DVD 210 mins
NR (Not Rated)
The Dick Cavett Show - John Lennon & Yoko Ono
 (8/16/1975)
In Collection
#547

Seen It:
No

Owner:
Ben
TV - Variety
USA  /  English

John Lennon devotees (and, to a lesser extent, Beatles fans in general) should be delighted with The Dick Cavett Show - John Lennon & Yoko Ono, which collects (on two discs) his three appearances on the TV talk show in 1971 and '72. It won't be because of the music; there's very little of that, and what there is, frankly, is not great. Of much more interest is the opportunity to see and hear Lennon, then in his early thirties, talk about matters both slight (his new haircut, the state of television in England) and significant (the Nixon administration's efforts to deport him, Lennon and Ono's battle for shared custody of her daughter from an earlier marriage). Always the most verbally agile of the Beatles, Lennon appears here with his rapier wit (on Yoko's chain smoking: "Every time I kiss her, I burn my chin") and penchant for punning (when Cavett appears without neckwear, Lennon calls him "tie-less in Gaza") intact. He also tirelessly plugs his and Ono's various activities, which gets a little old, but his passion for and commitment to their causes are undeniable. Don't expect much Beatles talk; while he evidences no bitterness about the band's demise, neither does he indulge in any sentimentality (although it's poignant, given his murder in 1980, to hear him say that he'd never want to be onstage singing "She Loves You" at age 50). As for the two live performances (there's also an "Imagine" film clip), both coming at the end of the third Cavett show, let's just say that the Lennons' collaboration with the New York band Elephant's Memory, which yielded the album Sometime in New York City and the two songs they play here (his strident "Woman is the Nigger of the World" and her "We're All Water"), wasn't exactly their creative zenith. --Sam Graham

Edition Details
Edition TV Series
Barcode 826663588798
Region Region 1
Release Date 11/1/2005
Packaging Custom Case
No. of Disks/Tapes 2
Personal Details
Purchase Date 12/18/2005
Purchase Price $19.44
Store Best Buy
Condition New (Still Sealed)
Current Value $19.99
Links Amazon US