Customer Reviews

Inside John Lennon (Unauthorized)

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Nice dvd. Good, though, brief overview of Lennon's career. I liked the comments by his old mates in his first band,
the Quarry Men and his sister Julia. Nice to see Tony Sheridan along, too; he certainly gives an interesting view of John and the Beatles.
Nice footage, pretty good quality. No music or performances by John or the Beatles, unfortunately. Still, good stuff. Candid and insightful views. Two personal stories are added as a bonus. Very decent product at a good price. Only negative: the American narrator. That's okay, though, he doesn't talk much in the video. Much better to have had a Brit narrating. Peace.

Inside John Lennon gives us a great look at John Lennon's life and times using archival black and white footage, black and white stills of John with The Quarry Men and The Beatles, and recent interviews with his contemporaries. This well made documentary rushes through John's later years in the 1970s; but still we gain great insight into the man who was John Lennon.

The documentary begins with Lennon's childhood and uses extensive interview footage with Julia Baird, John Lennon's sister. There are great commentaries by Alistair Taylor and Alf, the chauffeur for The Beatles. We even get commentary by Allan Williams, the first manager for the band. We learn how Brian Epstein molded The Beatles into something more marketable by changing their leather rock and roll trendy outfits to more classic, "good boy" guys with their jackets and ties.

In addition, we get special recent interview footage with several members of The Quarry Men; and we gain insight as to why Pete Best left the group and why The Quarry Men became The Beatles. Awesome!

There is a good amount of time spent covering how the band became The Beatles. We learn that George came into the band through Paul McCartney; and then we learn that Ringo came into the band through George Harrison when Pete Best no longer wished to play with the group.

The footage of Hamburg during their initial success there exceeds my expectations; and the black and white stills of the guys onstage reflect good judgment. We see The Beatles truly hit the big time with their two singles on a 45 rpm record; those famous songs were "Love Me Do" with "P. S. I Love You" on the B side of the 45 rpm record.

Of course, Beatlemania is studied; and we see how the members of the band were the greatest victims of Beatlemania: John and his band mates were essentially held hostage in hotel rooms because it wasn't feasible nor was it safe for them to just walk out of their hotel to go get a pack of cigarettes. John's marriage to Cynthia Lennon suffered remarkably because of the long periods of time John spent on the road. When John met Yoko; his personal lifestyle changed greatly. John divorced Cynthia and spent much more time with Yoko while ignoring his family back in Britain; and we see the footage of the "bed-ins" and the "bag-in" as well.

By the late 1960s John and the band were more than content to do their work only in the studio; and we get insight with commentary about the breakup of The Beatles. Some people are kinder toward Yoko than others in the commentary.

Unfortunately, this retrospective ends with some newsreel footage covering the death of John Lennon. We see Julia Baird, John's sister, tell her story of how she found out about her brother's passing.

The DVD comes with two great bonus features: Alistair Taylor tells the story of how he had to buy an island near Ireland for John Lennon at an auction armed with very little money; and Alf, the chauffeur for The Beatles, tells the story of how he and John painted "the red room." Cool!

My only complaint is that the retrospective spends relatively little time on John's life in the 1970s. I wish they had added more on that; but the rest of this DVD is so good I will give this product five stars anyway.

John Lennon may have been controversial and he had his human flaws; but he made immeasurable contributions to the arts. He also meant well with his politics especially during the 1970s. I doubt we'll ever see another quite like John Lennon; and we are fortunate that John's legacy lives on through his CDs and documentaries like this one.

The first two-thirds of the dvd is fantastic. Is has freinds and John's sister (who knew he had one?) talking about the early days and the Beatles era. John in the Seventies gets barely ten minutes, then it goes right to the assisination. Surely there must have been news footage and freinds available from John Lost Weekend period. That's probably worth a whole dvd itself.

And, yes, Yoko did break up the Beatles.

I enjoyed this DVD.
INSIDE JOHN LENNON features stories from his sister Julia, the
Quarry Men and, the Beatles' first manager, Allan Williams.
The DVD runs approx. 80 mins with bonus feature with two stories
from Alf Bicknell who was the Beatles' chauffeur and Apple
General Manager, Alistair Taylor.
You will hear stories about the Beatles and there is abit about
Yoko and how she used John for her ideas...or something like
that.

"Inside John Lennon" is the best of Panorama's "Unauthorized" documentaries about famous musicians such as QUEEN, Led Zeppelin, the late Michael Jackson, and Fleetwood Mac. It's enriched by using actual interviews from Lennon and Paul McCartney, former members of the Quarry Men, and Lennon's sister, Julia Baird. John Lennon would've turned 70 this year if it hadn't been for his tragic, untimely death.

"Inside John Lennon" shows how the iconic figure was torn between his freewheeling mother and his uptight aunt. His father abandoned him when he was only 4. Lennon's love of music bonded him with Paul McCartney, who also had lost his mother at a young age. The Beatles' origin, as well as the influence of manager Brian Epstein, is discussed in detail. Lennon originally championed a leather look, but Epstein wanted the Beatles to be more clean-cut. The documentary also chronicles Lennon's turbulent private life with his first wife Cynthia, his eldest son Julian, and the performance artist diva Yoko Ono (It's Alright (I See Rainbows))

Unfortunately, this movie goes into hagiography in calling Lennon "Jesus with a guitar." Lennon was a strong activist. The documentary, strangely, passes it over. The U.S. vs. John Lennon is more in-depth in that he constantly faced deportation from the US, and that Richard Nixon saw him as a threat. Lennon stood up for his ideals, even if it meant the FBI hounding him. Lennon was no saint... but this movie weirdly bypasses what he really did. He was a key figure in the antiwar movement.

Instead of watching this mediocre documentary, it's better to listen to Lennon on what would've been his 70th-
Power To The People: The Hits
Signature Box
Double Fantasy Stripped Down [New Mix + Original Recording Remastered]
Gimme Some Truth
So, get together, love one another... and celebrate this working class hero!

I'm a Mom of a John Lennon Junkie. This was an excellent gift and enjoyed by all!