John Lennon Movies
There are few details of the short life of musical genius John Lennon that haven't been virtually memorized by his disciples. A bare-bones precis of his existence would include his Liverpool childhood, his formation of the Quarrymen, aka the Silver Beatles aka the Beatles in 1961, the world-wide fame, the drug-and-religion experimentation, the controversial alignment with Yoko Ono, the 1970 Beatles breakup, the five-year retirement (1975-80) to raise son Sean, and his senseless murder outside New York's Hotel Dakota in December of 1980.Lennon's film career, though but one small aspect of his creative energies, is worth a brief recap. First there were the films with his fellow Beatles: A Hard Day's Night (64), Help (65) (in which for two delicious seconds Lennon shamelessly plugs his recently published book of doggerel In His Own Write), Yellow Submarine (67) (that's Lance Percival doing his speaking voice, but that's Lennon in the vocals), Magical Mystery Tour (69) and Let It Be (70). There was Lennon's one-and-only solo acting assignment as a bespectacled British Tommy in How I Won The War (68) -- in which, as he watches his guts spill out of his body, he turns to the camera and says ominously "I knew this would happen. Didn't you?" There were the oddball, home-movielike projects, made with his friends and with Yoko Ono, of which Bottoms (an engaging if pointless study of the human derriere) is the most entertaining. And, best of all, there was the posthumous, lovingly assembled Imagine: John Lennon (88), including the famous 1969 anti-war "Bed-In," the TV confrontation with ultraconservative cartoonist Al Capp, never before seen footage of Lennon at home and at work, and of course several plaintive renditions of the title song. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
Underground filmmaker Jonas Mekas presents a collection of home movies, outtakes and unfinished projects. A picnic in Central Park with friends is shown, as are Allen Ginsberg and Norman Mailer in an anti-war protest march. John Lennon and Yoko Ono are shown in their celebrated honeymoon where they answer questions from the media in a Toronto hotel room to promote peace. Timothy Leary, Andy Warhol and Nico also appear. Color process is not credited. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Dr. Timothy Leary
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
- Starring:
- Peter Sellers, Ringo Starr, (more)
- 1969
John Lennon and Yoko Ono were exploring their interest in experimental filmmaking when they made this powerful, little-seen short feature. In Rape, a two-man camera crew follows a young woman (named Eva Majlata) as she walks down the street. As the woman becomes nervous due to the presence of the film crew, she tries to escape their gaze, but to no avail; the cinematographer occasionally stops to reload his camera, but is otherwise relentless in pursuit of his subject. As the camera continues to follow the woman, both on foot and in a cab, she is driven to the verge of hysteria; when she's eventually cornered in her own apartment, she breaks down, begging for the filmmakers to leave her alone as the camera impassively continues to record her actions. Rape was first screened by Lennon and Ono on Austrian television in 1969, but has been only rarely seen since. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- 1969
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
- 1968
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Fans of late '60s rock and roll will find this documentary to be a rare and precious jewel, as it contains shining performances from such giants as The Rolling Stones, Eric Clapton, John Lennon and Yoko Ono, and The Who. Originally planned as a television special in 1968, it was shelved shortly after filming because the manager of the Stones, who were acting producers of the show, felt that another of the acts, The Who, upstaged them. The show is set up as a circus with the musicians appearing in elaborate psychedelic costumes. Other performers include Taj Mahal, Marianne Faithfull, and the only recently formed Jethro Tull. Also included is a one-of-a-kind performance by The Dirty Mac, a one-night-stand band comprised of Eric Clapton, John Lennon, Mitch Mitchell, and Keith Richards. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- The Rolling Stones
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
- 1967
After the success of the Sgt. Peppers LP, the Beatles decided to hire a psychedelic bus, take a trip into the English countryside, and film the results, no matter how bizarre or boring. With a motley cast of characters, the group basically tramps about the landscape with occasional music cues to give the film a bit of flow. Though Magical Mystery Tour is an interesting document of the Beatles psychedelic period, its cinematic function is negligible. ~ John Bush, 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
- Starring:
- Michael Crawford, John Lennon, (more)
In their second feature with director Richard Lester, who oversaw the massive hit A Hard Day's Night, the Beatles again aim for a mix of goofy comedy and sterling pop music. There is slightly more of a plot this time, though it is a patently ridiculous one: a sacred ruby ring comes into Ringo's possession, attracting the unwelcome attention of an exotic religious cult and forcing the boys to go on the run. This chase narrative is thankfully never taken too seriously, serving mainly as an excuse for colorful excursions to international locations from Europe to the Bahamas. The musical numbers include such classic tunes as "Ticket to Ride," "You've Got to Hide Your Love Away," and, of course, "Help!". ~ Judd Blaise, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- The Beatles
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
- Starring:
- John Lennon, Paul McCartney, (more)
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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
Exclusive Tomorror Show interviews with John Lennon, Paul McCartney, and Ringo Starr find legendary television talk show host Tom Snyder offering fascinating insight into the effects of "Beatlemania" on the musician's lives while exploring exactly what happened after the biggest rock and roll act on the planet called it quits. Originally aired on April 25, 1975, the interview with Lennon comes just as the &Imagine" songwriter began his five-year hiatus from public life, and would ultimately stand as his last televised interview. The McCartney and Starr interviews ran in December of 1979 and November of 1981 respectively, and finds both of the former Beatles branching out into successful solo careers. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
