John Lennon Movies

During the 1960's and 1970's, an influx of British pop music flooded American air waves in a surge of popularity that would come to be known as the British Invasion. This program features performances by a number of prominent British Invasion bands such as the Rolling Stones performing Not Fade Away on the The Mike Douglas Show in 1964. Some of the other artists who appear on the program include The Zombies, The Yardbirds, and The Moody Blues. ~ Cammila Albertson, All Movie Guide

During the first worldwide flush of Beatlemania in 1964, United Artists wanted to ship out a movie with The Beatles before their vogue was over. Working within a tight $500,000 budget, director Richard Lester turned out A Hard Day's Night in a fast 6 1/2 weeks; the picture was in the theatres three months after shooting commenced. Using a variety of techniques cribbed from Hollywood slapstick comedies, the French "new wave" movement, and his own experiences as a TV-commercial director, Lester, with screenwriter Alun Owen, fashioned an exhilarating study of a "typical" 36 hours in the lives of the Fab Four. Onto a plot about getting to the Big Show on time are hung a series of instant-reaction gags, character vignettes, and musical setpieces. Much of the humor arises from Paul McCartney's efforts to keep his grandfather (Wilfred Brambell), a "clean old man," from getting into mischief. Also good for several laughs is the hookey-playing Ringo Starr, whose mistimed declaration of independence lands him in jail. We are also treated to a war of nerves between the unflappable John Lennon and an uptight TV director (Victor Spinelli), who worries that, should the Beatles not show up at broadcast time, he'll be demoted to "News In Welsh." George Harrison stars in a sequence in which he is mistaken for an auditionee by the producer (Kenneth Haigh) of a superficially trendy, teen-oriented TV weekly. Then there's Norman Rossington and John Junkin as The Beatles' managers, who carry on a battle royale simply because one man is taller than the other. The supporting cast includes comedienne Anna Quayle, cartoonist Bob Godfrey, TV host Robin Ray, dancer Lionel Blair, Harrison's future wife Patti Boyd, and director Lester himself. The songs include "I Should Have Known Better," "And I Love Her," "Tell Me Why," "If I Fell," "Can't Buy Me Love," and the title song. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Among the first of the late 60s anti-war films that reflected growing concern over the Vietnam War, How I Won the War takes a cold, dark look at the Good War, World War II. In adapting Patrick Ryan's 1963 novel, screenwriter Charles Wood and director Richard Lester offered a narrative fractured by characters making side comments to the camera, stylized cinematography, inserts of newsreel war footage, and plenty of absurdist humor and slapstick. Ernest Goodbody (Michael Crawford) is a bumbling British officer who manages to get most of his small company of musketeers killed while on a mission in North Africa to set up a cricket pitch behind enemy lines for officers of the advancing British army. The rest of the company dies in an ensuing campaign in Europe near the war's end, but all of the men continue to march along, appearing as monochromatic ghosts. (Original prints of the film intercut real battle footage tinted to match the color of the soon-to-be ghost soldier. Some prints of the film, including one shown on Turner Classic Movies, present the newsreel shots in black and white, undercutting the stylized touch.) The story is framed as a flashback, with Goodbody relating his version of events to a German officer (Karl Michael Vogler), while the real version of events, demonstrating Goodbody's ineptitude, plays out on screen. Among the supporting players are John Lennon, who had worked with Lester on A Hard Day's Night and Help; Roy Kinnear, a Lester regular, as a fat soldier who is certain his wife is cheating on him; Jack MacGowran as the troop's designated fool, and Michael Hordern as a general almost as oblivious to his suffering men as Goodbody. ~ Tom Wiener, All Movie Guide

Yellow Submarine is an animated meandering journey filled with puns and dry British humor, where psychedelic music videos take precedent over any linear story. What little there is of a plot, however, concerns a vibrantly colored place called Pepperland that resembles the album cover for Sgt. Peppers Lonely Hearts Club Band come to life. The swirling animation is a mixture of pop-culture images and modern artistic styles brought loosely together with a naïve antiwar message and some clever political commentary. The Blue Meanies take over Pepperland, draining it of all its color and music, firing anti-music missiles, bonking people with green apples, and turning the inhabitants to stone by way of the pointed finger of a giant white glove. As the only survivor, the Lord Admiral escapes in the yellow submarine and goes to London to enlist the help of the Beatles (voiced by actors). The charming and innocent boys travel through strange worlds and meet bizarre characters, including the tagalong Nowhere Man. Several blissed-filled musical sequences and drug references later, the Beatles drive out the Blue Meanies and restore Pepperland to tranquility armed with only music, love, and witty remarks. ~ Andrea LeVasseur, All Movie Guide

