Facebook Twitter Instagram YouTube
    Nostalgia Central
    • Home
    • Blog
      • Lists
    • Television
      • TV by Decade
        • TV – 1950s
        • TV – 1960s
        • TV – 1970s
        • TV – 1980s
        • TV – 1990s
      • Comedy
      • Drama
      • Kids TV
      • Variety
      • News & Sport
      • Advertisements
    • Music
      • Music by Decade
        • Music – 1950s
        • Music – 1960s
        • Music – 1970s
        • Music – 1980s
        • Music – 1990s
      • Artists – A to K
        • Artists – A
        • Artists – B
        • Artists – C
        • Artists – D
        • Artists – E
        • Artists – F
        • Artists – G
        • Artists – H
        • Artists – I
        • Artists – J
        • Artists – K
      • Artists – L to Z
        • Artists – L
        • Artists – M
        • Artists – N
        • Artists – O
        • Artists – P
        • Artists – Q
        • Artists – R
        • Artists – S
        • Artists – T
        • Artists – U
        • Artists – V
        • Artists – W
        • Artists – X
        • Artists – Y
        • Artists – Z
      • Artists – 0 to 9
      • Genres
      • Music on Film & TV
      • One-Hit Wonders
      • Playlists
      • Online Radio
    • Movies
      • Movies by Decade
        • Movies – 1950s
        • Movies – 1960s
        • Movies – 1970s
        • Movies – 1980s
        • Movies – 1990s
      • Movies – 0 to 9
      • Movies – A to K
        • Movies – A
        • Movies – B
        • Movies – C
        • Movies – D
        • Movies – E
        • Movies – F
        • Movies – G
        • Movies – H
        • Movies – I
        • Movies – J
        • Movies – K
      • Movies – L to Z
        • Movies – L
        • Movies – M
        • Movies – N
        • Movies – O
        • Movies – P
        • Movies – Q
        • Movies – R
        • Movies – S
        • Movies – T
        • Movies – U
        • Movies – V
        • Movies – W
        • Movies – X
        • Movies – Y
        • Movies – Z
    • Pop Culture
      • Fads
      • Toys & Games
      • Fashion
      • Decor
      • Food & Drink
      • People
      • Technology
      • Transport
    • Social History
      • 1950s Year by Year
      • 1960s Year by Year
      • 1970s Year by Year
      • 1980s Year by Year
      • 1990s Year by Year
      • Events
    Nostalgia Central
    Home»Movies»Movies - 0 to 9
    Movies - 0 to 9 Movies - 1970s 2 Mins Read

    200 Motels (1971)

    Share
    Facebook Twitter Pinterest WhatsApp Reddit Email

    Taking a leaf out of the cute anarchy of A Hard Day’s Night (1964), directors Frank Zappa and Tony Palmer invest Zappa’s own music (performed by the Mothers of Invention) with animation, sketches and jokes, much of it skewed towards a comic critique of touring, rock-band style.

    Zappa’s group live their plastic lives in the mythical town of Centerville, amidst a gaggle of gargoylish groupies, their creative juices sapped by Zappa and his doppelganger, Ringo Starr (in Zappa goatee and moustache), who float in and out of the action like a couple of malevolent spirits.

    Zappa and the Mothers have a series of surreal experiences that drive them to the brink of madness as they go on tour across America – occasionally accompanied by the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra.

    As with Zappa’s own brand of guitar hysteria, many of the interludes are imaginative, funny or mad (sometimes all three) and depend on the viewer having some knowledge of the fab world of pop.

    Zappa was the one rock star who could make noise fun. His libretto, by the way, was declared obscene, and so what was conceived as a live show became this film instead.

    Larry the Dwarf
    Ringo Starr
    Frank Zappa
    Himself
    Mothers of Invention
    Themselves
    Rance Muhammitz
    Theodore Bikel
    Bif Debris
    Don Preston
    Cowboy Burtram
    Jimmy Carl Black
    Hot Nun
    Keith Moon

    Director
    Frank Zappa
    Tony Palmer

    Related Posts

    • I Wanna Hold Your Hand (1978)
      I Wanna Hold Your Hand (1978)
      I Wanna Hold Your Hand is not a movie about The Beatles. It's a film about the fans and the…
    • Birth of the Beatles (1979)
      Birth of the Beatles (1979)
      This dismal TV movie - a Dick Clark production made for ABC-TV but released in cinemas in Europe - covers…
    • Shaft In Africa (1973)
      Shaft In Africa (1973)
      Richard Roundtree returned once more as the super-cool black private eye in this second sequel to the Blaxploitation classic Shaft (1971). With a screenplay…
    • Lisztomania (1975)
      Lisztomania (1975)
      Nineteenth-century composer, a spaceship, comedy zombie Hitler, Pope Ringo, and a giant penis: it must have sounded so good on…
    • Taking Off (1971)
      Taking Off (1971)
      This 1971 comedy-drama stars Lynn Carlin and Buck Henry as Lynn and Larry Tyne - middle-class New York suburbanites, whose…
    • Permissive (1972)
      Permissive (1972)
      Naive duffel-coated teen runaway Suzy (Maggie Stride) turns up in London and seeks out her old school friend Fiona (Gay…
    • Last Waltz, The (1978)
      Last Waltz, The (1978)
      This record of The Band's last concert - after sixteen years on the road - was shot on Thanksgiving Day…
    • Angels Die Hard (1970)
      Angels Die Hard (1970)
      The Angels outlaw motorcycle gang ride into the small town of Whiskey Flats and find themselves in a drunken brawl…

    Share. Facebook Twitter Pinterest WhatsApp Reddit Email
    Previous Article101 Dalmatians (1961)
    Next Article 633 Squadron (1964)

    Comments are closed.

    Follow us
    • Facebook
    • Twitter
    • YouTube
    • Instagram
    You May Also Like
    • Garry Mills
      Garry Mills was born on 13 October 1941 in West Wickham, Kent, […]
    • Soul Train
      1 9 7 1 – 2 0 0 6 (USA) The first-ever syndicated Soul […]
    • 1984 (1955)
      Produced in England, Michael Anderson’s 1955 version of […]
    • Two People
      1 9 7 9 (UK) 6 x 60 minute episodes Christine Fletcher (Gerry […]
    • Hand, The (1981)
      Oliver Stone directs Michael Caine in this hybrid horror that […]
    • Blakes, The
      1 9 5 5 (UK) 4 x 45 minute episodes Jim Blake (Robert Raglan) […]
    Twitter Feed
    Please note


    Nostalgia Central covers the period 1950 to 1999 and contains some words and references which reflect the attitudes of those times and which may be considered culturally sensitive, offensive or inappropriate today.
    Popular Tags
    1969 1970 1971 1972 1973 1975 1976 Action Figures Amicus Arcade games Australia Beach movies Beatles Blaxploitation Board games Britpop Canada Crime Disco Disney Doo-Wop Elvis Presley Girl groups Glam Goth Hammer Heavy Metal Irwin Allen Labels Merseybeat Mod revival Motown New Romantic New Wave NWOBHM Oi! One-hit wonders Power Pop Pub rock Punk Radio Scotland Ska Soul music Surf music
    Search Nostalgia Central
    Copyright © 1998, 2022 Nostalgia Central
    • About
    • Contact
    • FAQ

    Type above and press Enter to search. Press Esc to cancel.