruplex videotape in the PAL format and only transferred to film after post-production was complete, a cinematographic first. PAL is the standard video and broadcast system used in over 120 countries and territories in Europe, South America, Asia, and Africa, and has approximately 20% more lines of resolution than the U.S. NTSC video standard. The rushes and the unused scenes were later erased and sold as used bulk video tape.
The music on the soundtrack is in a different sequence than the film. In addition, Zappa explained in the soundtrack album notes that, not all the music in the film is on the album, and not all the music on the album is in the film. Some of the music written for the project is not in the movie or on the soundtrack album.
This was not the first time that Zappa combined orchestral and rock music on film. He did this in his very first film score The World's Greatest Sinner in 1962. The music in 200 Motels also has similarities to earlier Zappa works, such as the orchestral score to Run Home Slow (1965) as well as his first solo LP, Lumpy Gravy, from 1968.
The double album soundtrack, like the film, was completed in a week. The production took place at Pinewood studios in England and the recording of the band without the orchestra took place after the day's filming was complete. This was done with a rented remote recording studio/truck owned by the Rolling Stones which was driven into the movie studio and parked there for a week.
A large variety of musical styles and satirical parodies of musical styles on the album, including the faux country "Lonesome Cowboy Burt" with a vocal by Jimmy Carl Black. Rock band selections include "Do You Like My New Car", "Shove It Right In" and "Magic Fingers". Little space is given to guitar solos on the album and lyrics throughout the album are typically obsessed with sexual behaviour, critical of American society.
Zappa's orchestral compositions exhibit the influence of composers he admired such as Varèse, Stravinsky and Webern. The soundtrack also includes operatic vocals by a group of "serious" singers on some pieces and the entire panoply of modern chamber music, twentieth century orchestra, avante-garde and twelve-tone repertoire are also represented on the soundtrack.
The film's closing credits are superimposed over its own expense reports.
Frank Zappa appears in this film, but only as a musician. The role of "Frank Zappa" as a film character is played by Ringo Starr.
The film influenced the title of the BBC TV series 500 Bus Stops starring comedian John Shuttleworth[1]
The bulk of the musical soundtrack for this film was recorded live as the film was shot (with the exception of the torchlight procession scene during the song "Penis Dimension"); a sharp departure from the traditional method of recording the music beforehand and lipsynching during filming.
The oft-repeated claim that the film was shot in the same studio as 2001: A Space Odyssey is incorrect. That film was shot at a different, MGM-owned studio on the outskirts of London. The iconic black monolith seen in the film is a visual reference and mock-up, not the actual prop. All the properties from 2001 were destroyed at Stanley Kubrick's request after the filming was completed.
The film Dirty Duck (aka The Down and Dirty Duck), an X-rated animated film directed by Charles Swenson and starring Flo & Eddie (Mark Volman and Howard Kaylan), was another Murakami-Wolf production. The film's characters evolved from the "Dental Hygiene Dilemma" animation sequence Swenson created for Frank Zappa's film 200 Motels,[1]. The plot concerned a straight-laced blue collar worker named Willard who meets a duck, who decides to take Willard on a raunchy adventure.
