200 Motels

1971
R
1h 38m

IMDb RATING

5.6/10

2.4K

YOUR RATING

The great Frank Zappa's outrageous psychedelic precursor to today's music videos features "The Mothers of Invention" wreaking havoc in a typical American town. Ringo Starr narrates.

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The great Frank Zappa's outrageous psychedelic precursor to today's music videos features "The Mothers of Invention" wreaking havoc in a typical American town. Ringo Starr narrates.The great Frank Zappa's outrageous psychedelic precursor to today's music videos features "The Mothers of Invention" wreaking havoc in a typical American town. Ringo Starr narrates.The great Frank Zappa's outrageous psychedelic precursor to today's music videos features "The Mothers of Invention" wreaking havoc in a typical American town. Ringo Starr narrates.

See production info at IMDbPro

IMDb RATING

5.6/10

2.4K

YOUR RATING

See production info at IMDbPro

Videos1

Trailer 2:59

Trailer

Photos21

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Storyline

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Did you know

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Trivia
The role of Jeff was originally intended for Mothers bassist Jeff Simmons, who quit the group just before filming. As a replacement, Frank Zappa hired Wilfrid Brambell, who walked off the set in a rage a few days later. During a crew meeting, Zappa announced that he would give the part to the next person who walked into the room. Martin Lickert, Sir Ringo Starr's chauffeur, was cast when he walked in with a pack of cigarettes for Starr.

Quotes
Rance Muhammitz: [as a TV show host, holding a microphone] Hi Larry, its good to have you back on our panel!
Larry The Dwarf: [holding a magic lamp] Hi Dave, its really great to be back on your panel!
Rance Muhammitz: I'm sure the people at home would be interested to know why such a large force as you is all dressed up like Frank Zappa. Tell us Larry, whats the deal?
Larry The Dwarf: He made me do it, Dave. He's such a creep. He's making me hold this aladdin.
Rance Muhammitz: And why is he making you do that, Larry?
Larry The Dwarf: He wants me to fuck the girl with the harp.
[Keith Moon as the nun peers out from behind the harp grinning]
Rance Muhammitz: He wants you to fuck the girl... with the harp?
Larry The Dwarf: NO, no! With the magic lamp! He wants me to stuff it up her and rub it.
[chuckles maniacally, host stares at him]
Rance Muhammitz: Let us ask our studio audience: if you had just been lowered down here on TV with a wire connected to a brown leather harness, forced by crazy person to insert a mysterious imported lamp in the rep-rep-rep
[has trouble pronouncing word with thick German accent]
Rance Muhammitz: into the, into the RE-productive orifice of a lady harpist, and you were a dwarf... would you do it?
Larry The Dwarf: YES!

Crazy credits
The closing credits are super-imposed over a number of production-related documents, including sheet music, scripts, shooting directions, memos, and expense reports.

Alternate versions
A laserdisc issue deletes the "Dental Hygiene Dilemma/quasi-Donald Duck on acid" animation sequence.

Connections
Featured in Frank Zappa: New York and Elsewhere (1980)

User reviews56

Review

Featured review

5/10

extremely weird and silly with some good music

Should you watch this film? I believe the following questions may be a decent guide to making this decision. Are you a Zappa fan who likes many of his different musical phases? If so, then this is a must. Are you a casual Zappa fan, partial to newer stuff only? If so, then approach with caution. Do you like very bizarre sequences put together seemingly at random? If so, this is a must. If you hate that kind of thing, then you will probably hate this. When in doubt, have a backup ready so you can switch to that if you lose patience. Oh, and guys out there, I wouldn't recommend showing this to your girlfriend unless she is a big Zappa fan. By all means, I do NOT recommend planning a romantic evening with a girl with standard pop culture tastes that is bookended by playing her samples of your Magma and King Crimson collection and then ending with a screening of 200 Motels, not even as an experiment. Trust me, I have tried this (once) and the results were not good. But I digress...

What do you get from 200 motels? Random weirdness and silliness with a very 1965-1970 feel to it, kind of like a strangely lighthearted feverish dream. You also get some very interesting music of highly variable quality and some great in-jokes that you will find hilarious if you have followed Zappa's career. I will never again be able to drive past a town named "Centerville" (there are lots of these in the midwest USA) without having that Flo and Eddie zombie-like sequence flash through my head. I would certainly not consider this a good film or anywhere close to a good film. But it is certainly oddly interesting.