The U.S. vs. John Lennon (2006)

A documentary on the life of John Lennon, with a focus on the time in his life when he transformed from a musician into an antiwar activist.

Directors:

David Leaf, John Scheinfeld

Writers:

David Leaf, John Scheinfeld

Stars:

John Lennon, Stew Albert, Tariq Ali

1 nomination.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
John Lennon	...	Himself (archive footage)
Stew Albert	...	Himself
Tariq Ali	...	Himself
Carl Bernstein	...	Himself
Robin Blackburn	...	Himself
Chris Charlesworth	...	Himself
Noam Chomsky	...	Himself
Walter Cronkite	...	Himself
Mario Cuomo	...	Himself
Angela Davis	...	Herself
John Dean	...	Himself
Felix Dennis	...	Himself
David Fenton	...	Himself
Bob Gruen	...	Himself
Ron Kovic	...	Himself

Storyline

After background about the childhood and youth of John Lennon (1940-1980) and the birth of Vietnam-War protests, the film plunges into Lennon's quest for world peace: compositions such as "Give Peace a Chance", the lie-in following his marriage to Yoko Ono, appearances at concerts, "War Is Over" posters, and plans for a series of concerts in 1972 in U.S. presidential primary states reach newly-enfranchised young voters. This plan for concerts, in particular, led a prominent Senator, the FBI's J. Edgar Hoover, and Nixon's White House to initiate a concerted and illegal effort to deport Lennon. Thirty talking heads, led by Yoko, comment on Lennon and these events.

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Plot Keywords:

concert | peace | activist | poster | white house | 

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Taglines:

Musician. Humanitarian. National Threat.

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Genres:

Documentary | Biography | Music

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated PG-13 for some strong language, violent images and drug references

Details

Official Sites:

Lions Gate Films [us]

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

7 December 2006 (Netherlands)

Also Known As:

Akte USA vs. John Lennon

Box Office

Opening Weekend:

$69,143 (USA) (15 September 2006)

Gross:

$1,102,937 (USA) (22 November 2006)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Lionsgate, VH1 Rock Docs, Authorized Pictures

Technical Specs

Runtime:

99 min

Color:

Color Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.78 : 1

Did You Know?

Quotes

Yoko Ono: They tried to kill John, but they couldn't because his message is still alive.

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Connections

Features The Mike Douglas Show (1961)

User Reviews

Just a Simple Summary to those of us who were already paying attention

For those of us who followed Lennon and the Beatles through those tumultuous years, this was a simple summary that really didn't break any ground or uncover any new information. The filmmakers were more excited to find a few pieces of lost or mislabeled footage, such as Lennon being given his green card, than to enlighten those of us who were along for the ride all along. But it was good to hear from John again, even to say "flower power didn't work, so what? You do something else." No coverage was given John's activism or lack thereof during his infamous "lost weekend." Yoko's constant presence saw to that.

But I would love for my son and his generation to see it. Much of what is going on today has gone unchallenged, and the return of the J. Edgar Hooverization of America has been obvious to those of us who were awake back then.