200 Motels
200 Motels  
Podcast: The Beatles Films Podcast
Published On: Mon Jun 22 2026
Description: We're in agreement: this is the worst film we've covered. Yes, worse than Sextette. Ringo Starr's role in Frank Zappa's 1971 freakout film seems like it could've gone to anyone: is there a specific reason for using him as a Zappa avatar in this film? We also talk Zappa and free speech: do the arguably puerile lyrics undermine the virtuoso musicianship of Zappa and the Mothers of Invention? And did John Lennon and Yoko Ono rip off a Zappa song after they played together?A WARNING: there is more effing and jeffing in this episode than usual, because of the necessity to quote some of the dialogue to discuss it.Watch 200 Motels: https://m.ok.ru/video/1559126346278The documentary The True Story of 200 Motels: https://youtu.be/hHupp3ZDKAkThéâtre du Grand-Guignol: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grand_GuignolCirque de Clunes on Knowing Me, Knowing You with Alan Partridge: https://youtu.be/hPQHHP7dfjUBenson Boone: https://youtube.com/@bensonbooneThe Darkness: https://youtube.com/@theactualdarknessJamrag/King Kong, as of 2025's Power to the People box set, now credits Zappa as a writer: https://youtu.be/4BDPdquOpnkRingo's quote about his waning commitment to filmmaking is from Alan Clayson's book Ringo Starr: https://share.google/mEjJ4ljorGZFTVQmi Meet the Beatles Films PodcastThe Beatles Films Podcast is hosted by Matt Looker and Ed Williamson. We're both film writers and Beatles fans. Between us we've written for TheShiznit.co.uk, Total Film, Den of Geek and Virgin Media.But tomorrow may rain, so you'll follow us on:Instagram https://instagram.com/beatlesfilmspodBluesky https://bsky.app/profile/beatlesfilmspod.bsky.socialYouTube https://www.youtube.com/@BeatlesFilmsPodcastThreads https://www.threads.net/@beatlesfilmspodFacebook https://www.facebook.com/groups/304654901827622Go to https://www.beatlesfilmspod.com/podcast-episodes for full notes on each episode, with links to watch the films where available. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.