Death of a Beatle (2001)

This review is sponsored by

BUY IT

General		Extras
Category	Documentary	Main Menu Audio Featurette-Interview With Police Detective Barry Lattig Featurette-Interview With Police Detective William Lundon Biographies-Cast Featurette-Interview With Andy Peebles Featurette-Interview With Jack Jones Gallery-Photo Trailer-1980's, Classics, Documentaries Booklet
Rating
Year Of Production	2001
Running Time	87:56 (Case: 160)
RSDL / Flipper	No/No Dual Disc Set	Cast & Crew
Start Up	Menu
Region Coding	1,2,3,4,5,6	Directed By	None Given
Studio Distributor	Ovation	Starring	None Given
Case	Gatefold
RPI	$34.95	Music	Bill Hudson Derek McCants

    "I really didn't want his signature, I wanted his life...and I ended up taking both." Mark David Chapman

    On the night of December 8th 1980, music legend and former Beatle John Lennon was shot dead outside his New York apartment building. His delusional assailant, Mark David Chapman, had been totally obsessed with Lennon for many years and even obtained the musician's autograph shortly before gunning him down.

    Immediately after his death, the outpouring of grief from people around the world was quite astounding, but not at all surprising. For every year of the past twenty-five, the anniversary of this tragedy has brought massive tributes through quiet public reflections, tribute concerts and media based commemorations. With a loyal community of fans worldwide, these annual tributes are sure to continue and prosper.

    The 8th of December 2005 marked the twenty fifth anniversary of the murder of John Lennon. This documentary has been released on DVD to coincide with this anniversary in a special two disc limited edition set. Death Of A Beatle is an American made documentary which was originally made for television in 2000 to commemorate the twentieth anniversary of his death.

    Today, a quick Internet search will unearth a myriad of conspiracy theories regarding Lennon's death, none of which are examined or even mentioned in this documentary. This film concentrates on the build up to the night of the murder by documenting the bizarre motives and movements of Mark David Chapman and Lennon's ill-fated comfort of living in New York City.

    Incorporated throughout the film is a retrospective look at Lennon's career. From the early days with The Quarry Men through to The Beatles and his subsequent solo years, this documentary provides a general overview rather than a thorough examination of his career.

    As you would expect, many relevant people were interviewed for the film. There is, however, the notable absence of Lennon's wife, Yoko Ono and fellow members of The Beatles, apart from the band's first drummer, Pete Best, who contributes. Those interviewed provide significant insights into the tragic events of that December night and also into John Lennon's iconic career.

    While I don't believe this documentary is as comprehensive or as moving as the 1988 Warner Bros documentary Imagine: John Lennon, I still found it to be compelling and interesting viewing.

    Death Of a Beatle features newly filmed material combined with a wonderful selection of rare archival footage and previously unseen photographs, both in colour and black and white.

Video

    Generally speaking, the video transfer was quite impressive.

    The transfer is presented full screen in an aspect ratio of 1.33:1. I believe the documentary is a full frame transfer which is not 16x9 enhanced.

    With much of the footage originating from a wide range of different sources, the sharpness and clarity varies considerably. The best guide for this was the newly filmed footage, which exhibited a very good level of sharpness. Again, blacks and shadows varied in quality due to the source material. While the new footage was very clean, older video and film footage naturally contained varying levels of low-level noise.

    The differing sources also made colours vary considerably. Some of the older stock footage displayed poor colour balance, which is consistent with the limited and older technology of the source. Apart for this, colours were well balanced and consistent. The segments of black and white footage were all generally of very good quality.

    A large array of film-to-video artefacts were evident, but like the aforementioned issues weren't directly related to the transfer. Among the noticeable artefacts were Gibb effect, colour bleeding and some overmodulation. These artefacts were all evident during some samples of the older stock footage. This is expected from this sort of material and was in no way a problematic issue with the presentation. Apart from some minor edge enhancement, the recent footage was free from any significant artefacts.

    There are no subtitles available on this DVD.

    Both DVDs are single sided, single layered discs, no layer change to negotiate.

Video Ratings Summary

Sharpness
Shadow Detail
Colour
Grain/Pixelization
Film-To-Video Artefacts
Film Artefacts
Overall

Audio

    The audio transfer is also very good.

