John LennonFilmography

Composing the Beatles Songbook: Lennon and McCartney 1966-1970

Actors: John Lennon, Paul McCartney, Barry Miles, Klaus Voormann, Maureen Cleaves

Synopsis: This documentary utilizes interviews with musicians and rock journalists to explain how John Lennon and Paul McCartney created some of the most legendary music of all time during the final four years of The Beatles. The filmmakers combine archival footage with various insights and anecdotes on the Read More

Across the Universe

Crew: Songwriter

Actors: Evan Rachel Wood, Jim Sturgess, Joe Anderson, Dana Fuchs, Martin Luther McCoy

Synopsis: Set against the anti-war protests, rock & roll revolution, and mind-expanding psychedelia of the 1960s, Julie Taymor's hallucinogenic musical follows the arduous journey of star-crossed lovers Jude (Jim Sturgess) and Lucy (Evan Rachel Wood) as they and a small group of musicians are swept up in Read More

I Met the Walrus

Actors: John Lennon, Jerry Levitan

Synopsis: In 1969 a 14-year-old boy named Jerry Levitan found his way into legendary musician John Lennon's hotel room and engaged the free-spirited musician in an illuminating conversation. Over three decades later, filmmaker Josh Rashin brings the timeless message conveyed by Lennon in that fateful Read More

The Beatles: Destination Hamburg - The Early Years

Actors: John Lennon, Paul McCartney, Ringo Starr, Kenny Everett

Synopsis: Released to coincide with the 45th anniversary of The Beatles' signing with EMI, this documentary tells the complete story of what many music fans consider to be the greatest rock and roll group of all times. From their early days as The Quarrymen to their later inception as the Fab Four, the Read More

Mike Douglas: Moments and Memories

Actors: John Lennon, Yoko Ono, Bob Newhart, Bill Cosby, Martin Luther King Jr.

Synopsis: Per its title, the compilation release Mike Douglas: Moments and Memories serves up a collection of nostalgic clips from the popular talk program The Mike Douglas Show. Featured guests include Bob Hope, Bob Newhart, John Lennon and Yoko Ono, Steve Martin and a young Billy Crystal. ~ Nathan Read More

The U.S. vs. John Lennon

Actors: John Lennon, Stew Albert, Tariq Ait Ben Ali, Carl Bernstein, Robin Blackburn, Chris Charlesworth

Synopsis: Filmmakers David Leaf and John Scheinfeld offer a compelling look at the efforts of the United States government to silence one of rock & roll's most outspoken war critics in this documentary detailing the Vietnam-era struggle between the Richard Nixon administration and iconic peace activist John Lennon Read More

John and Yoko: Give Peace a Song

Synopsis: Paul McGrath's documentary John and Yoko: Give Peace a Song offers a wealth of still photographs and film footage from the day that the former Beatle and his new bride recorded "Give Peace a Chance," during their infamous bed-in. The filmmakers utilize a wealth of rarely seen footage to explain Read More

Janis et John

Crew: Featured Music

Actors: Sergi López, Marie Trintignant, François Cluzet, Christopher Lambert, Jean-Louis Trintignant

Synopsis: First-time director Samuel Benmchetrit's 2003 debut Janis et John (Janis and John) follows the comedic exploits of a down-on-his luck insurance salesman as he attempts to make up for some very poor financial decisions. Pablo Sterni (Sergi Lopez), the aforementioned insurance salesman, has, until Read More

John Lennon: Lennon Legend

Synopsis: Corresponding with the CD release of the same name, Lennon Legend is intended as a far-reaching overview of the career of one of the most revered rock & roll songwriters of the 20th century. Compiling previously-unseen clips, including "Working Class Hero," "Everybody Had a Hard Year," and "Give Read More

John Lennon: The Messenger - In Spite of All the Dangers

Synopsis: John Lennon: The Messenger is a multi-media event that attempts to give the viewer insight into the life of the rock legend John Lennon. The DVD is a straightforward biography of the man that focuses on the later portion of Lennon's life. Included in the DVD is a CD consisting of interviews with Lennon Read More

