The U.S. vs. John Lennon
by David Leaf, John Scheinfeld
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DVD Cover Information
Actor: Carl Bernstein, John Lennon, Stew Albert, Tariq Ali, Yoko OnoDirector: David Leaf, John Scheinfeld
Brand: Lions Gate
Producer: David Leaf
Writer: David Leaf
Writer: John Scheinfeld
Producer: Arlene Wszalek
Producer: Bill Royce
Producer: Brad Abramson
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Unknown), Dolby Digital 2.0; English (Subtitled); Spanish (Subtitled); English (Original Language), Dolby Digital 2.0
Format: Closed-captioned, Color, DVD, NTSC, Subtitled, Widescreen
Picture Format: 1.78:1
Running Time: 99 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2007-02-13
Audience Rating: PG-13 (Parental Guidance Suggested)
Studio: Lions Gate
Movie Reviews of The U.S. vs. John Lennon
Movie Review: War Is Over If You Want It--John's message remains pertinent to this day...
Summary: 5 Stars
John Lennon was not the sort of man who could be bullied. He was a man of incredible principle who, once he believed he was right, simply would not budge. This DVD allows us to revisit the years John Lennon transformed himself from being a musician into a type of politician who used both words and music to deliver his message. His wife Yoko and other peace activists including Abbie Hoffman and John Rubin influenced him greatly, too.
Lennon was always the rebel; and one DVD narrator comments that in Yoko John found the other half of his voice. John and Yoko both thought outside the box and were not afraid to stand up for their beliefs. This DVD demonstrates that they knew the press would constantly hound them so they used the media very cleverly to transport their political beliefs, especially about the war in Vietnam, to the world. John and Yoko's honeymoon "bed-in" in The Amsterdam Hilton is an example of how skillfully they used the media to their advantage. Excellent!
Of course this made the Nixon administration very nervous. Nixon believed that Lennon had the power to steal his thunder; and Nixon was at the very least partially right. Nixon campaigned in 1968 for the presidency with the offer of "a secret plan" to end hostilities in Vietnam. As we now know, that certainly was not the case; after Nixon took office Vietnam continued and the conflicts worsened. As more and younger voters were influenced by their idol John Lennon's political beliefs, Nixon became increasingly paranoid and eventually stooped lower than any other president has ever done.
At the same time, Lennon and Ono had good reason to be nervous themselves; their phones were almost certainly tapped and they were followed by government "officials" everywhere they went. The Lennons were perceived as particularly dangerous after they gave money and support to The Black Panthers. That did not sit well with Nixon and FBI chief J. Edgar Hoover who considered them very much a threat to Nixon's re-election efforts and even Nixon's ability to runt he country smoothly on a daily basis.
Of course we know the outcome; therefore spoilers are not a concern as this is a retrospective documentary of well publicized events that dominated the news for years. The government attempted countless times to deport John and Yoko on a minor charge of marijuana possession when John was still living in England. I find it sad that the government of the United States of America had nothing better to do than to pick on John and Yoko to the degree that they did. John and Yoko won their fight and Nixon resigned in disgrace. All too soon we lost John Lennon but he lives on through his words and music.
The DVD does an excellent job of integrating interviews with Walter Cronkite, Mario Cuomo, G. Gordon Libby, Bobby Seale and others with newsreel footage of John and Yoko at peace rallies and concerts for peace. Yoko adds her own interviews with an off screen narrator to shed further light on the specifics of their personal and political struggles at that time in their lives together.
Is this DVD one sided in favor of John and Yoko? Yes, to some degree. However, G. Gordon Libby gets his share of time on camera and there is quite a bit of newsreel footage of Nixon (well, we can't interview Nixon now) and FBI chief Hoover to showcase the opposition's view of John, Yoko and the "peaceniks."
One reviewer notes that this documentary does not give us a total picture of John Lennon. That's not a problem because, as the reviewer correctly notes, this particular documentary remains quite focused on the issues between John and the American government. We can certainly understand if this movie does not delve into what the other reviewer refers to as the "warts and all" edition of John Lennon as a human being.
I don't personally approve of every single move John Lennon made. He did cheat on Yoko; but again that is not the focus of this documentary. On the other hand, the Nixon administration flagrantly abused the law and eventually simply broke it according to Lennon's immigration attorney who is interviewed in this documentary. The Nixon administration was truly paranoid to consider John Lennon a true threat to the Nixon presidency; but, then again, Nixon was a paranoid man who approved the Watergate break-in despite the fact that all indications pointed to a landslide victory in November, 1972. In the final analysis, the American government abused The Lennons; and it's great to see them celebrate their victory on this footage.
The bonus features round out the documentary very well. There are intelligent discussions of the highly controversial cover art for the "Two Virgins" album; "Imagine;" Walter Cronkite meeting The Beatles for the very first time and much, much more. Impressive!
The cinematography is quite good; after all, much of this footage is professionally shot newsreel footage and the current interviews are tastefully filmed. The color is pretty good, even in most of the older newsreel footage. The quality of the sound is excellent.
In sum, this DVD documents very well the evolution of John Lennon from musician to political activist figure. We see that he was inclined to buck authority from his teenage years on after he lost his mother to a British cop driving drunk. After The Beatles broke up and John and Yoko were free, they were able to explore new areas and express themselves both artistically and politically both at the same time with "bed-ins" and concerts for peace. In fact, John became so good at molding music with activism that even the government of the world's most powerful nation grew deeply afraid of him. John's struggles were not in vain--he got his messages out consistently to the people who could choose to take him seriously or not as they pleased. He won his fight with immigration as Nixon was just beginning a lifetime of being a disgraced ex-president.
I highly recommend this for John Lennon fans; and historians concerned with the history of social activism will find this DVD informative and very engaging. Unfortunately, with war overseas once again in the news, John's message remains pertinent to this day.
Summary of The U.S. vs. John Lennon
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