The U.S. vs. John Lennon

We went to see "The U.S. vs. John Lennon" down at the movie theatre at 50th & France in Edina.

A zillion years ago when we were in Minneapolis as tourists, my Uncle recommended that we go see a movie they'd been playing straight through for months, maybe years. It was called Harold & Maude and it about the most interesting movie I'd seen up to that point. If you don't count Pinnochio, Planet of the Apes and 2001: A Space Odyssey. I don't think I've seen it since.

It starred Bud Cort, as a young, death obsessed man who falls in love with a free-spirited women in her 70s. They met at a funeral, a cermony they both were fascinated with. The film featured music by Car Stevens.

They showed a short film before it called De Düva: The Dove. When it first came on, I groaned as I saw the black & white film, the subtitles and heard the Swedish dialogue. At the age of 13 or so, I wasn't a big fan of the foreign film world though that was to change later as I entered my pretentious artist phase that went on for the next 25 years or so. Staying up late to watch Wild Strawberries, The Seventh Seal and other flix that I could discuss in case I were ever to meet Woody Allen.

Some people in the theatre began to laugh and slowly, I began to notice the subtitles on the screen. When the subtitle said the word "cow" the woman said mooskie, or "water" as H2Oska. That kind of thing.

Anyway ... back to the Lennon film. They did a great job putting it together. Telling the John (and Yoko) story from the angle of their political beliefs. The primary platform they shared was their search for a world of non violence. They came off to the public in a variety of ways, silly, serious, naive, dedicated, etc.

There is excellent Lennon performance footage at various, politically oriented concerts. Appearances on various televison shows like Dick Cavett and benign Mike Douglas, sometimes with some of their close radical friends, like Panther leader Bobby Seales, jerry Rubin, etc. Amazing.

There was a lot going on at the time. The voting age had been lowered to 18 and the Nixon Administration saw Lennon as a direct threat to the election and the new demographic. Something must be done!

Check it out ... it's an incredible story.