Ono strikes again?

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Yoko Ono may (I say "may") have succeeded in "yanking" a 90-minute John Lennon documentary called John Lennon: Working-Class Hero, despite the producers having landed numerous TV and DVD deals going back to late '05.

Narrated by Gary Oldman, the doc is said to include "never-before-seen home movies" provided by Ono, plus a reported interview with Lennon's first wife Cynthia, who "allegedly complains on-camera that drugs and Ono were responsible for the break-up of their marriage," according to the notoriously sloppy British news service WENN, which never provides news links.

The report says Ono also was interviewed for the feature, providing what the producers described as "her most revealing interview to date." It says that "an unnamed source" has told the London Sun, "The film had been several months in the making but at the last minute Yoko withdrew support." Doc was produced by Double Jab Productions, which declined to comment on the Sun's report and shut down its website. (This part is definitely true -- the site isn't up and running as we speak.)

If the WENN report is true (I've called a couple of guys who ought to know but didn't pick up), it would seem to be in keeping with Ono's behavior regarding previous John Lennon docs and tributes, which is to make sure her late husband is portrayed only in glowing, bordering-on-angelic terms.

As I wrote in my review of John Scheinfeld and David Leaf''s heavly Ono-cized The U.S. vs. John Lennon....

"The Lennon portrayed in this film is indeed scrubbed clean and phony as a three-dollar bill, and there's no doubt in my mind that Leaf decided on this portrait -- Lennon as a kind-of St. Francis of the anti-war movement, a guy who did nothing but good things and spoke only of love and peace and stopping the killing -- under the influence of his and Scheinfeld's alliance with Lennon's widow.

"I call it the 'Curse of Ono' -- the more control she seems to have over any portrait of the late ex-Beatle, the more sugar-coated it turns out.

"Like anyone else, Lennon was a mixed bag -- part genius, part beautiful guy, part angry guy, part saint, part asshole, part man-of-courage, part prima donna, part gifted troubadour, part abusive drunk (during his 1974 "lost weekend" phase), part mystical seeker. But you only get the positive stuff from Leaf-Scheinfeld-Ono. And after an hour or so of the vigilant, heroic, positive-minded Lennon, you want to barf."

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Posted by Jeffrey Wells on February 21, 2007 at 1:58 PM

comment #1

JD says ...

What is with the endless demonization of Yoko Ono? It's totally unjustified and got old 35 years ago. Dominick Dunne wrote a good article dispelling the "evil Yoko" myth in Vanity Fair a few years ago -- you should really look it up, Jeff. While I didn't really care for The US vs. John Lennon (for largely stylistic reasons), I can't understand Jeff's appetite for Lennon-bashing in that film. It wouldn't have made sense. What did his mid-70s promiscuous period have to do with his politics? And just for the record, Ono gave the okay/assisted in the making of Imagine, which did touch on Lennon's mid-70s "lost weekend" period (in fact, this is the reason most people know about it). But I don't see why Jeff feels this constant need to tear him down. The guy's dead, Jeff. If you're not a fan, fine, but why do you feel the need to reduce his legacy to a series of tabloid headlines?

Posted by JD at February 21, 2007 2:42 PM

comment #2

christian says ...

i have total sympathy for yoko seeing her husband gunned down before her.

but there's plenty of evidence that she was after a beatle. paul was her first attempt and the fact she sat in with the group and sang along (i have the bootlegs) makes her claim to avant garde artistry a li'l trumped. the beatles road manager wrote a book last year that pilloried yoko, not for breaking the beatles up, but for her general pushiness and insistence on getting treated like she was a beatle.

and when she used a picture of john's bloody glasses for her album after his death, well, i dunno...you tell me.

and i think john would have choked her for pimping his name and image to credit card companies...under the song "imagine" no less!

Posted by christian at February 21, 2007 3:02 PM

comment #3

christian says ...

btw the worst smear job is albert goldman's lennon bio. he paints yoko as a literal witch and claims that because john was an angry young man, all of his "love" songs are bullshit and only "cold turkey" should be deified.

i'm sure lennon's laughing down on goldman in their individual afterworlds...

Posted by christian at February 21, 2007 3:06 PM

comment #4

Monument says ...

I'm all for the Lennon bashing. Ever since his death, Lennon has been elevated to the level of deity due in large part to the efforts of Yoko Ono. She loves him, I respect that, but it's getting to be a bit much.

First, the music; Lennon's solo records were never as good as the music he wrote with the Beatles, not even in the same ballpark (same goes for McCartney). Yeah, Imagine is a great song but other than that it's mostly crap. Do you know anyone that regularly listens to a Lennon solo album, not a best-of compilation but a proper solo album? I don't and for good reason, the albums suck.

Second, the man himself. I didn't know him but from the accounts and interviews I've read, he ranged from being a visionary to an absolute prick. Read some interviews with Julian if you want to know what kind of father he was. The fact is that he was full of contradictions, like we all are, but certainly not a saint.

The portrait painted by Yoko Ono since his death is overly saccharine and for the most part inaccurate. What's worse is that she barely acknowledges the Beatles as being a part of Lennon's legacy. She would like us to believe that John was entirely responsible for the success of the Beatles. It's utter bullshit. The Beatles made incredible albums together, but John and Paul never made anything nearly as good apart.

