200 Motels [VHS]

A Classic, Worth Multiple Viewings/Listenings
Touring CAN make you crazy, ladies and gentlemen, that's what "200 Motels" is all about (I know this from personal experience, which is one of the many reasons I really dig this movie). Saw this when it was first released and thereafter MANY times since, including a midnight showing in Chicago in 1974, and the VHS which I have seen multiple times since purchasing when IT was first released (not to mention the dozens and dozens of LP/CD playings) ... Fun, funny, witty, cynical, this rocks out without a doubt. WHEN WILL THIS BE RELEASED ON A LEGIMITATE DVD??? (I hope "The True Story of 200 Motels" will be one of the special features). Long live Frank Zappa.

Great birthday gift!
Bought this gift as a birthday gift for my boyfriend, HUGE Zappa fan. He loved it, has seen it before. Product was bought used, in great shape, exceeded my expectations on what I was buying. Seller was very communicative and helpful.

Mp delivery
I never received the product and never received an answer to my query. I'd suggest looking elsewhere for shopping.

Cult Classic that preaches to the choir
If you know nothing about this movie, there are a few facts you should be aware of before watching that help mitigate the usual hatred this movie elicits: 1) It had a budget of $700,000. Of that, $400,000 went directly to the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, so effectively this movie had a budget of $300,000. 2) It had a shooting schedule of five 8-hour days. Given these two tourniquet-like limitations, it is amazing that Zappa got ANYTHING done, let alone this final product. A good companion piece to this film is "The True Story of 200 Motels" which documents these (and numerous other) obsticles Zappa encountered while making this beast. If Gail Zappa ever gets around to issuing a DVD of 200 Motels, hopefully she will be precient enough to include The Making OF as a bonus feature... but I digress. Yes, this film is technically "bad," but it's so bad it's good, and it has much self-effacing humor within it about how bad it is. Admittedly, the movie doesn't have a plot per se: it is a collection of "road stories" designed to underscore the central theme that "touring can make you crazy." 200 Motels has a heavy dose of Dadaism, which admittedly I have never been a big fan of, but in this case it semems to work, as it lends well to the budget limitations and surreal feeling of the film. Likewise, much of the score is avante garde neo-classical, which I have never been into (if I want classical music, give me the baroque masters.) If you are new to the Zappa universe, this probably is a bad place to start, as the film relies heavily on "inside jokes" and references to the previous corpus of Zappa/Mothers musical inventory -- what is known as his "Conceptual Continuity." I've got his entire catalogue so I GET the jokes, but friends I've shown this to who knew little to nothing about FZ merely scratched their heads with a perplexed look. Tellingly, though, they all admitted they *liked* it, even if they didn't *understand* it. Obviously, this film is not for everyone, especially those prone to epilepsy (a joke/warning which is made early in the film!) or those who need a linear, well-defined plot. If you're willing to risk something "different," though, give it a try.

zappa for the ages
...when released in the psychedelic '60's, was mentioned as the first piece of "electro-cinematography", filmed in video with electronic effects, and then transfered to celluloid. A strange and eclectic cast playing strange and eclectic people, the images are varied and held together loosely by a minimal theme. A definite Zappa commentary on life, Amerika, rock & roll, good/evil, man, the devil and the human condition. If you don't like Zappa, you definitely will not like it. It is as unique as all of Zappa's works, and does not necessarily reflect or relate to any of his previous or subsequent works and has to be evaluated as a statement in its' own right. See it again and again and again... -A.Biker