'THE U.S. vs. JOHN LENNON'

Lennon as Superior to Nixon

"The U.S. vs. John Lennon," a new talking-head and archival-video
documentary better suited for VH1 (which helped to produce it) than
for the big screen, makes the case that, in just about every way that
counted, Lennon was a better person than Richard M. Nixon.

That very few people are likely to need persuading on this point is
something of a problem. Lennon's status as one of the most beloved
popular musicians of recent memory, and one of the best-known
cultural figures of the past half-century, leaves the movie with
little to do but add its sometimes sanctimonious voice to the chorus
of praise and admiration.

Luckily, even 26 years after his death, Lennon is a lively enough
presence to keep the sentimentality somewhat in check. A great
songwriter and a nimble exploiter of his own celebrity, he was also a
pretty terrific television talk show guest: witty, engaged and
passionate about his beliefs without being pompous about it.

The same cannot be said of all the people called upon to give
testimony, decades later, about Lennon's involvement with the antiwar
movement in the late 1960's and early 70's. It is, for example, odd
to see New Left stalwarts like Angela Davis and Tariq Ali gustily
proclaiming Lennon's radical commitment accompanied by the strains of
"Revolution," his highly ambivalent, explicitly critical assessment
of the fashionable militancy of the time.

But such nuances were hard to sustain then, and they are perhaps
difficult to recall now, as the era and its passions have become
encrusted with hazy mythology. When it is not burnishing the myths
and checking in with Noam Chomsky, Gore Vidal and Bobby Seale, "The
U.S. vs. John Lennon," which was written and directed by David Leaf
and John Scheinfeld, does engage in some interesting historical spadework.

It is aided in this by Jon Weiner, a University of California history
professor who has written extensively about Lennon's run-ins with the
F.B.I. and the Nixon administration. Several operatives assigned to
investigate Lennon -- some repentant, some, like the eventual
Watergate jailbird G. Gordon Liddy, decidedly not -- recount their
versions of the case, which culminated in the government's attempt to
rescind Lennon's visa and send him back to Britain.

When it concentrates on the particulars of Lennon's activism and on
Nixon's apparent obsession with him, the film offers its clearest
window on the past. The view also takes in some of the era's
characteristic excesses and oddities, as well as its pieties and
unexamined assumptions. John Sinclair, who became a cause celebre and
the subject of a Lennon protest song after he was imprisoned for
giving marijuana to an undercover officer, shows up to offer some wry
hindsight.

"We were proselytizing in favor of the legalization of marijuana, and
also smoking large quantities of it," he says. The wisdom that comes
with age has now convinced him that "you probably shouldn't be doing
both things at once if you want to do either one well." Good advice.

What distinguished Lennon and Yoko Ono from many of their
contemporaries was their ability to capture and make use of the
absurdities of their fame. They come across as canny self-satirists
in earnest devotion to a cause, and their combination of humor and
guilelessness still has the power to disarm.

The "bed-ins" they conducted in Amsterdam and Montreal were impish
plays for attention that seemed at once sweetly naive and cunning,
and they raised an interesting question of tactics in an age of mass
media. Can famous people, just by doing odd things or singing
beautiful songs, compel attention to important issues?

"The U.S. vs. John Lennon" doesn't really answer this question,
beyond restating the notion, which can neither be proven nor
dismissed, that musicians and artists can change the world. They can
also, it is clear, drive presidents and other people in power crazy,
in part because the impact of popular culture can be so hard to
measure or to predict.

Nixon and Lennon discovered this in different ways. "Give Peace a
Chance" became a protest-rally anthem, but it could hardly prevent
the Republican landslide of 1972. Nixon may have overreacted wildly
in believing that singers and movie stars could pose a threat to his
legitimacy, but his paranoia was probably based on the sense that he
could not compete with their influence and prestige. On the evidence
of this movie, Nixon was right.

"The U.S. vs. John Lennon" is rated PG-13 (Parents strongly
cautioned). Some strong language and violent images.

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THE U.S. VS. JOHN LENNON

Opens today in New York and Los Angeles.

Written, produced and directed by David Leaf and John Scheinfeld;
director of photography, James Mathers; edited by Peter S. Lynch II;
released by Lionsgate. Running time: 99 minutes.