| Run Home, Slow | |
| Director: | Ted Brenner |
| Producer: | Eugene Frenke |
| Starring: | Mercedes McCambridge Linda Gaye Scott Allen Richards Gary Kent Jim Logan Brian Casey Leah Cooper |
| Music: | Frank Zappa |
| Cinematography: | Lew Guinn |
| Editing: | John Winfield |
| Runtime: | 75 minutes |
| Country: | United States |
| Language: | English |
Run Home, Slow is a 1965 American Western film starring Mercedes McCambridge, Linda Gaye Scott, and Gary Kent, directed by Ted Brenner and written by Don Cerveris.
After her father is murdered by hanging, Nell Hagen (McCambridge) sets out with her brothers Ritt (Kent) and Kirby (Richards) and cousin Julie Ann (Scott) to seek revenge.
Cerveris had been an English teacher at Antelope Valley High School in California and had had Frank Zappa as one of his pupils. After leaving the job to move to a career in screenwriting he and Zappa had remained in touch, and in 1959 he convinced Tim Sullivan, the producer of Run Home, Slow, to commission Zappa to compose and conduct the score for the film.[1] [2]
One of the themes Zappa composed became the basis for the track Duke of Prunes on the Mothers of Invention's 1967 album Absolutely Free. Studio performances of the film's main theme later featured in Zappa's posthumous compilation albums The Lost Episodes, as a stereo mix, and Mystery Disc, as a mono mix with an additional Zappa guitar solo.[3] A live performance of the theme is included in You Can't Do That on Stage Anymore, Vol. 5.