Imagine:John Lennon (1988)

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clive gash
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Imagine:John Lennon (1988)

Postby clive gash » 19 May 2017, 23:46

The moment I became a Lennon worshipper.



This film, the Pete Shotton book and, oddly, The Lives of John Lennon hit me at the same time.

He still amazes.
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Charlie O.
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Re: Imagine:John Lennon (1988)

Postby Charlie O. » 20 May 2017, 02:18

I saw that movie in the cinema at the time, and I haven't seen it since but that particular scene always stuck out in my memory. It's kind of amazing that he didn't have people like that camping out in his garden constantly back then; that psychological impact that the Beatles had on some people ("you wrote that for me", "I knew you'd recognize me as soon as we met" etc.) goes back to early Beatlemania, and reached a couple of possible conclusions in Charles Manson and Mark David Chapman (and maybe whoever it was who attacked George in his home). It was very sweet of him to talk to this guy as he did, but man.
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Re: Imagine:John Lennon (1988)

Postby naughty boy » 20 May 2017, 05:33

Charlie O. wrote:I saw that movie in the cinema at the time, and I haven't seen it since but that particular scene always stuck out in my memory. It's kind of amazing that he didn't have people like that camping out in his garden constantly back then; that psychological impact that the Beatles had on some people ("you wrote that for me", "I knew you'd recognize me as soon as we met" etc.) goes back to early Beatlemania, and reached a couple of possible conclusions in Charles Manson and Mark David Chapman (and maybe whoever it was who attacked George in his home). It was very sweet of him to talk to this guy as he did, but man.


- what? that it was dangerous for him? I can't work out your tone here, Charlie...
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Re: Imagine:John Lennon (1988)

Postby Charlie O. » 20 May 2017, 05:56

'O' wrote:
Charlie O. wrote:I saw that movie in the cinema at the time, and I haven't seen it since but that particular scene always stuck out in my memory. It's kind of amazing that he didn't have people like that camping out in his garden constantly back then; that psychological impact that the Beatles had on some people ("you wrote that for me", "I knew you'd recognize me as soon as we met" etc.) goes back to early Beatlemania, and reached a couple of possible conclusions in Charles Manson and Mark David Chapman (and maybe whoever it was who attacked George in his home). It was very sweet of him to talk to this guy as he did, but man.


- what? that it was dangerous for him? I can't work out your tone here, Charlie...

No, you got it. This particular guy, though delusional, was basically harmless (at least, as far as we can see), but... what if he hadn't been? Remember, Mark David Chapman asked Lennon for his autograph just a few hours before shooting him...
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Re: Imagine:John Lennon (1988)

Postby naughty boy » 20 May 2017, 06:10

Yeah. It is amazing.

It's not clear whether this sort of thing was common for Lennon. I mean, in his own grounds and all.

There's no affectation there, that's what moves me. He comes across as being totally genuine and interested and human and friendly.
Matt 'interesting' Wilson wrote:So I went from looking at the "I'm a Man" riff, to showing how the rave up was popular for awhile.

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Re: Imagine:John Lennon (1988)

Postby fange » 20 May 2017, 06:13

The possible dangers are certainly in my mind when i see that clip, at least partly.

A crucial slice of Lennon's personality was always the working-class everyman who was never too rich or famous to talk to anybody; but it WAS a safety risk, especially the ones who were driven to just come up to a person's house.

Bless him though - he was a fragile, troubled man, but if you love Lennon even a bit as an artist or person, that clip probably captures an inportant part of why we do.
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Re: Imagine:John Lennon (1988)

Postby toomanyhatz » 20 May 2017, 06:32

Yeah, I always found that scene touching. He was very direct with the guy, even a bit 'brutally honest', but was also, on a pure humanist level, concerned about feeding him. There's a harshness, but also an essential decency. Kind of him in a nutshell, and why the portrayals of him as a saint or an unrepentant asshole are both so inherently wrongheaded.
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Re: Imagine:John Lennon (1988)

Postby Neige » 20 May 2017, 08:25

toomanyhatz wrote:Yeah, I always found that scene touching. He was very direct with the guy, even a bit 'brutally honest', but was also, on a pure humanist level, concerned about feeding him. There's a harshness, but also an essential decency. Kind of him in a nutshell, and why the portrayals of him as a saint or an unrepentant asshole are both so inherently wrongheaded.



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Re: Imagine:John Lennon (1988)

Postby zoomboogity » 20 May 2017, 09:28

Maybe Lennon saw a sense of desperation in the guy that might have been his fate had his own luck gone differently. Maybe he felt that, had the guy proven to be dangerous, there was a cameraman, perhaps a crew, standing right there. Best to placate the guy while the numbers were in his favor. Not to say he didn't have compassion for the guy, but underneath his cool exterior may have been a sense of possibilities going awry any day, any time, and this wasn't the only guy like this out there. Scary to realize that complete strangers know where you live. They don't call 'em Beatlemaniacs for nothing.

http://todditiesblog.blogspot.com/2015/ ... ennon.html

I spoke with Todd Rundgren about Chapman’s obsession with him. “There are a number of aspects. One is the danger of celebrity and watch out what you wish for,” Todd said. “I have never wanted celebrity and I don’t know if John Lennon wanted the celebrity he had at the time the fatal event happened. By then it was a mute [sic] question. John Lennon was a world wide recognised celebrity and I’m not. Therefore your profile makes you a bigger target because there are wacky people out there who get ideas and obsessions in their head that maybe have no basis in reality but in the end they are going to focus them on you.

Rundgren said he never felt threatened by Chapman’s fascination. “I don’t know that I was in any danger from him but I know that like, most artists, you encounter crazy fans, some of which you may suspect have the potential for violence. You experience the threat of violence. I have had assassination threats like somebody will call somebody before a show and say ‘if Todd Rundgren appears on stage I’m going to shoot him’. You can’t take that seriously. It’s just something that is a product of the cult of celebrity. Since I’ve never been committed to that I guess it keeps me out of the limelight and away from that”.
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