A Hard Day's Night

Crew: Composer (Music Score)

Actors: John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison, Ringo Starr, Wilfrid Brambell

Synopsis: During the first worldwide flush of Beatlemania in 1964, United Artists wanted to ship out a movie with The Beatles before their vogue was over. Working within a tight $500,000 budget, director Richard Lester turned out A Hard Day's Night in a fast 6 1/2 weeks; the picture was in the theatres Read More

Number One Songs of Lennon and McCartney

Synopsis: A sing-along video that gives participants the feeling that the band is there in the room. Includes "A Ticket To Ride," "Help," "Michelle," "We Can Work It Out," and more. ~ All Movie Guide Read More

The John Lennon Video Collection

Synopsis: A combination of studio and live performances, The John Lennon Video Collection features 19 music videos from Lennon himself, including anti-war favorites "Imagine" and "Give Peace A Chance", as well as "Jealous Guy", "I'm Steppin' Out", "Grow Old With Me", "Borrowed Time", and "Stand By Me" Read More

Paul McCartney: Get Back

Crew: Featured Music

Actors: Paul McCartney

Synopsis: Richard Lester, who directed A Hard Day's Night and Help!, was the man behind the cameras for this documentary look at Paul McCartney's 1989-1990 world tour. McCartney and his band perform 20 songs spanning Macca's solo career as well as his years with the Beatles, including "Band on the Run," Read More

Pretty Woman

Crew: Featured Music

Actors: Richard Gere, Julia Roberts, Ralph Bellamy, Jason Alexander, Laura San Giacomo

Synopsis: Self-involved corporate raider Edward Lewis (Richard Gere) has recently split up with his girlfriend. Seeking directions to the Beverly Hills Hotel, he makes the acquaintance of free-spirited hooker Vivian Ward (Julia Roberts) and decides to put her on a 3,000-dollar retainer as his "date." He Read More

The Beatles: The First U.S. Visit

Crew: Featured Music

Synopsis: In February of 1964, Beatlemania began to spread to American shores with the first U.S. visit of John, Paul, George and Ringo to play a short American tour and make two appearances on The Ed Sullivan Show. Noted documentary filmmakers David and Albert Maysles had the presence of mind to realize Read More

The Beatles: Alone & Together

Imagine: John Lennon - The Definitive Film Portrait

Crew: Featured Music

Actors: Yoko Ono, John Lennon

Synopsis: The personal film archives of Yoko Ono were utilized for this feature-length documentary on the life of John Lennon. Predictably, it downplays Lennon's association with the Beatles and concentrates on his years with Ono. The film spends a lot of time recounting Lennon's anti-war activities Read More

Track 29

Crew: Featured Music

Actors: Theresa Russell, Gary Oldman, Sandra Bernhard, Christopher Lloyd, Colleen Camp

Synopsis: A dissatisfied woman encounters a mysterious stranger who may be her long-lost son in this peculiar, darkly comic drama. Theresa Russell plays the deeply disappointed Linda Henry, who feels stifled by a strained marriage to Dr. Henry Henry (Christopher Lloyd), who pays more attention to his model Read More

Five Corners

Crew: Featured Music

Actors: Jodie Foster, Tim Robbins, Todd Graff, John Turturro, Elizabeth Berridge

Synopsis: Quirky comedy, intense drama, and warm nostalgia are all combined in this eccentric look at one night in 1964 amongst the residents of the Five Corners neighborhood of the Bronx. The bulk of the film concerns Linda (Jodie Foster), a young woman who finds herself stalked by a disturbed rapist fresh Read More

Chuck Berry: Hail! Hail! Rock 'n' Roll

Actors: Chuck Berry, Eric Clapton, Robert Cray, Etta James, Julian Lennon, Keith Richards

