BEFORE: This ran as an episode of "American Masters" on PBS in 2010, but PBS chose to air it in repeats about six months ago, so I grabbed it when I could, because anything on PBS will dub easily to DVD, because, well, it's public television and I already technically own it, I'm part of the public, so I'm just making a back-up copy in case the TV station or anyone else might need it someday. No need to thank me.
John Lennon carries over from "The Strange Name Movie". Does this count as a "movie" then, if it aired as part of a TV series? Hell yeah, it was a documentary movie that somebody made, that PBS show buys or licenses those docs to air as part of their show. So it totally counts.
FOLLOW-UP TO: "The U.S. vs. John Lennon" (Movie #3,619), "John & Yoko: Above Us Only Sky" (Movie #3,618)
THE PLOT: A look at the period of time musician John Lennon and his family spent living in New York City during the 1970's.
AFTER: OK, it's probably my own damn fault that I found this material to be repetitive, I know exactly why, it's because I watched two other John Lennon docs four years ago. one which covered his problems with the U.S. immigration office, due to his friendship with activists that made the FBI label him as a radical, and the other doc was about his off-again, on-again relationship with Yoko that led Lennon to spend a few months in L.A. with her assistant, May Pang. Well, at least tonight's doc, which aired as an episode of "American Masters" on PBS, was comprehensive, because it covered both of those narratives, but unfortunately I knew all that stuff already.
There is some new (to me) stuff here, because this doc also weaves in John Lennon's work on his solo albums, and his return to performing live, first with Yoko and Elephant's Memory, and then doing a couple concerts with Elton John at MSG, apparently after losing a bet. But he became close friends with Elton, and I'm pretty sure Lennon performed "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds" at those concerts, I have Elton's live cover on iTunes and I've been told that Lennon played on that track. Gonna go listen to that one now...I spent a number of years collecting every cover version of Beatles songs I could find, in every possible genre.
I also didn't know much about the solo albums Lennon recorded in the 1970's, admittedly I only have Lennon's Greatest Hits album, but there must be other tracks on the "Mind Games" and "Walls and Bridges" albums that I'm just not familiar with. Mea culpa. But I heard the intro to "Stepping Out" in this doc, and I guess that one didn't make the cut for Greatest Hits. What's weird is that it seems to have the same bass line as Paul McCartney's song "Silly Love Songs", and didn't John make fun of Paul for writing that one? But he made a song that sounds so similar that you could practically sing one to the other, or make a mash-up of the two songs, which, yep, somebody posted on YouTube. Perhaps their songwriting techniques were closer than they cared to admit, or John was poking fun of Paul's song, I don't know. But listen to those two songs and then tell me they don't sound alike. OK, Paul's song sounds more like a disco hit.
Lennon and Yoko moved to NYC in 1971, to be part of the arts scene and for the culture, like a lot of people did. But then he left NYC for a while, as a lot of people do - but surprise, he missed the city, and he missed Yoko, so he came back. What's the lesson there, besides don't mess with a good thing? And don't move to L.A. because you'll become a lonely alcoholic. Yeah, that sounds about right. I wish I could say that when he moved back in 1975 and returned to Yoko and they had their son that everything was great for a long time, but as we all know, it was only 5 years before a crazy fan shot him on the street.
But let's see, what else didn't know before? I didn't know that John and Yoko lived on Bank Street in the West Village for a number of years, in a tiny two-room apartment. When did they move to the Dakota? 1973, I guess. And that Elton John concert Lennon appeared at was around Thanksgiving in 1974. That was during the "Lost Weekend" (which lasted almost 18 months) while Lennon lived in L.A. so I guess that MSG concert maybe reminded John how great it was to perform in NY, and was that the precursor to moving back?
Nope, I'm wrong again - Lennon moved back to NYC in October 1974, and he recorded "Whatever Gets You Through the Night" with Elton on piano and background vocals, and John said that if that song went to number 1 he would perform with Elton in concert. It did, that song became John Lennon's first #1 solo song. But after Sean was born in October 1975 Lennon took what would become five years off from recording, until the single "Just Like Starting Over" and the album "Double Fantasy" in late 1980.
In the end, this film tries a bit too hard to be everywhere at once, but how can anyone possibly condense an entire decade of anyone's life, let alone that of a famous musician, into just under two hours? It's impossible, even focusing on small stories, like that time John Lennon bought a coat in a store by himself, well, that story doesn't really tell us much about John, other than the fact that he learned how to shop with a credit card and not send an assistant out to get clothes for him. OK, so in NYC he became the common man, he could almost disappear and walk among the masses and not be noticed. Almost. And sure, it's kind of great that he became a caring father and a thoughtful house-husband in his late thirties, but you know what, a lot of men do that just as a normal part of their lives.
It's great that he took up political activism, too, but was it worth it if he had to spend six years always thinking that he was about to be deported within 60 days? He had great lawyers, I assume, and they couldn't solve his legal problems, what does that tell you? Sure, we're a country of rebels and trouble-makers, and sometimes that's a good thing, but other times it might be better to just remain quiet and try to live your life, especially if you don't have your green card yet. Just saying.
Also starring Dick Cavett (last seen in "Remembering Gene Wilder"), Roy Cicala, Jack Douglas, Dennis Elsas, David Geffen (last seen in "Spielberg"), Bob Gruen, Tom Hayden (last seen in "Jane Fonda in Five Acts"), Robert Hilburn, Adam Ippolito, Elton John (last seen in "If These Walls Could Sing") Jim Keltner (last seen in "Count Me In"), Jonas Mekas (last seen in "The Velvet Underground"), Hugh McCracken, Elliot Mintz, Andy Newmark, Yoko Ono (last seen in "Miles Davis: Birth of the Cool"), May Pang, Geraldo Rivera (last seen in "Scandalous: The Untold Story of the National Enquirer"), Earl Slick, Gary Van Scyoc, Klaus Voormann (last seen in "John & Yoko: Above Us Only Sky"), John Wiener, Leon Wildes,
with archive footage of Spiro Agnew (last seen in "Breslin and Hamill: Deadline Artists"), Rennie Davis, Allen Ginsberg (also last seen in "If These Walls Could Sing"), George Harrison (also last seen in "The Strange Name Movie"), Paul McCartney (ditto), Ringo Starr (ditto) Abbie Hoffman (last seen in "WBCN and the American Revolution"), George McGovern (ditto), J. Edgar Hoover (last seen in "Where's My Roy Cohn?"), Andy Warhol (ditto), Keith Moon (last seen in "Mr. Saturday Night"), Harry Nilsson, Richard Nixon (last seen in "We Blew It"), Jerry Rubin (last seen in "The U.S. vs. John Lennon"), Strom Thurmond (ditto), Phil Spector (last seen in "Under the Volcano"), Mao Zedong
RATING: 6 out of 10 benefit concerts
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