This zany British comedy finds a homeless hobo (Ringo Starr) being adopted by the world's richest man, Sir Guy Grand (Peter Sellers). Setting sail on the luxury liner The Magic Christian, Sir Grand tests the limit of human avarice. With money to motivate the greedy, Laurence Harvey combines his Hamlet soliloquy with a striptease. A vile cesspool of excrement is seeded with cash and the money-hungry dive right in. Wilfred Hyde White is the drunken captain, Yul Brynner is uncredited in his performance as a chanteuse transvestite, and John Cleese is the director of Sotheby's auction house. Roman Polanski, Richard Attenborough and Raquel Welch also appear in this offbeat comedy. Paul McCartney wrote and produced "Come and Get It," the first international hit from the power-pop group Badfinger. John "Speedy" Keene wrote "Something In The Air" and performed the track with his group Thunderclap Newman. Sellers, Cleese, Graham Chapman and Terry Southern co-authored the screenplay taken from Southern's novel. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide

Directed by D.A. Pennebaker (Monterey Pop), this pivotal concert film offers the only footage ever recorded of John Lennon performing with the Plastic Ono Band. With the release of Abbey Road just around the corner, Lennon, Yoko Ono, and Eric Clapton descended upon the Toronto Rock N' Roll Revival Festival, joining a line-up already stacked high with American rock heroes, including Bo Diddley, Jerry Lee Lewis, and Little Richard. Pennebaker's remarkable documentary captures Lennon and the Plastic Ono Band playing "Dizzy Miss Lizzy," "Give Peace a Chance," and a killer rendition of "Blue Suede Shoes". ~ All Movie Guide

The dissolution of the Fab Four is captured on camera in Michael Lindsay-Hogg's documentary, a filmed record of the sessions for what would become the Beatles' final release, Let It Be. (Abbey Road, cut shortly after these sessions, was in fact the group's final recording, but it was released a year before these often-delayed songs.) Included is footage shot at the famous rooftop concert that was the Fabs' final live appearance. The Beatles are shown rehearsing, performing, arguing, and recording and allow the cameras to record their every word and note in the recording studio. The film opens with Paul showing Ringo a piano composition, while the group is surrounded in silence, seemingly light years removed from the screaming hordes of fans that necessitated their withdrawal from performing live. Billy Preston later drops by to jam on keyboards. For this film, the Beatles collectively won an Oscar for "Best Original Film Score," their only Academy Award. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide

A production of Oh! Calcutta!, the late-'60s off-Broadway play that received infamy as the first nude musical, is captured here. The film is a record of the play rather than a cinematic adaptation, leaving its staging, revue-like structure, and frankly sexual content intact. ~ Judd Blaise, All Movie Guide

In 1972, John Lennon and his wife, Yoko Ono, made a strategic and historic week-long guest appearance on the hit talk/variety television program The Mike Douglas Show hoping to get their counterculture message across to middle America. Day five, February 18, 1972, was the final day of their foray into American daytime television. Douglas continues his discussion with Lennon regarding early musical and songwriting influences. Guests include comedian George Carlin, Harvard Medical School biofeedback expert Dr. Gary E. Schwartz, and Rena Uviller, a New York appeals attorney specializing in women and youth issues. Douglas sings "Day in, Day Out." Lennon sings "Luck of the Irish" with Ono. The week-long performance art pieces "Mend Piece" and "Unfinished Painting" are concluded. Highlights include the music video for the song "How" from the Imagine album, and an audience Q & A with John and Yoko. ~ Steve Blackburn, All Movie Guide

John Lennon: Imagine was originally produced for television audiences in 1972, and includes the ten tracks from Lennon's famous Imagine album, as well as two tracks from Yoko Ono ("Mrs. Lennon" and "Don't Count the Waves"). The songs are supplemented by original films produced in locations as diverse as New York, London, and Tokyo, starring Lennon and Yoko Ono themselves ~ Tracie Cooper, All Movie Guide

In 1972, John Lennon and his wife, Yoko Ono, made a strategic and historic week-long guest appearance on the hit talk/variety television program The Mike Douglas Show hoping to get their counterculture message across to middle America. Day one, February 14, 1972, features John, Yoko, Mike Douglas, and comedian/actor Louis Nye making phone calls to strangers they pick at random out of the phone book. Douglas sings "Michelle," John and Yoko sing "It's So Hard" with the Plastic Ono Elephant's Memory Band, and guests the Chambers Brothers perform "By the Hair of My Chinny Chin Chin" and "This Little Piece of Land." Consumer advocate and activist Ralph Nader makes a guest appearance as well. Ono performs several performance art pieces including "Mend Piece (broken teacup)" and "Reach Out & Touch Someone in the Audience," in which Douglas and his co-hosts encourage the audience members to touch the person next to them. ~ Steve Blackburn, All Movie Guide