Synopsis: Rock 'n' roll legend Chuck Berry's 60th birthday party (October 18, 1986) in his home town of St. Louis forms the nucleus of Taylor Hackford's lively musical documentary. In addition to Berry, we are treated to interviews with Bo Diddley, Little Richard, Roy Orbison, The Everly Brothers, and Read More

Concrete Angels

Crew: Featured Music

Actors: Joseph di Mambro, Luke McKeehan, Omie Craden, Dean Bosacki

Synopsis: Set in 1964, a group of four Toronto teens enter a battle of the bands to win an opening spot at a Beatles show. Led by an Italian teenager (Joseph Dimambro), the band just might be successful. ~ John Bush, All Movie Guide Read More

Prick Up Your Ears

Crew: Featured Music

Actors: Gary Oldman, Alfred Molina, Vanessa Redgrave, Wallace Shawn, Julie Walters

Synopsis: This unadorned biography of playwright Joe Orton (Gary Oldman) charts his bawdy, dangerous relationships. Alfred Molina plays Orton's brutish lover, Kenneth Halliwell, a pathetic figure who becomes horrific and then tragic before the film is over. The hilarity of scenes from such Orton plays as Read More

Something Wild

Crew: Featured Music

Actors: Jeff Daniels, Melanie Griffith, Ray Liotta, Margaret Colin

Synopsis: A wildly inventive and entertaining comic nightmare from former Roger Corman prodigy Jonathan Demme (The Silence of the Lambs), this screwball odyssey is a ride to remember. Jeff Daniels plays clean-cut New York bond trader Charlie Driggs, who accepts a ride home from a strange but attractive Read More

Twist and Shout

Crew: Featured Music

Actors: Adam Tønsberg, Lars Simonsen, Camilla Soeberg, Ulrikke Juul Bondo, Thomas Nielsen

Synopsis: This Danish film is set in 1963, at the height of Beatlemania. Played out against the standard pop-culture backdrop is the story of the friendship between Adam Tonsberg and Lars Simonson. His ego in tatters thanks to a domineering father, Simonsen yearns for the affections of snooty Ulrikke Juul Bondo Read More

Pretty in Pink

Crew: Featured Music

Actors: Molly Ringwald, Harry Dean Stanton, Jon Cryer, Andrew McCarthy, Annie Potts

Synopsis: John Hughes crafts an exemplary '80s Brat Pack romance out of the standard Cinderella story in Pretty in Pink. Andie Walsh (Molly Ringwald) is a teenager who lives in the dingy part of town with her terminally underemployed dad (Harry Dean Stanton). She works at a record store with eccentric Ionia Read More

Letting Go

Crew: Featured Music

Synopsis: Letting Go stars John Ritter as a widower and Sharon Gless as a lonely unmarried woman. They meet during a group-therapy session. Romance is inevitable, but the road to true happiness is pockmarked by a series of comic complications. Advertised as a straight romantic drama, Letting Go is actually Read More

Yesterday

Crew: Featured Music

Synopsis: Named for a 1965 Beatles' song, this standard teen drama is about a quartet of students who form a band with the express purpose of playing Beatles' music for a special concert at graduation time. Short on cash, they more or less hotwire some makeshift amplifying equipment and then proceed to Read More

Le Bal

Crew: Featured Music

Actors: Etienne Guichard, Régis Bouquet, Francesco de Rosa, Arnault Lecarpentier, Liliane Delval

Synopsis: A unique look at the history of 20th century France as illustrated in popular culture, Le Bal is set in a Parisian dance hall and features no narrative, no dialogue, and no continuous characters. The film moves from one dance number to the next, as the music reflects the political and cultural Read More

Les Jocondes

Crew: Featured Music

Actors: Marc de Jonge

Synopsis: A young provincial woman barely graduated from high school arrives in Paris and is assailed by the fact that she is alone. She encounters a Parisian woman slightly older than herself, and she clings to their friendship as though all the city were sinking around her. This closeness brings demands Read More

