Read a Chunk of the Un-Produced Captain Beefheart Film Script
This weekend, the legendary avant-garde bluesman Don Van Vleit, better known as Captain Beefheart, passed away. While his distortion-soaked, eccentric take on rhythm and blues was often cinematic in its own right, Beefheart almost had a brush with acting as well. In the early 60s, Frank Zappa and Beefheart holed up and worked on a script for a film called Captain Beefheart vs. The Grunt People, which Zappa rewrote in 1969, inspired by the success of films like Easy Rider. The script was never produced, but a huge chunk of it is available online and it's every bit as fun and weird as fans would hope.
All of the elements you'd expect from a Zappa/Beefheart collaboration are here including (but not limited to): angry-parent caricatures, space travel and a part written for the great Howlin' Wolf. Apparently the duo also painted sets and props for the film, including a cardboard rocket-ship. So put on your Trout Mask Replica record, take a break from holiday stress and imagine the freaky film that could have been.
Check out 58 Pages of the script at The Captain Beefheart Radar Station.
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"In the early 60s, inspired by the success of films like Easy Rider, Frank Zappa and Beefheart holed up and worked on a script for a film called Captain Beefheart vs. The Grunt People."
Are you sure, given that Easy Rider was released in 1969 and Beefheart was using the moniker well before the release of Safe as Milk in 1967? At the time Zappa and van Vliet were working on the script there hadn't been any underground movies of note - most of those emerged from 65/66 onwards...
Hey there - good question. This is what I read:
Captain Beefheart vs. The Grunt People! This is a feature-length film, presently in script form, written by Zappa in 1964. Zappa said that thanks in part to Easy Rider and the Woodstock Music & Art Fair - "two of several things finally showing the youth market really means business" - three major studios have made offers to back the flick. Zappa also said that if anyone had shown interest in the film five years ago, he would never have played rock and roll. His "ideal cast" includes parts for, among others, Don Van Vliet, who is better known as Captain Beefheart, an old high school chum of Zappa's; Chester Burnett, better known as Howlin' Wolf, several of the Mothers of Invention, and Grace Slick.
-Frank Zappa, Mother’s Day Has Finally Come 1969 Interview
They did do a rewrite in 69 though, so maybe that's when they got real about production. Good catch.
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