It's funny that John and Paul are regarded as being the masterminds of the Beatles, but the only one of them that ever made a truly great album alone was George Harrison.

Posted by Monument at February 21, 2007 3:32 PM

comment #5

christian says ...

i listen to lennon's solo stuff cos some of it is great:

mind games
#9 dream
working class hero
woman is the nigger of the world
watching the wheels
whatever gets you through the night
instant karma

Posted by christian at February 21, 2007 3:41 PM

comment #6

travis b says ...

lennon's first two solo albums are as good as anything by the beatles. after that, with all the drugs, the immigration trials, and harry nillson, lennon went downhill.

Posted by travis b at February 21, 2007 4:26 PM

comment #7

MrThompson says ...

I personally prefer Yoko's pre-Beatles music to Lennon's post-Beatles music. Crazy shit.

Posted by MrThompson at February 21, 2007 5:09 PM

comment #8

Monument says ...

"lennon's first two solo albums are as good as anything by the beatles."

Bullshit

Posted by Monument at February 21, 2007 5:36 PM

comment #9

travis b says ...

monument - have you listened to either Plastic Ono Band or Imagine? the songwriting is spectacular, far better than anything mccartney or harrison (with maybe the exception of all things must pass) ever put out. the influence of those in terms of the confessional songwriting as well as the style of singing (i believe wells had made a mention of the song "well, well, well" on here when the departed came out.) can still be heard in music today. those first two albums i rank up there with the white album and abbey road, my two favorite beatles records. of course, your opinion may vary on that.

plastic ono band is also frequently regarded as one of the rock albums to come out of the 70's and occasionally is in those top 100 all time lists (i direct you to rollingstone, pitchfork, or allmusic). not that i need any of those magazines or websites to validate my opinion, but i wanted to point out that your statement saying that no one listens to any of lennon's solo albums is in fact bullshit.

but, i agree with everything else you said.

Posted by travis b at February 21, 2007 6:04 PM

comment #10

rocco says ...

Assuming the british invasion happened ANYWAY--and that's a BIG ASSUMPTION--Paul probably would have enjoyed a very successful commercial career on his own, while John would have toiled in artistic and drug-addled anonymity. The synergy of their partnership, in the form of discipline, is what made the Beatles truly great. John's insistence on art over pop pushed Paul away from his penchant for sentimentality to his creative limits, while Paul's brilliance essentially shamed John into making digestible music...of course no one can discount the roles Harrison and George Martin played in the evolution of the Beatles sound, but there's no doubt McCartney was the genius behind the band. Listen to 'Abbey Road' and 'Let It Be'...while less innovative than their 'Help' through 'Sgt. Pepper' phase, it's their most sublime work, and Paul shines as the powerhouse.

I know I sound like a Paul man, I'm actually a George guy...but Lennon, what a diva. A mad genius at times, but geez, what a domineering nightmare he must have been. Everything the guy did or said post-Beatles exposed his deep-seeded envy of Paul's hit-making and musical capacity. A megalomaniac with an inferiority complex...Watch out! But he was the hippy, he was the revolutionary, thus he's the one the generation identified with. That's ok, the guy was a monumental and historic talent, he just happened not to be the most talented guy in his band.

Sorry...not enough people my age appreciate the Beatles or their profound influence...have to talk about them when I can.

My question is, what DON'T we know about Lennon by now? People are still making docs about him?

Posted by rocco at February 21, 2007 6:05 PM

comment #11

Walter Sobchak says ...

John Lennon is/was the greatest figure in the history of Rock as far as I'm concerned. Nothing short of pure genious. But he was also something of a self-centered dick. I don't mind his various demons because many if not most great artists had them. I do mind people turning him into this soft and fuzzy angel of love and peace because they've seen adorable footage of him and Yoko walking hand in hand to the tune of "Imagine". People who fall for that image are the ones that think "Imagine" is the neatest song on John's only solo album, "The Best of John Lennon". (it sits in their CD collection next to "Legend", the only album ever released by that wonderful African-American reggae guy Bob Marley).

"Mark David Chapman. If that guy had aimed three feet to the right he'd be a national hero." - Judy Tenuta

Posted by Walter Sobchak at February 21, 2007 6:33 PM

comment #12

christian says ...

lennon played the public fool for a purpose. who would want the fbi after them or end up murdered by a fan? the beatles needed to be a group but so what?

Posted by christian at February 21, 2007 6:42 PM

comment #13

JD says ...

Mind Games isn't just a great song, it's also a great album. I understand why some people prefer Beatles-era Lennon, but that music isn't objectively better than his solo music. It's like Spielberg vs. Kubrick. The old music's endlessly enjoyable and far more accessible, but the later music is more ambitious, original, challenging, and inventive. I'd also add "better," but that's a matter of taste and even I change my mind from day to day.

Posted by JD at February 21, 2007 8:51 PM

comment #14

rocco says ...

JD...I'd replace "original" and "inventive" with "personal" and "experimental"...but that's just my opinion...with Paul and Martin gone, there was no one (willing, anyway) to critique and challenge him to do his best or at least keep him on track. The guy lacked discipline in every aspect of his life, and nowhere is that more painfully obvious than in his post-Beatles music, not to mention his life and career.

Lennon-McCartney...apart they're just something sticky and something sweet...both delicious...but together, they're peanut butter & jelly. Perfection.

Posted by rocco at February 21, 2007 9:17 PM

comment #15