The Compleat Beatles

Crew: Featured Music

Actors: Gerry Marsden

Synopsis: In a careful, step-by-step manner, this documentary traces the lives and careers of the Beatles from childhood to breakup. The post-Beatle lives of John, Paul, George and Ringo are gingerly touched upon in the film's closing sequences, with emphasis given the senseless 1980 murder of John Lennon. Read More

Beatlemania! the Movie

Crew: Featured Music

Actors: Mitch Weissman, David Leon, Tom Teeley, Ralph Castelli

Synopsis: Actors pose as the Beatles, the classic rock superstars, in this musical based on the stage production. ~ Kristie Hassen, All Movie Guide Read More

Birth of the Beatles

Crew: Featured Music

Actors: Stephen MacKenna, Rod Culbertson, Ray Ashcroft, Ryan Michael

Synopsis: British director Richard Marquand graduated from BBC documentaries to dramatized features with 1979's Birth of the Beatles. This chronicle of the Fab Four begins when the group consisted of five musicians: John Lennon (Stephen MacKenna), Paul McCartney (Rod Culbertson), George Harrison (John Altman Read More

I Wanna Hold Your Hand

Crew: Featured Music

Actors: Nancy Allen, Bobby Di Cicco, Marc McClure, Susan Kendall Newman, Theresa Saldana

Synopsis: The time is 1964, and the Beatles, already a hugely popular group, are about to go on the Ed Sullivan Show for the first time, an appearance that launched them into a worldwide phenomenon. Already, girls are fainting during their concerts from sheer excitement at being in the same theater with Read More

Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band

Crew: Featured Music

Actors: Peter Frampton, Barry Gibb, Robin Gibb, Maurice Gibb, Frankie Howerd

Synopsis: Pop star Peter Frampton and the Bee Gees star in this musical, loosely based on the popular 1967 Beatles album Sergeant Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band. In the story, Billy Shears, who now heads the Lonely Hearts Club Band, is the grandson of the famous Sergeant Pepper. He is confronted by the Read More

The Fire in the Water

All This and World War II

Crew: Featured Music

Actors: The Bee Gees

Synopsis: All This and World War II is a fascinating but singularly pointless "musical documentary". Virtually all the footage has been culled from the vaults of Fox Movietone News, and edited in a linear manner in order to visually trace the history of World War II. Complementing this priceless newsreel Read More

Helter Skelter

Crew: Featured Music

Actors: George DiCenzo, Steve Railsback, Nancy Wolfe, Marilyn Burns, Christina Hart, Cathey Paine

Synopsis: Based on the best-selling Vincent Bugliosi book of the same name, Helter Skelter is a made-for-TV account of the investigation and prosecution of Charles Manson (Steve Railsback), who was convicted of leading a group of followers (known as "The Family") to murder seven people in California Read More

John Lennon: Interview with a Legend

The Morning After

Crew: Featured Music

Synopsis: Dick Van Dyke put his image and his career on the line with this searing TV movie about a "social drinker" who becomes a full-fledged alcoholic. Van Dyke plays a loving husband and father with a solid job and an excellent reputation, who blows it all with his excessive drinking. His wife (Lynn Carlin Read More

The Mike Douglas Show: February 16, 1972

Synopsis: In 1972, John Lennon and his wife, Yoko Ono, made a strategic and historic week-long guest appearance on the hit talk/variety television program The Mike Douglas Show hoping to get their counterculture message across to middle America. Day three, February 16, 1972, features Lennon meeting his Read More

The Mike Douglas Show: February 17, 1972

Synopsis: In 1972, John Lennon and his wife, Yoko Ono, made a strategic and historic week-long guest appearance on the hit talk/variety television program The Mike Douglas Show, hoping to get their counterculture message across to middle America. Day four, February 17, 1972, features Black Panther Chairman Bobby Seale Read More

The Mike Douglas Show: February 18, 1972

Synopsis: In 1972, John Lennon and his wife, Yoko Ono, made a strategic and historic week-long guest appearance on the hit talk/variety television program The Mike Douglas Show hoping to get their counterculture message across to middle America. Day five, February 18, 1972, was the final day of their foray Read More

