John Lennon documentary premieres

Friday, September 15th saw the opening in select theaters of The U.S. vs John Lennon, which details Lennon's four-year battle against deportation by the Nixon administration. The film chronicles Lennon and wife Yoko Ono's late '60s and early '70s peace campaign and counter culture involvement in various left-wing causes, most notably their outspokenness about the war in Vietnam.

The film's co-producer and director, David Leaf, told us that for 20-something-year-old audiences, the movie has proven to be much more than just a snapshot of the Nixon administration: "When a scene comes on such as Nixon giving a speech and he says something like, and this is almost verbatim, but what he says is, 'As the South Vietnamese troops become more capable, the rate of American withdrawal can increase. I have not, and do not intend to set a time table for their withdrawal.' And these young people look at me, people go, 'I don't believe that I'm hearing that this happened way back then. This is the same script we're hearing today.'"

Among the rare Lennon footage included in the film are portions of Lennon's December 10th, 1971 concert in Ann Arbor, Michigan to help free outspoken rock manager and counter culture spokesman John Sinclair from prison on a minor marijuana conviction. Also featured is New York City local news footage, long believed to be lost, of Lennon receiving his Green Card on July 27th, 1976.

The film's soundtrack, which will be released in September 26th, includes such Lennon solo classics such as "Give Peace A Chance," "Imagine," "Power To The People," "Instant Karma (We All Shine On)," "Nobody Told Me," "God," "Happy Xmas (War Is Over)," and others.

For more information, log on to theusversusjohnlennon.com.
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