Baby Snakes (1979)

Rock artist Frank Zappa hosts a concert in New York City. This movie contains tons of on-stage footage, off-stage footage, and animation.

Director:

Frank Zappa

Writer:

Frank Zappa

Stars:

Frank Zappa, Adrian Belew, Tommy Mars

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Frank Zappa	...	Self
Adrian Belew	...	Self - Guitar
Tommy Mars	...	Self - Keyboards
Terry Bozzio	...	Self - Drums
Kerry McNabb	...	Self - Soundman
Ron Delsener	...	Self - Concert Promoter
Bruce Bickford	...	Self - Animator
Robert Leacock	...	Self - Bickford's Cameraman (as Rob Leacock)
Ed Mann	...	Self - Percussion
Warren Cuccurullo	...	Self - Backstage Fan (as Warren Cucurullo)
Chrissie Martin	...	Self - Cuccurullo's Girlfriend (as Chris Martin)
Klaus Hundsbichler	...	Self - Bickford's Film Editor
Roy Estrada	...	Self - The Mexican Pope
John Smothers	...	Self - Zappa's Bodyguard
David B. Ditkowwich	...	Self - Brooklyn For Zappa (as David Ditkowich)

Storyline

Rock artist Frank Zappa hosts a concert in New York City. This movie contains tons of on-stage footage, off-stage footage, and animation.

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Plot Keywords:

concert film | year 1977 | frank zappa | claymation | live action and animation | 

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Taglines:

"Give yourself up...you are completely surrounded by Policemen..."

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Genres:

Documentary | Comedy | Music

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Certificate:

R

Did You Know?

Trivia

Filmed in 1977, not released until 1979.

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Quotes

Frank Zappa: [after having presented a real whip to the participating audience] Hey, this is Halloween, we don't fuck around!

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Crazy Credits

Movie goes on for 10 minutes after credits are over.

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Alternate Versions

1984 reissue was edited to 91 minutes.

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Connections

Edited into The Amazing Mister Bickford (1987)

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Soundtracks

I Have Been In You
Written, Produced and Performed by Frank Zappa

User Reviews

Simply incredible.

Nearly all aspects of Zappa creativity are reflected here: Several really long guitar solos, the classic "goofy" crowd pleasing songs, amazing playing by the band (Black Page 2 and many others), funny monologues, on-stage audience participation bits as well as some amazing conducting on some free-form pieces. It's also interesting to compare this to "Does Humor..." which I also love. It's true that in "Does Humor..." the video quality is cleaner, but I actually like that slightly fuzzy older look. But more importantly, in BBSNX Zappa is much, much more energetic, and in addition, the individual talents of the band members really shine here: Tommy Mars has a truly amazing keyboard solo and Terry Bozzio is utilized to the max, including performing, possibly, the best drum solo I've seen on video. I also liked the fact that the audio/video sync is pretty much 99.9% right on. No overdubs, no nothing - what you hear is what you see ("The Song Remains The Same" comes to mind as an unfortunate example of the opposite). I read some complaints about the back stage antics and the claymation stuff (which I liked). keep in mind though, this DVD is so long that even if you skip those things you still get two full hours of first rate concert footage. Enjoy!

How I miss Frank... Can you imagine what he may have had to say today about the state of music, politics and everything in between?

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

21 December 1979 (USA)

Filming Locations:

Los Angeles, California, USA

Company Credits

Technical Specs

Runtime:

166 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1