Ringo Star as a dwarf in Frank Zappa disguise, Keith Moon as a suicidal groupie in a nun's habit and two half-naked groupies, fluttering around to music from The Mothers Of Invention, led by the two clownish fat guys Mark Volman and Howard Kaylan. All elements from the 1971 film 200 Motels by Frank Zappa and director Tony Palmer. Sounds intriguing, but the feature film as a whole is a hard one to
… struggle through, without a real story and with wooden band members acting in images full of epileptic effects. Film and soundtrack are therefore certainly not known as masterpieces by master Zappa. His heirs scarcely care about this disastrous project, ravaged by lack of time and budget, band member Jeff Simmons who saw nothing and left halfway through recording and hired The Royal Philharmonic Orchestra that not only struggled with Zappa's score but whose orchestra members also began to misbehave in protest during the chaotic shooting days. Palmer has now revised the film and smoothed it out somewhat. Zappa wanted to show, with a lot of sex jokes, how decadent and empty the existence of a rock group was at the time. This grotesque novelty does not show it but is part of it. Makes it worth seeing at least once. (MR) show how decadent and empty the existence of a rock group was at the time. This grotesque novelty does not show that, but is part of it. Makes it worth seeing at least once. (MR) show how decadent and empty the existence of a rock group was at the time. This grotesque novelty does not show that, but is part of it. Makes it worth seeing at least once. (MR)more
