Product Details

• Actors: Jonas Ball, Mie Omori, Krisha Fairchild, Gunther Stern, Robert Kirk
• Format: Color, DVD, Widescreen, NTSC
• Language: English
• Region: Region 1 (U.S. and Canada only. Read more about DVD formats.)
  
• Aspect Ratio: 1.66:1
• Number of discs: 1
• Rating: Unrated
• Studio: Ifc
• DVD Release Date: August 5, 2008
• Run Time: 115 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (10 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B0018PH3K6
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #34,390 in Movies & TV (See Bestsellers in Movies & TV)

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  Movies & TV > Music Video & Concerts > Artists > The Beatles > John Lennon

• For more information about "The Killing of John Lennon" visit the Internet Movie Database (IMDb)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description

Mark David Chapman, a 25 year old security guard in Hawaii, bought a plane ticket to New York with the intention of killing the world's greatest musician and dreamer: The Beatles' John Lennon. Camping outside Lennon's apartment in New York waiting for an autograph, Chapman's childlike obsession with this "celebrity phony" descends into madness. Both gritty and dreamy, The Killing Of John Lennon is a stunning examination of a stalker's mind just before the kill.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

12 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The killing from Mark Chapman's point of view, June 26, 2008

By	John Schulze (Texas) - See all my reviews

This film is strange. It retraces Mark Chapman's motives that lead to his killing of John Lennon in 1980. You are invited into a maniac's head to witness thoughts that are begotten in the depths of his mind. All spoken words and verbalized ideas that are put into the main character's mouth actually belong to Chapman himself: no writer's distortion. One can ask the rhetoric question, do we need to increase Chapman's ignoble renown?

John Lennon appears only as Chapman gets opportunity to see him personally. Of course, as a viewer, you know the forthcoming tragedy in the finale, and the film abets suspense by reminding you occasionally how many days or hours left before the murder. You find yourself meditating upon every turn of Chapman's mind, but in the end you realize nothing could save Lennon from this determined psycho. You witness all his weak, ludicrous motives, and don't expect that you'll feel any sympathy for him. No, understandably there's no touch of the sorrowful greatness of a tragedy: the story is told from Chapman's side.

The film is very well made, the camera work and casting are excellent. Jonas Ball playing Chapman is perfect; all characters Chapman encounters with - from street girls to taxi drivers - are greatly developed. Paradoxically, Hawaiian colours and atmospheric musicscore complete the eerie feel of the story. It's not a movie to watch over and over again but I highly recommend it to everybody who is interested in this tragedy and who appreciates good acting.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars It Took a Village..., December 22, 2008

By	jewessjen "yeah, it's me" (Minneapolis, MN) - See all my reviews

C'mon and ride on the Blame Train, shall we?
Was it the mental hospital that evidently released a criminally insane Chapman into society just 3 years before he killed Lennon despite the fact that he was diagnosed with severe schizophrenia? And hey, why didn't the Honolulu Scientology Center involve the cops when he was harassing them with death threats just 4 months before he shot Lennon? That would have at least initiated some sort of paper trail. Was it the mother who raised her son as a `best friend' (i.e. couldn't care less about him) instead of son? Perhaps a father who couldn't be bothered unless it was to push his face into a plate of spaghetti?
Look, I place most of the blame on the wife. She knew what her husband was up to, knew he was flying to NYC to kill John Lennon but never told anyone even though she knew he had a gun and stayed up all night listening to Beatles albums plotting against John, going on tirades about what a phony he was for owning prize Holstein cows. I would have had him reading 'Catcher in the Rye' in the state hospital quicker than you could say `annulment'.
I could go on and on but why? See the film yourself, I'm giving it 5 stars.
Finally, as important and influential as John Lennon is in our culture, for 25 years (since 4th grade, people) I've felt a lot of anguish around his passing. Even though I'm very spiritual and I know he was, too. This film goes a long way in explaining where MDC was at when this horrible act of violence took place. Now I'm not angry anymore.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars brilliant, December 19, 2008

By	A. Bell - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

as a lennon fan, i was extremely reluctant at first to see this film. However after some prodding by beatles friends of mine who had seen the film, i decided to rent it and was astounded with how brilliant the film was. Everything from the casting to the directing was top notch. I really enjoyed jonas ball as well as the slew of impressive supporting actors who lended their keen talents to the screen. To me personally, aside from Jonas, who is fantastic, I found the psychologist and the taxi driver to be extremely talented supporting acts as well. All in all I found the Killing of John Lennon to be an extroardinary film and I recommend it highly.