IMDb RATING
7.5/10
3.6K
YOUR RATING
An in-depth look into the life and work of musician Frank Zappa.An in-depth look into the life and work of musician Frank Zappa.An in-depth look into the life and work of musician Frank Zappa.
- Awards
- 5 nominations
Frank Zappa
- Self
- (archive footage)
Lonnie Lardner
- Self - Newscaster for Action News
- (archive footage)
Patrice Zappa
- Self - Frank Zappa's Sister
- (archive footage)
Carl Zappa
- Self - Frank Zappa's Brother
- (archive footage)
Rose Zappa
- Self - Frank Zappa's Mother
- (archive footage)
Francis Zappa
- Self - Frank Zappa's Father
- (archive footage)
Edgard Varèse
- Self
- (archive footage)
Don Van Vliet
- Self
- (archive footage)
- (as Captain Beefheart)
Frank Zappa and the Mothers of Invention
- Themselves
- (archive footage)
Johnny 'Guitar' Watson
- Self
- (archive footage)
The Beatles
- Themselves
- (archive footage)
Tom Wilson
- Self - Music Producer
- (archive footage)
Euclid James 'Motorhead' Sherwood
- Self - Baritone Saxophone
- (archive footage)
- (as Motorhead Sherwood)
- …
Storyline
Did you know
- TriviaThe film was not financed by crowdfunding, contrary to popular belief. The Kickstarter campaign was aimed solely at preserving and restoring the contents of the Zappa vault. The film that resulted from that preservation was itself financed by conventional backers.
- GoofsIn the opening titles, it says, Zappa played a concert in the Czech Republic on 24 June 1991, to celebrate the fairly recent departure of Russian troops. It was in fact still Czechoslovakia then.
It then incorrectly states that this was his last recorded guitar performance, but that was in fact one week later at a smaller concert in Budapest.
- Quotes
Ruth Underwood: It was that type of music that he could produce that was a product of everything that was in him. But you couldn't really categorize it. You couldn't say, Oh yeah, that's rock and roll, 'cause it wasn't.
Ruth Underwood: It's jazz. No. It really wasn't. It's pop music. No. Not at all. Well, what the hell is it?
Ruth Underwood: It's Zappa.
- ConnectionsFeatures The Ernie Kovacs Show (1952)
- SoundtracksBolero
Written by Maurice Ravel
Featured review
Nicely made documentary about Franks life but glosses over too many things
As a backer of the vault saving project which lead to this movie, and a long time Zappa fan I have read 'The Real Frank Zappa' book and many other articles, clips, etc. throughout his life so maybe I'm coming from a different viewpoint than the average viewer.
There is a lot of new footage and a few new things to be learnt about his life but there are many moments in the movie where I feel that the details are left out just a little too much - for example Frank worked for Studio Z before he bought it - he also bought up film sets with expectation of making movies.
I would have loved to have seen/heard more about his younger life, and the Garrick theater shenanigans, etc.
Otherwise the movie is beautifully made..
There is a lot of new footage and a few new things to be learnt about his life but there are many moments in the movie where I feel that the details are left out just a little too much - for example Frank worked for Studio Z before he bought it - he also bought up film sets with expectation of making movies.
I would have loved to have seen/heard more about his younger life, and the Garrick theater shenanigans, etc.
Otherwise the movie is beautifully made..
helpful•191
- evansmjp
- Dec 2, 2020
- How long is Zappa?Powered by Alexa
Details
- Release date
- Countries of origin
- Official sites
- Language
- Also known as
- Заппа
- Filming locations
- Production companies
- See more company credits at IMDbPro
Box office
- Gross US & Canada
- $15,502
- Opening weekend US & Canada
- $2,019
- Nov 29, 2020
- Gross worldwide
- $220,031
- Runtime2 hours 9 minutes
- Color
- Sound mix
- Aspect ratio
- 1.33 : 1
- 1.78 : 1
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