    There is only one audio track available on this DVD; English Dolby Digital 2.0 (224Kb/s), which is surround encoded.

    Dialogue quality was outstanding. The documentary features audio recorded from a multitude of different sources, many in less than ideal conditions. I had no problems whatsoever hearing and comprehending any of the dialogue throughout the film.

    I noticed one small piece of old footage which was slightly out of audio sync. The rest of the documentary was spot on in this area.

    The original music used in the documentary was written by Bill Hudson. I thought much of the score was way too dramatic and sinister, sounding more like a score from a horror film. This was especially the case early in the film. Surprisingly, there was very little music of The Beatles  and solo John Lennon used in the documentary.

    The surrounds carried much the same content as the front channels. The subwoofer was active predominantly in enhancing bass elements of the music.

Audio Ratings Summary

Dialogue
Audio Sync
Clicks/Pops/Dropouts
Surround Channel Use
Subwoofer
Overall

    The selection of extras basically consists of a series of interviews.

Menu

    The menus are a very basic static design, with a looped music sample and 16x9 enhancement.

Booklet

    A nine-page booklet, which is a transcript of Mark David Chapman's parole board hearing on October 3, 2000.

Disc One Extras:

Interview with Police Officer Barry Lattig  (9:48)

    Now retired from the police force, Barry Lattig was a rookie patrolman the night of John Lennon's murder. He and his partner were among the first on the scene and actually carried Lennon to a Police car in order to get him to the hospital as quickly as possible. Lattig vividly describes the events of the night, as well as his personal feelings on the incident and on Mark David Chapman. The interview takes place on the street, with the Dakota Building in the background. This is the extended interview of segments that were used in the documentary.

Interview with Police Detective William Lundon  (5:07)

   Now retired, Detective William Lundon also attended the scene of Lennon's murder and spoke to Mark David Chapman in an interview room shortly after the murder. Similar to the above interview, Lundon gives his personal thoughts as well as his recollections of the night. This interview is also the extended version of segments used in the documentary.

Biographies

    A brief one-page biography of each of  the following people that feature in the documentary; John Lennon, Mark David Chapman, Pete Best, Harvey Goldsmith and Neal Innes.

Easter Egg  (4:59)

    Highlight and then select the trail of blood on the left hand side of the menu. This will unveil a strange little piece that wasn't used in the final cut. Unknown crew members are in a car at night with a camera. They film the journey from the Dakota Building to the emergency department of Roosevelt Hospital in real time. I'm assuming this was the route taken to get John Lennon to hospital after the shooting.

Disc Two:

Interview with Andy Peebles (55:29)

    British radio personality Andy Peebles was the last person to conduct an interview with John Lennon. Andy still has an excellent recollection of the meeting and interview, which lasted three and a half hours. He enthusiastically relates information and anecdotes about their meeting, as well as his strong views on Mark David Chapman. This is the extended version of interview footage used in the documentary.

Interview with Jack Jones (21:29)

    Journalist and author Jack Jones has spent the last twenty years interviewing Mark David Chapman in Attica Prison. Jones provides some background into the mind of Chapman before and after the killing. His knowledge of the man helped him to write a book on Chapman entitled Let Me Take You Down. As is the case with all the featured interviews, this is the extended version of interview footage used in the documentary.

Image Gallery

    A small collection of twelve images related to the Lennon murder, all with captions to explain the relevance.

Trailers - 1980's

• Jigsaw Man (2:51)
• Death Train (1:45)
• Nitti: The Enforcer (3:44)
• That Was Then, This Is Now (1:46)

Trailers - Classics   

• The Honeymoon Killers (2:22)
• Confidential Report (1:18)

Trailers - Documentaries   

• Girl In A Mirror (1:33)
• Twist (1:45)
• WMD (1:53)
• Outfoxed (2:20)

    Death Of A Beatle is a compelling documentary that traces the motives and movements leading to the untimely and tragic death of John Lennon at the age of forty. While this is certainly the film's main focus, it also documents the extraordinary career of one of Rock music's true icons.

    The video and audio transfers are both very good.

    The selection of extras are mainly based around extended interviews, but are still interesting and informative.

Video
Audio
Extras
Plot
Overall