The U.S. vs. John Lennon
|
List Price: Category: DVD See more DVD releases |
|---|
(Click here)
Buy this DVD movie at online store in your country
Canada
Canada
Movie Reviews of The U.S. vs. John Lennon
Movie Review: Mean Political machine VS. John Lennon
Summary: 5 Stars
Lennon takes on two major establishments in this documrntary: The Nixon Machine (Many components & players of which are in a deja vu Bush Administration) & the Mainstream Press. Both establishments were aghast that an individual would stand up against them for what he felt was right: Peace & Freedom of Speech.
He first expressed his political muscle by freeing a prisner from a 20+ yr sentence because he was caught with 2 maijauna cigarretes!
The he targeted War and started pressing for peace on earth. This put him in the crosshairs of the elite congressional-military-industrial-complex.
Today the Justice Departmrnt routinely catches then releases illegal aliens with LESS than 500 POUNDS OF MARIJUANA! Arrests individuals smoking marijuana on doctors orders.
This is a great DVD that goes into a time past that is as present as today (Bush's Team was in great part an early Nixon team).
John's spirit lives on in more ways than one.
It is worth to note that the great fighter Muhammad Ali also fought for peace against the establishment. Both are exemplary examples for people in today's same Bat Time, Same Bat Channel: Congressional-military-industrial complex.
HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!!!!!
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.
Movie Review: The Ballad Of John And Yoko Revisited
Summary: 3 Stars
The '06 release of the documentary `The U.S. vs. John Lennon' provides a fond look back at the turbulent sixties and the activities of the most notorious Beatle of them all, the late John Lennon. I was a teenager at the time and somewhat of a Beatles fan so I remember most of what's included in this DVD. I will also admit that John was my least favorite of the Fab Four so I didn't approach my viewing of this film as one of the adoring Lennonites, which there are many.
Having said that I will also say that overall I appreciated directors David Leaf and John Scheinfeld work on this endeavor. It was well produced, informative and kept me focused from beginning to end. It was an enjoyable overview of a time when the lines between good and evil seemed to be so well defined.
There are however some shortcomings. For the most part John is presented as a near faultless, highly evolved individual, almost prophetic and messianic at times. Yes it does include some comments with John detractors such as Gordon Liddy but the clips chosen are tailored to make them appear as mean-spirited individuals out of touch with reality, thus elevating John's iconic status even further.
The film is definitely worth a watch, but I don't think John deserves quite the amount of praise and adulation this documentary intends to lavish upon him. Whether you loved John or hated him he definitely left an indelible mark on the Occidental culture that won't soon be forgotten.
My rating: 3 ? Stars, losing a star and a half due to a rather discernable lack of balance in presentation.
Movie Review: Where are the voices today?
Summary: 5 Stars
I was three and a half when John Lennon was assasinated so I wasn't old enough to understand the scope of this loss. This documentary brings it into clear focus. I didn't know a lot of the things that he did: the protests, the bed-ins, the concerts, etc. He was an inspiration to all those who fought along with him for peace. I didn't know that he was the one who wrote the immortal song Give Peace a Chance.
The problem I have know with celebrities getting involved with charities is something that C.S. Lewis said in The Screwtape letters. Bascially Screwtape said that when the person gets involved in charity he/she should be at the center of the charity, it's his involvement with the charity should be the important thing. The celebrity that goes into the war torn areas in a jeep then goes back to the five-star hotel at night, that kind of thing. I never got that opinion of John Lennon, either from this doc or anything else I've read or seen on him. He was genuinely concerned for the people and the cause he championed. Hell, he risked deportation and arrest for this. He was considered an enemy of the state for these ideas.
The documentary is well put together featuring interviews from people who knew and loved John as well as some people who had problems with him including G. Gordon Liddy. But through all of it, John still shines through. He cuts through whatever commentary there is with his own intelligence, extremely quick wit, and absolute sincerity on whatever he's talking about.
Oh, and a note about Yoko Ono. My opinion before this doc was simple. I didn't care about her. I didn't believe that she broke up The Beatles, bands break up for more complex reasons than a woman. After seeing this doc I have a more positive feeling about her. She presents an unusual image, but so does Bjork? What's wrong with that? If she was John's muse, his companion, and was the mother of his children, more power to her and God bless her.
Where are the voices like this now? Why isn't there a voice like his, or multiple voices for that matter? Why, with better access to information at this time than any other time, is there still a larger sense of apathy in this society. Lennon, I honestly believe, would be shaking his head in shame if he were alive today.
"War is over, if you want it to." - John Lennon
"Peace is not only better than war, but infinitely more arduous." - George Bernard Shaw
Movie Review: Lennon's Message Lives On
Summary: 5 Stars
Preaching to the choir is going to be the common cliche heard about this excellently done documentary, but that won't take away from how well its message comes across and how well the film is put together.
THE U.S. VS. JOHN LENNON covers the tumultuous life of Beatle's legend John Lennon within the political arena of the 60s and 70s. Don't expect to see a historical recounting of the Beatles' break-up or their fabulous rise in the music industry; these things are only touched on and are not what the film should be about with a title such as this one anyway.
Focusing precisely on Lennon's involvement in the "flower power" movement during the Vietnam War, the film's nexus is about the perceived threat that John Lennon wielded toward the Nixon Administration and their attempts to remove him from U.S. soil by any means possible.
Great additions were made to the documentary with interviews by Walter Cronkite, Gore Vidal, and G. Gordon Liddy (as well as many others) who gave insights into these times-gone-by. Gore Vidal makes a bold statement about how "Nixon represented death and Lennon represented life" and so the clash was set from the get-go. Vidal also notes that "Mr. Bush's administration represents similar notes to Nixon's." This will most certainly turn-off the conservative right but, again, this film preaches more to the choir than trying to change anyone's mind.
Most enjoyable are all of the many archival film pieces that litter the documentary and give the viewer that "Wow, where did that come from" feeling. They include private home movie footage of John and Yoko with their child, as well as never before seen shots of the "peace bed" they shared immediately after their wedding.
Any negatives have to be aimed at the limited information on John's battle with heroin and other drugs during this time. But, again, that's not what this film is about. It's about how the government of the time viewed Lennon as a threat toward its goal of achieving some sort of victory in Vietnam. It's about how the Nixon Administration tried to use its muscle to evict Lennon and Yoko from the U.S. via the Immigration and Naturalization process; an attempt that ultimately failed. These aspects are studied in minute detail and are rightfully given the most film time.