Purporting to be a documentary about John Lennon in the 1970s, Borrowed Time is no such thing. Instead, we have a lot of fan boys stating the bleeding obvious and covering a much longer period of time. On the other hand, there are some really interesting and illuminating details here, so the film is an absolute must for fans.
Touring plans for 1981 were afoot when Mark Chapman changed the world. And it was going to be extraordinary technically (Lennon’s brief was "to give Mick and Elton ulcers"), a glimpse of which is recreated here.
Tariq Ali, Bob Harris, Earl Slick and many, many others (largely men) share their memories and – among other things – conclude that, no, Lennon wasn’t baking bread and bringing up Sean when holed up in the Dakota. But nobody knows for sure. However, this is the stuff we want to know (and was there really a whole floor of fur coats being refrigerated?). (Pictured below: Lennon and his wife Yoko Ono)
We learn more about the man when he was let off the leash by Yoko Ono for 18 months in 1973–5. His so-called "lost weekend" with assistant and lover May Pang (a decade his junior) was the wild ride he should probably have had immediately post-Beatles.
We discover that, despite Lennon's reputation for heavy drug use, he was "a cheap date" who got drunk on half a pint. He is described as honourable but naive, having never really experienced the real world.
While desperate to get his Green Card, Lennon goaded Richard Nixon, who was terrified he’d swing the youngsters’ vote. But, sadly, Nixon won won the 1972 Presidential election and Lennon's dreams of a better future never materialises. His assertion that "when you show your flag, you’re not alone," sounds particularly sad in these days of non-solidarity.
There are some genuinely touching moments – the late Andy Peebles, visibly moved, remembers a last hug before he flew back to London on the night Lennon died. And the redoubtable Aunt Mimi makes an appearance, alleging that she rang John up to tell him to stop playing silly buggers when staging the famous 1969 "bed in". "That’s enough,’" was all that was needed to get him to stop (she says). He called her two hours before he was shot, saying he’d see her soon. (PIctured below: Lennon's last public performance was at the Salute to Lew Grade show, Waldorf Astoria, Manhattan, April 18, 1975)
At over two hours, Borrowed Time could do with some trimming. Unnecessary was the story about Elton John eyeing up someone’s todger, and a lengthy tale from the journo who was "lucky" enough to have been hit by a cab and rushed to the A&E that Lennon was about to die in.
The film's director Alan G Parker is known for the films Who Killed Nancy?, Hello Quo, and It Was Fifty Years Ago Today! The Beatles: Sgt. Pepper & Beyond. He’s clearly a Beatles fan and he’s put a hell of a lot of material together here. It includes further revelations, of course.
Bizarrely, Parker added annoying background music, which is entirely superflious, and, given the subject, inappropriate. Presumably the Lennon estate wasn’t for sharing, as it did did with Kevin Macdonald and Sam Rice-Edwards' One to One: John & Yoko, which sounds infintely more interesting.
The last word should go to the great man. "We’re being run by maniacs for maniacal ends." Forty-five years after his death, they couldn't be more appropriate.
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