200 Motels (1971)

Best movie of this year hands down!

Admirable film.

Great movie. Not sure what people expected but I found it highly entertaining.

A terrific literary drama and character piece that shows how the process of creating art can be seen differently by those doing it and those looking at it from the outside.

Tony Palmer Films has reissued 200 MOTELS on DVD in "restored" form, with an interesting audio commentary from Tony that expands on how the film was produced and dispels some of the film's long standing rumors (ex: "the master tapes were destroyed" - Tony claims he still has them intact.).Unfortunately, the film print used, while having decent color, suffers from restoration artifacts and is often dirty and scratched (why the video tapes themselves were not used to make a new print is unknown). The 2 channel mono audio's muddy and occasionally drops out on one side or the other. Occasional splices obliterate short sections of the film, including Ringo Starr's description of how he, as "Larry the Dwarf", attracts women.Definitely worthwhile for Frank's fans who will again have access to this relatively obscure work.

I've been a fan since 1974 and had the fortune of obtaining the original Mothers albums CHEAP -as MGM/Verve was deleting them from its catalog. Then I caught up on the Warner Brothers albums and was never enamoured with the 'Flo & Eddie' period. Still I caught 200 Motels at one of those 99 cent midnight movies that were popular back then. Everyone in the audience looked a lot like the people up on the screen and when it was over it made me think that "Flower Power" may have been a myth after all; in a way I think the experience made me appreciate and/or pity those Mothers working under such grueling conditions. The 'story'appears to make the members of the Mothers look like sexist pigs in the pre-feminist era of 1971. Mostly they behave pathetic and predatory. As Frank stated in "The True Story of 200 Motels" its easier to get guys to essentially play themselves, which makes it remarkable that they all go along with it. Some of you may recall Jeff Simmons quit the group when he saw the lines he was supposed to deliver, which turned out to be self-fulfilling prophesy!

I need to watch this again. That's something of a compliment, I think. Maybe I shouldn't think regarding a movie- so called- like 200 Motels. It's the kind of picture where the term 'freewheeling rock & roll comedy' would pop up as an example in the dictionary. As I recall there's nothing by way of plot to describe, except that the 'Mothers', Frank Zappa's band that he had early on his career, have to deal with the stress and issues of the road. This is interspersed with live musical performances (not just music played and then with other music dubbed over it, but live on film, er videotape), and some other odd little tidbits. But to use the word 'odd' with 200 Motels is too kind, and in fact just too bland. Maybe for some fans of experimental cinema it's still too rooted in trying to be funny to really accomplish anything truly groundbreaking. And to others it might just seem like Zappa is whackin it cinematically onto videotape.But it's hard to discount the 'period' value of the movie too, and I did have quite a few good laughs at some of the (as a given) random stuff that occurred throughout. There's even a spot-on cool turn by Ringo Starr as the "fake" Frank Zappa. Also, the music, which is what many will seek out 200 Motels for- not least of which Zappa's fans, of which I am more or less depending on the album- is pretty awesome and delightfully whacked out, even if it's a little much into the 'riffs' as opposed to Zappa's more well known tracks like Nanook and Montana. The Royal Symphony Orchestra accompaniment allows for Zappa to go ambitious with what he intends, which is not hard at all for him really considering that he IS more of a composer than a typical rock n roll guitarist. If I can't recommend the movie as much as I might want to though it's because it is the kind of experimental 60s-70s 'lets-go-wild-with-style' picture that does meander in spots, or rather because of its lack of sense if not in the right frame of mind (possibly one not under stimulants) it'll seem like trash.I do need to see it again to completely take in what specifically I liked in what scenes. Yet if you happen to come across this by chance in your video store or in some other markets, just read the back and you'll get an idea. If you take the chance and watch it, you might find that it's got some of the most bizarre, deranged, kooky and just plain weird fun type scenes in any non-traditional rock movie ever. That Zappa was a fervent anti-drug musician makes some of this all the more unique, or stupid, or both. This may also put off some of Zappa's fans who like the music but can't stand visuals and gags almost stuck in a time capsule. I dug it though, and I hope to 'dig it' again.

To many people, musician Frank Zappa's counterculture rants were dangerous, to some sexually charged and stimulating, and still to others tired and boring. Somehow, he managed to cut a deal with United Artists and filmed what emerged as a free-form musical diatribe on drugs, sex, the gap between generations (musicians vs. the common businessman) and post-psychedelic expression. With MTV some 10 years off, this was the only way Zappa and his Mothers (of Invention) could bring their ideas together, but unfortunately it's too messy to involve anyone beyond Zappa's core audience. Ringo Starr, in Frank Zappa garb, has some curious speeches that attempt to clarify Zappa's concepts of society, and some of the rock music is indeed exciting, but Frank Z. is far too defensive to be much fun. Surely some of these directionless scenes are meant to be satiric, but his sense of humor is always undermined by a draggy, self-serious need to "teach us something". It's a post-"Laugh In" series of sketches which might've been personally felt out, but they fail to grab hold because, technically, they look terrible. Grungy, and undermined by druggy influences, the movie doesn't take shape. Besides, Bob Rafelson and the Monkees did this kind of thing first (and more slickly, to involve a wider audience) with "Head" in 1968.