200 Motels (1971)
200 Motels is a 1971 surreal 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 and Ringo Starr.
A soundtrack album was released in the same year, with a slightly different selection of music.
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. 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".
-
0/2000
-
2:26
Art, Music, Drama & Truth Seeking
1 day agoIn The Rays Of A Beautiful Sun
45 -
54:43
LFA TV
1 day agoTrump vs. Karl-Theodor zu Guttenberg | TRUMPET DAILY 2.18.25 7PM
11.5K3 -
2:02:21
Revenge of the Cis
6 hours agoEpisode 1449: Boo This
55.7K9 -
1:20:31
Awaken With JP
7 hours agoWiping Hard Drives, Hire a Criminal Defense Lawyer - LIES Ep 79
95.5K59 -
1:02:23
In The Litter Box w/ Jewels & Catturd
1 day agoDEI Kills | In the Litter Box w/ Jewels & Catturd – Ep. 744 – 2/18/2025
126K57 -
1:06:37
Game On!
5 hours ago $1.02 earnedBreaking Down COLLEGE BASKETBALL BETTING LINES Like a Pro!
44.5K3 -
1:01:29
John Crump Live
8 hours ago $3.37 earnedMexico Backs Cartels By Threatening To Designate Gun Manufactures As Terrorist!
39.4K12 -
2:14:09
The Nunn Report - w/ Dan Nunn
5 hours ago[Ep 611] DOGE On The March! | Guest Sam Anthony - [your]NEWS | Seditious Dems | Ukraine
44.6K13 -
1:00:56
The Tom Renz Show
12 hours agoThe War On DOGE Is ALSO A War On The Economy
54.1K13 -
1:30:16
Steve-O's Wild Ride! Podcast
5 days ago $2.89 earnedAri Shaffir Exposes The Dark Side of Podcasting - Wild Ride #252
72.4K3
1 Comment