John Lennon: Live in New York City

Synopsis: In 1972, John Lennon and Yoko Ono saw a television report about the lamentable conditions at the Willowbrook School for Children, a facility for mentally and physically challenged children in New York state. They were so moved they volunteered their services to raise funds to help improve Read More

John Lennon: Imagine

Synopsis: John Lennon: Imagine was originally produced for television audiences in 1972, and includes the ten tracks from Lennon's famous {^Imagine} album, as well as two tracks from Yoko Ono ("Mrs. Lennon" and "Don't Count the Waves"). The songs are supplemented by original films produced in locations as Read More

The Mike Douglas Show: February 15, 1972

Synopsis: In 1972, John Lennon and his wife, Yoko Ono, made a strategic and historic week-long guest appearance on the hit talk/variety television program The Mike Douglas Show hoping to get their counterculture message across to middle America. Day two, February 15, 1972, features yippie political Read More

The Mike Douglas Show: February 14, 1972

Synopsis: In 1972, John Lennon and his wife, Yoko Ono, made a strategic and historic week-long guest appearance on the hit talk/variety television program The Mike Douglas Show hoping to get their counterculture message across to middle America. Day one, February 14, 1972, features John, Yoko, Mike Douglas Read More

Sweet Toronto

Synopsis: This music documentary is produced and directed by the same filmmaker who brought Monterrey Pop to the screen. It features performances from a 1969 Toronto rock 'n roll festival. The film shows performers Jerry Lee Lewis, Little Richard, Eric Clapton, Bo Diddley, Alan White, Klaus Voorman and John Lennon Read More

Superstars in Film Concert

Actors: The Rolling Stones, Tina Turner, Jimi Hendrix, John Lennon

Oh! Calcutta!

Crew: Play Author

Synopsis: A production of Oh! Calcutta!, the late-'60s off-Broadway play that received infamy as the first nude musical, is captured here. The film is a record of the play rather than a cinematic adaptation, leaving its staging, revue-like structure, and frankly sexual content intact. ~ Judd Blaise, All Read More

Ten For Two

Crew: Producer

Synopsis: If you ever wondered why the U.S. government wanted to deport John Lennon, you have only to look as far as this documentary, which was withheld from distribution for the 18 years it took to settle all the legal matters relating to the incident. In fact, given the views of the F.B.I. and other Read More

Diaries, Notes and Sketches

Actors: Dr. Timothy Leary, Jack Smith, Mario Montez

Synopsis: Underground filmmaker Jonas Mekas presents a collection of home movies, outtakes and unfinished projects. A picnic in Central Park with friends is shown, as are Allen Ginsberg and Norman Mailer in an anti-war protest march. John Lennon and Yoko Ono are shown in their celebrated honeymoon where Read More

Dynamite Chicken

Actors: Joan Baez, John Lennon, Richard Pryor, Andy Warhol

Synopsis: This film contains a collection of commercials, interviews, and music featuring Joan Baez, Richard Pryor, John Lennon, Yoko Ono, Lenny Bruce, Andy Warhol, and Allen Ginsberg. ~ Iotis Erlewine, All Movie Guide Read More

Let It Be

Crew: Composer (Music Score)

Actors: The Beatles, Yoko Ono, Michael Lindsay-Hogg, Billy Preston, George Martin, Linda McCartney, Mal Evans, Heather McCartney

Synopsis: The dissolution of the Fab Four is captured on camera in Michael Lindsay-Hogg's documentary, a filmed record of the sessions for what would become the Beatles' final release, Let It Be. ({^Abbey Road}, cut shortly after these sessions, was in fact the group's final recording, but it was released a Read More

John Lennon and the Plastic Ono Band: Live Peace in Toronto, 1969

Synopsis: Directed by D.A. Pennebaker (Monterey Pop), this pivotal concert film offers the only footage ever recorded of John Lennon performing with the Plastic Ono Band. With the release of {^Abbey Road} just around the corner, Lennon, Yoko Ono, and Eric Clapton descended upon the Toronto Rock N' Roll Read More

