200 Motels (The Film)
Release Info
Released by: United Artists (US), Runtime: 98 minutes, Rated: R, ASIN: 630196392X.
Theatrical release dates: 1971/10/27 (MGM Movie Database), 1971/11/10 (US), 1971/11/20 (Sweden).
Video release dates:
1984 - VHS NTSC - Warner Home Video WB PGX 9949 (German)
1985/06 - VHS - Warner Home Video PEV 99498
1988 - VHS NTSC - Warner Home Video WB PES 99498 (English)
1988 - VHS PAL - Warner Home Video (UK) V PES 99498
1994/12/07 - VHS NTSC - MGM/UA M200423
1994/08/01 - VHS PAL - MGM/UA Rock Classics S050423 (UK)
1997 - Laserdisc MGM/UA ML100423
Tracks
Cast & Crew
THEODORE BIKEL
RINGO STARR
MARK VOLMAN
HOWARD KAYLAN
IAN UNDERWOOD
AYNSLEY DUNBAR
GEORGE DUKE
KEITH MOON
JANET FERGUSON
LUCY OFFERALL
JIMMY CARL BLACK
MARTIN LICKERT
DICK BARBER
DON PRESTON
PAMELA MILLER
RUTH UNDERWOOD
JUDY GRIDLEY
music composed and arranged by FRANK ZAPPA
music performed by ROYAL PHILHARMONIC ORCHESTRA
choreographed by GILLIAN LYNNE
story and screenplay by FRANK ZAPPA
shooting script by TONY PALMER
associate producers RAOUL RAGEL • BRIAN HARRIS
produced by JERRY GOOD • HERB COHEN
characterizations directed by FRANK ZAPPA
visuals directed by TONY PALMER
Special Material MARK VOLMAN • HOWARD KAYLAN
Orchestra Leader COLIN STAVELEY
Orchestra Chairman JOHN LOWDELL
Acting Orchestra General Manager TOM PETZAL
Orchestra Conductor ELGAR HOWARTH
Chorus TOP SCORE SINGERS
Choral Director DAVID VAN ASCH
Animation MURAKAMI WOLF PRODUCTIONS
Animation Director CHARLES SWENSON
Graphic Production CAL SCHENKEL • KUNIMI TERADA • FUMIKO ROCHE • ELIZABETH WRIGHT • WILMA GUENOT • ANN OLIPHANT
Production Design CAL SCHENKEL
Art Director LEO AUSTIN
Unit Production Manager DAVID ANDERSON
Lion Television Services Production Manager ROY GARNER
Lion Television Services Controller TOM KEYLOCK
Assistant Director DAVID ALEXANDER
2nd Assistant Director JIM MC CUTCHEON
Dancers Music Associate RAY COOK
Lighting Director PETER DYSON
Technical Director ALAN MASHFORD
Sound Supervisor PETER HUBBARD
16 Track Recordist ROBERT AUGER
Continuity Clerk LYN GOMEZ
Production Secretary JAQI WILLIAMSON
Vision Mixer ANNE ROWE
Vision Supervisor ROLAND BROWN
Construction Supervisor HARRY PHIPPS
Costume Design SUE YELLAND
Hairdresser MERVYN MEDALIE
Makeup PAUL RABIGER
Unit Publicist IAN STOCK
Special Effects BERT LUXFORD
Still Photographer BARRY PEAKE
Wire Specialist INKY INGRAM
Props PADDY BENNETT
Vision Engineers RICHARD THOMPSON • SELWYN MINDEL • NEVILLE HOKSFIELD
Cameramen DAVE SWAN • BARRIE DODD • MIKE FITCH • JOHN HOWARD
Video Tape Editors BARRY STEPHENS • RAY NUNNEY
Dubbed at TODD A-O
Film Editing RICH HARRISON
Video Tape Transfer to Film TECHNICOLOR-ENGLAND
Video Tape Equipment LION TELEVISION SERVICES
Produced at PINEWOOD STUDIOS, IVERHEATH, ENGLAND
Uncredited: Jim "Motorhead" Sherwood, Jim Pons, Phyllis Bryn-Julson, Classical Guitar Ensemble, John Williams
Background
Financed by United Artists for half a million dollars, shot using innovative video technology at Pinewood Studios in England (same as "2001: A Space Odyssey"), in seven days and after only five days of rehearsal, with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra and the Top Score Singers. It was filmed on four silmutaneously running video cameras. One-third of the 320 page script was never shot.
