The U.S. vs John Lennon Page #8

I don't know.

We better go in. We're late.

We'll see you when we come out

if you want.

Can we talk to you

when you come out?

We have a number of matters

that we have to take care of.

The lmmigration and Naturalization Service

was planning to stage

a huge show trial

and basically

get John Lennon

in a very, very public way.

They were going to try and show

that he was an undesirable alien

because of his lifestyle,

because of his friends,

and because

of his politics.

Then they were going to

take some of the lyrics

from some of his songs

and play them.

And a lot of the songs

were very antagonistic

to the Nixon administration.

What do the proceedings make you feel

just on a purely emotional level?

Well, I feel like

I'm back in school again.

I've been in trouble all my life

one way or the other,

and I'm back

to see the Head.

This time they don't cane me,

that's all.

They don't beat me anymore.

There are two reasons

the trial didn't happen.

One is that the investigator, who was

the only sober-thinking person in all this,

felt that it

was going to alienate

all the youth in America

if they did it.

And secondly, it was a big waste

of time and money,

because they already

had the ability

to get Lennon thrown out

of the country.

In the late '60s,

there was a head-hunting cop

who was not very high up in

the drug department in London,

which was pretty new anyway.

They had two dogs

for the whole department.

He went round and bust every pop star

he could get his hands on.

Then he got famous.

Some of the pop stars

had dope in the house,

and some of them didn't.

It didn't matter to him.

He planted it or did whatever.

Later on...

That's what he did to me,

because at that time

I didn't have any drugs.

We had no idea that it would

come back to haunt us,

in a very big way, too.

I was convicted

of possession in England

and fined $100...

I mean, 100 pounds.

- Is this an obstacle?

- That is the obstacle.

...rather than

get into trouble.

- Is that the obstacle to your staying?

- Yeah.

His problem seems to be

the marijuana conviction.

While that stands,

there's no form of relief

that's possible in his case.

If he had four speeding tickets

or if he had...

I could make up all the offenses he could

have done were he an American citizen,

they would have tried

to find a way,

his vulnerable spot,

his Achilles' heel,

and that's what that was.

All it was was it gave John Mitchell

and that crowd

an opening through which

to attack him.

John, why are you

being deported?

Well, the sort of

official reason

is something about that I was bust

in England for pot.

And the real reason

is because I'm a peacenik.

You don't think that

there's any possibility

that the government is trying

to harass the Lennons.

Absolutely not.

This is the kind of treatment

we would dish out

to anybody convicted

of a narcotics offense.

Our lawyer's name

is Leon Wildes, and he's...

He's not a radical lawyer.

He's not a William Kunstler.

Nothing like that. We went to

an immigration lawyer

who knew about immigration,

and he has really

been surprised

because he worked

in immigration 15 years.

He's really been surprised

by some of the things

that have gone on.

I took the case because

it was a challenge,

first of all, because I was impressed

with these extraordinary people,

and second, because

these were issues

which had never been

previously ruled on

in their present form

in American courts.

You say you've been in

trouble all your life. Why is that?

I've just one of those faces.

- People never liked my face.

- Oh, is that why?

Teachers used to get

furious about it.

Is it because you're

anti-establishment?

I guess it must show

on the face.

My original comment

to them about the case

was that I thought

it was a loser.

Why?

Because most of my clients

end up in a deportation proceeding,

and if they lose,

that's the end of it.

If they appeal that decision,

they go to the Board

of lmmigration Appeals,

and that is hardly

ever successful.

With Leon,

he was always

kind of suggesting,

hopelessly,

"Maybe you guys should be

a little bit gentler

or something."

"We announce the birth

of a conceptual country,

"Newtopia.

"Citizenship of the country

can be obtained

"by declaration of your

awareness of Newtopia.

"Newtopia has no land,

no boundaries,

"no passports, only people.

Newtopia has no laws

other than cosmic."

"All people of Newtopia are

ambassadors of the country.

"As two ambassadors

of Newtopia,

"we ask for

diplomatic immunity

"and recognition

in the United Nations

for our country

and its people"...

Newtopian Embassy, 1 White Street,

New York, New York.

Yoko apologized to me

afterwards and said,

"You have to understand.

When you represent artists,

we're not always predictable."

I said, "Maybe not always predictable,

but always enjoyable."

What does the flag mean?

What does the flag mean?

Surrender and submission.

It became clear to me

that he was a guy

of major principle,

and he understood that what was

being done to him was wrong.

It was an abuse of the law,

and he was willing

to stand up

and try to show it, to shine

the big light on it.

They're even sort of changing

their own rules to get us, you know?

Just because we're

peaceniks, really.

Do you think it's because of

your antiwar action

and not your marijuana

conviction, then?

Well, let's say that a few friends of ours

in the pop business

have exactly the same

conviction as me

and are allowed to come and go

as free as they like.

They don't happen to have the same

point of view as me, or they don't state it.

Will you now stop speaking out

against the war because of this?

Nothing will stop me,

and whether I'm here

or wherever I may be,

I'll always have the same feelings

and say what I feel.

The world is one big family.

We loved him for who he was,

and who he was to become

during that period,

and he marched with us,

he walked with us.

He went up against

this powerful government

that was terribly wrong,

that had misled us

into a deeply immoral war.

He did not back down.

It's great that you

came in the rain.

I read somewhere that

the war movement was over.

We're here to bring

the boys home,

but let's not

forget the machines.

Bring the machines home,

and then we'll

really get somewhere.

Bring our boys home!

...the only people

that can do it.

It wasn't so much

that Lennon was being

critical of U.S. Policy.

It's that he was over here

enjoying all the benefits

of the success that

we were giving him,

the wealth, the...

And all the rest of it,

and bad-mouthing us here.

Our attitude was,

"You want to do that?

"Go back to London.

Go back to Liverpool."

I like to be here because this is

where the music came from.

This is what influenced

my whole life

and got me where I am

today, as it were.

And I love the place.

Rate this script:0.0 / 0 votes