Little Richard: Live at the Toronto Peace Festival 1969

Actors: Little Richard

Synopsis: The 1969 Toronto Peace Festival featured sets by some of the most popular rock acts of the day including John Lennon, Chuck Berry, and The Doors. This documentary captures Little Richard's performance at the festival, a nine-song set that includes renditions of classics like "Good Golly, Miss Read More

John Lennon and Yoko Ono: The Bed-In

The Magic Christian

Actors: Peter Sellers, Ringo Starr, Isabel Jeans, Christopher Lee, Caroline Blakiston, Raquel Welch

Synopsis: This zany British comedy finds a homeless hobo (Ringo Starr) being adopted by the world's richest man, Sir Guy Grand (Peter Sellers). Setting sail on the luxury liner The Magic Christian, Sir Grand tests the limit of human avarice. With money to motivate the greedy, Laurence Harvey combines his Read More

Rape

Crew: Director

Actors: Eva Majlata

Synopsis: John Lennon and Yoko Ono were exploring their interest in experimental filmmaking when they made this powerful, little-seen short feature. In Rape, a two-man camera crew follows a young woman (named Eva Majlata) as she walks down the street. As the woman becomes nervous due to the presence of the Read More

Yellow Submarine

Crew: Composer (Music Score)

Synopsis: Yellow Submarine is an animated meandering journey filled with puns and dry British humor, where psychedelic music videos take precedent over any linear story. What little there is of a plot, however, concerns a vibrantly colored place called Pepperland that resembles the album cover for {^Sgt. Read More

The Rolling Stones: Rock and Roll Circus

Actors: The Rolling Stones

Synopsis: Fans of late '60s rock and roll will find this documentary to be a rare and precious jewel, as it contains shining performances from such giants as The Rolling Stones, Eric Clapton, John Lennon and Yoko Ono, and The Who. Originally planned as a television special in 1968, it was shelved shortly Read More

The Beatles: Magical Mystery Tour

Crew: Director

Synopsis: After the success of the Sgt. Peppers LP, the Beatles decided to hire a psychedelic bus, take a trip into the English countryside, and film the results, no matter how bizarre or boring. With a motley cast of characters, the group basically tramps about the landscape with occasional music cues to Read More

How I Won the War

Actors: Michael Crawford, John Lennon, Roy Kinnear, Lee Montague, Jack MacGowran

Synopsis: Among the first of the late 60s anti-war films that reflected growing concern over the Vietnam War, How I Won the War takes a cold, dark look at the Good War, World War II. In adapting Patrick Ryan's 1963 novel, screenwriter Charles Wood and director Richard Lester offered a narrative fractured by Read More

Reflections on Love

Actors: Paul McCartney, John Lennon, George Harrison, Ringo Starr

Help!

Crew: Songwriter

Actors: The Beatles, Leo McKern

Synopsis: In their second feature with director Richard Lester, who oversaw the massive hit A Hard Day's Night, the Beatles again aim for a mix of goofy comedy and sterling pop music. There is slightly more of a plot this time, though it is a patently ridiculous one: a sacred ruby ring comes into Ringo's Read More

The British Invasion: The 1960's and 1970's

Crew: Featured Music

Synopsis: During the 1960's and 1970's, an influx of British pop music flooded American air waves in a surge of popularity that would come to be known as the British Invasion. This program features performances by a number of prominent British Invasion bands such as the Rolling Stones performing Not Fade Read More

The Tomorrow Show with Tom Snyder: John, Paul, Tom and Ringo

Synopsis: Exclusive Tomorror Show interviews with John Lennon, Paul McCartney, and Ringo Starr find legendary television talk show host Tom Snyder offering fascinating insight into the effects of "Beatlemania" on the musician's lives while exploring exactly what happened after the biggest rock and roll act Read More