Jeff Simmons quit halfway through and was replaced by Martin Lickert, Ringo Starr's chauffeur.
Theodore Bikel, the Austrian folk singer managed by Herb Cohen, was the uniformed MC.
Features Keith Moon as a nun, and Dick Barber as a vacuum cleaner...
It's a surrealistic look at how touring makes you crazy and the efforts that band members have to go through to get some "action". The entire movie is a musical with some lines of dialogue but mainly songs.
The movie also features a 10 minute animated sequence.
Recommend viewing either right before or right after the film: True Story of 200 Motels.
Liner Notes
A MURAKAMI WOLF / BIZARRE PRODUCTION
FRANK ZAPPA'S "200 MOTELS"
STARRING THE MOTHERS OF INVENTION · RINGO STARR · THEODORE BIKEL
MUSIC PERFORMED BY THE MOTHERS OF INVENTION · FRANK ZAPPA · MARK VOLMAN · HOWARD KAYLAN · IAN UNDERWOOD · AYNSLEY DUNBAR · GEORGE DUKE AND THE ROYAL PHILHARMONIC ORCHESTRA
MUSIC COMPOSED AND ARRANGED BY FRANK ZAPPA
STORY AND SCREENPLAY BY FRANK ZAPPA
CHARACTERIZATIONS DIRECTED BY FRANK ZAPPA
VISUALS DIRECTED BY TONY PALMER
PRODUCED BY JERRY GOOD AND HERB COHEN
From PES 99498 VHS (UK): MIND-BOGGLING EAR-BLOWING POP FANTASY AT ITS BEST! "Touring can make you crazy", announces ex-Beatle Ringo Starr at the start of the movie, "And that's what 200 Motels is all about". So prepare youself for an explosion of outrageous, fast and furious humor, zany satire and extraordinary visual invention in a riveting musical fantasy of the Seventies which makes most of today's pop videos look tame by comparison. The movie is a surrealistic 'documentary' about what happens when the performers on a rock tour begin to feel that every motel, every auditorium and all the groupies start to look alike. Set in the mythical town of Centerville, USA, 200 Motels stars Frank Zappa, the leader of one of the Seventies' greatest rock bands, The Mothers Of Invention, along with Ringo Starr, Theodore Bikel and the legendary Keith Moon, coming together in a consistently fascinating and free-wheeling movie that is a treat for all fans of Frank Zappa and his group and a not-to-be-missed eye and ear-opener for every addict of great pop music. Said Time: "The craziness climaxes, fittingly enough, with a full cast and chorus raising their voices in an irreverent anthem: "Lord, have mercy on the fate of this movie/and God bless the mind of the man in the street". Mothers fans will be ecstatic. Don't miss it.
From M200423 VHS (USA): "Just the right touch of insanity... a stunning achievement." - Robert Hilburn, Los Angeles Times. 200 Motels is Frank Zappa's outrageous, psychedelic precursor to today's rock videos - his hilarious response to the burning question of what to do with road-wrecked musicians. Should they rip off the motel's towels and ashtrays or merely quit the group? Dare they rebel against the tyranny of the merciless Zappa? "The Mothers Of Invention," as irrepressible as Zappa himself, wreck havoc in Centerville, a "typical" American town with its Rancid Boutique, Cheesy Motel, Fake Nightclub, Redneck Eats Cafe, groupies and an honest-to-goodness Main Street. Ringo Starr, in Zappa disquise and carrying an oil lamp, narrates. Theodore Bikel is government agent Rance Muhammitz. The hysterically funny man behind such hits as "Valley Girl," "Dancin' Fool" and "Don't Eat The Yellow Snow," Zappa reasserts his genius in this "zaniest piece of filmusical fantasy-comedy since The Beatles' A Hard Day's Night." - Daily Variety
