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/1559126346278
• The documentary The True Story of 200 Motels: https://youtu.be/hHupp3ZDKAk
• Théâtre du Grand-Guignol: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grand_Guignol
• Cirque de Clunes on Knowing Me, Knowing You with Alan Partridge: https://youtu.be/hPQHHP7dfjU
• Benson Boone: https://youtube.com/@bensonboone
• The Darkness: https://youtube.com/@theactualdarkness
• Jamrag/King Kong, as of 2025's Power to the People box set, now credits Zappa as a writer: https://youtu.be/4BDPdquOpnk
• Ringo's quote about his waning commitment to filmmaking is from Alan Clayson's book Ringo Starr: https://share.google/mEjJ4ljorGZFTVQmi

The 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:

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This film is of Mark Lewisohn's 2022 stage show bringing to life what the Beatles did in 1962, enhanced by on-location filming by director Chris Purcell. We talk about how it showcases a performance style and an enthusiasm that belies a reputation for dry historical detail. And quite a bit about Ringo Starr's drumming, as it turns out.

• You can rent Evolver 62 on Prime Video and Apple TV at the moment: https://www.justwatch.com/uk/movie/evolver-62
• And buy it on blu-ray in some territories: https://www.wowhd.co.uk/evolver-62/824355814323
• The Bill Hicks bit with the Ringo joke in it: https://youtu.be/-jIuP_Uk7Ak
• The Red Dwarf episode with the Ringo joke is series 2, episode 6, "Parallel Universe": https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/p00b8qy6/red-dwarf-ii-6-parallel-universe. See also series 1, episode 2, "Future Echoes" in which we find out Lister's robot goldfish are called Lennon and McCartney.
• The Ringo interview it turns out we were both thinking of was actually with Dave Stewart, not Elvis Costello: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vl9188EPdLI
• Trailer for Bart Layton's The Imposter, which repopularised reconstructions in documentary: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B1kHod0xa_8
• Actor Peter Boyle, at whose wedding John Lennon was best man: https://share.google/7TH4WLlIiuMSOvzW1
• Ed's point towards the end about how the surfeit of biography online affects fandom is paraphrased from Monsters: What Do We Do with Great Art by Bad People? by Claire Dederer: https://share.google/pXQbXdAMaKS5qEJdf

The 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/beatlesfilmspod
• Bluesky https://bsky.app/profile/beatlesfilmspod.bsky.social
• YouTube https://www.youtube.com/@BeatlesFilmsPodcast
• Threads https://www.threads.net/@beatlesfilmspod
• Facebook https://www.facebook.com/groups/304654901827622

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

1972's Imagine was part-longform music video for John Lennon's Imagine and Yoko Ono's Fly albums, and part-bonkers conceptual art film. We try and get to the bottom of it: does it mean anything, and does a work of art's meaning have to be intentional in order to be, well, meaningful? Plus some key themes: mass isolation, intimacy in celebrity, male femininity through submission: sure, why not?

• You can watch the 2018 remaster on Prime Video at the moment.
• The trailer for the 2018 cinema release: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ThIhgBloqN0
• The chess scene, set to Yoko's Don't Count the Waves: https://youtu.be/nVRhtWfJqXQ
• The video for the song Imagine: https://youtu.be/YkgkThdzX-8
• OK, so we weren't 100% correct about Situationism, but give us a break: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Situationist_International
• The chess scene in Bottom: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0f64qJorLrY
• The Marina Abramović work similar to Yoko's Cut Piece is Rhythm 0, in which she stood for six hours and invited the audience to use 72 objects to do whatever they wanted to her: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rhythm_0

The 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/beatlesfilmspod
• Bluesky https://bsky.app/profile/beatlesfilmspod.bsky.social
• YouTube https://www.youtube.com/@BeatlesFilmsPodcast
• Threads https://www.threads.net/@beatlesfilmspod
• Facebook https://www.facebook.com/groups/304654901827622

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.