Why The Eagles’ ‘Hotel California’ Was Never Turned Into a Movie
One of the most cinematic classic rock songs is The Eagles’ “Hotel California.” For that reason, it’s no surprise that a major Hollywood producer wanted the song to become a motion picture. The Eagles’ Don Henley discussed why he didn’t think that was a good idea. He had a point.
The producer of ‘Taxi Driver’ wanted to make The Eagles’ ‘Hotel California’ into a movie
Julia Phillips was the producer behind the 1970s classic movies Taxi Driver, The Sting, and Close Encounters of the Third Kind. She wanted to make a film out of The Eagles’ signature song. Ultimate Classic Rock quotes the 2004 book To the Limit: The Untold Story of The Eagles to give us the scoop. “Glenn [Frey] and I remember that day quite vividly,” he said. “We had gone to her house reluctantly. We’d already had some bad experiences with movie people.
“They always thought we should be excited or flattered because they wanted to make movies out of our songs,” he added. “In fact, we really didn’t want anything to do with it. We were pretty sure they’d take our songs and ruin them. We knew enough about the film business to know you’d have to relinquish all control and that it’s somebody else’s vision, just like rock videos are today.”
Henley recalled that cocaine was “at the peak of its popularity in Hollywood, and Phillips was in the process of flaming out her career on it. We sat there, polite but not terribly friendly. We were too wary to be friendly. In an effort to loosen us up … she dragged out this huge ashtray filled with a mound of coke. She offered us some, and we said ‘No;’ we didn’t know her that well, and it was a business meeting.” The deal fell apart.
Why The Eagles were right to trust their intuitions
“Hotel California” is over seven minutes long. At best, it could be adapted into a halfway tolerable short film. It’s not the sort of material that would make for a good 90-minute movie, much less a two-hour movie.
Furthermore, basing a film on a pop song seems a bit tacky. Movies are allowed to be tacky, as long as they’re amusing. However, we can only assume that a film adaptation of “Hotel California” would have tried to be just as eerie and humorless as the original song. For that reason, a movie based on the song likely would have been an unnecessary slog. Countless great movies were canceled before they got off the ground, but the movie adaptation of “Hotel California” was not one of them.
The chart legacy of ‘Hotel California’
“Hotel California” topped the Billboard Hot 100 for a single week. It lasted on the chart for 19 weeks. Four other Eagles songs became No. 1 singles: “Best of My Love,” “One of These Nights,” “Heartache Tonight,” and “New Kid in Town.” “Hotel California” appeared on the album of the same title. The album Hotel California topped the Billboard 200 for eight weeks, lasting on the chart for 158 weeks in total. If you want to get a sense of what 1970s American rock sounded like, Hotel California is a good place to start.
“Hotel California” is one of the best songs of all time — but it probably should stay a song.
