1971: FRANK ZAPPA talks 200 Motels | The Old Grey Whistle Test | BBC Archive

"We carry it to such extremes that everybody knows that it's obviously fake, and we try and emphasise that, thereby making it an honest film." - Frank Zappa

Richard Williams interviews Frank Zappa about his first feature film, the surrealist road movie 200 Motels, starring The Mothers of Invention, Ringo Starr and Keith Moon. Can The Mothers of Invention's fictional account of life on tour succeed where so many other films in an ostensibly similar mould have failed?


Clip taken from The Old Grey Whistle Test, originally broadcast on BBC Two, Tuesday 16 November, 1971.

NB: There is a persistent mechanical hum throughout this interview - possibly a telecine machine running in the background, or an especially hard working air conditioner - there is also a brief issue with the videotape 36 seconds in. We still thought you might like to see it.





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