Celluloid Heroes: Frank Zappa and 200 Motels

Celluloid Heroes: Frank Zappa and 200 Motels: "

Surrealistic insanity is what you’ll get from 200 Motels, a 1971 American-British musical documentary featuring Frank Zappa and the Mothers of Invention. Both directed and written by Zappa and Tony Palmer, and produced at the Pinewood Studios in England, the films features the likes of Ringo Starr (who plays a Zappa lookalike named Larry the Dwarf), Theodore Bikel, Flo and Eddie, Jimmy Carl Black, and Keith Moon in drag playing a nun. As an ironic twist, Zappa is often seen on screen, but never says a single word.

Typical of Zappa, this film is a display of pioneering experimentalism, with a number of subplots, bizarre humor, and music, as it centers around a band on a seemingly endless tour, as the title refers to an approximation of how many places the real life Mothers of Invention had stayed the previous six years. Reality and fiction merge in a melange of vignettes and productions numbers of “vile foamy liquids” and groupies, with references to Mephisto, Kafka, Kubrick’s 2001, work concentrations camps and animated sequences (there’s a cameo from Donald Duck), all hinged on the idea that touring in the 20th century made you crazy.

The film budget was less than $700K and was shot over seven days, with 11 days of editing, which resulted in low production values and a certain kind of chaos the film attempted to evoke. Actually, it’s been reported that $400K of the film’s budget went to the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, which lent to the film’s soundtrack. To keep costs down, the film was shot and edited entirely on two-inch Quadruplex videotape in the PAL format and transferred to film after post-production was complete. This was the first time that approach had been taken. If you stick around for the closing credits, you’ll notice they are superimposed over its own expense reports.

The music featured on the soundtrack sees different sequences than the film itself, with not all the music in the film on the album, nor all the music in the album in the film. The double album soundtrack, like the film, was also completed in a week, done in a remote recording studio truck owned by the Rolling Stones, which was driven to Pinewood and parked there for the week. Music features in 200 Motels is reminiscent of earlier Zappa works such as the orchestral Run Home Slow from 1965 and his first solo LP in 1968, Lumpy Gravy. Variety and satirical parodies includes the faux country tune “Lonesome Cowboy Burt” featuring Jimmy Carl Black, rock selections like “Do You Like My New Car”, “Shove It Right In”, and “Magic Fingers.” Rare are any guitar solos though, and lyrics are generally hinged on a critique of sexual behavior in American society. Orchestral arrangements are influenced by composers like Stravinsky and Webern, along with chamber music, avant-garde, and 12-tone repertoire. The majority of the musical soundtrack was recorded live as the film was show. No lip-synching here.

If you’re new to the world of Zappa, or like linear plot structure, or don’t understand what’s funny about naked groupies trying to console a depressed nun, this movie probably ain’t for you. But amongst the strangeness and experimental nature of 200 Motels lives astounding and beautiful compositions and a rich weirdness of the times in 1971 that has many rewards. And, in some ways, is much better than the better-known Zappa film Baby Snakes.

Check out the trailer for the film:

A clip featuring the tune “Magic Fingers”:

“She Painted Her Face”:

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