The Day John Lennon Died 2010 (full documentary)

On December 8 1980, I was assigned

to the 20ths precinct. I was a patrolman in a radio car

And I got a call that there was shots fired at 1 W.

72nd street. There was a man pointing

and he said "That's the man doing the shooting."

And at that point we realized that this was for real.

So I peeked in and saw a man with his hands up.

So I threw this guy up against a wall and at that point

Jose says to me he shot John Lennon. And I said "You what?"

(shot)

This is a work of art by John Lennon's widow, Yoko Ono.

I was thinking about all these windows in the world

And there's so many windows that have bullet marks

and bullet holes.

So I wanted to make a symbolic gesture of one bullet hole

And also you have to see it from the front. You have

to see it from the back.

When you see it from the front you're the shooter.

When you see it from the back, you're the victim.

And I did it and then I saw it. And I said " Oh my God! I saw that!"

"That night"

At 10:50 p.m. on Monday December the 8th, 1980, John Lennon was murdered

At the Dakota Building in New York

"Late this evening, one of the world's great entertainers

and musicians, John Lennon of the Beatles.

Was shot outside his New York home."

The shockwaves of John Lennon's murder were felt

around the world.

Switched on the radio and 'Imagine' was playing. It was like a knife through your heart.

You knew it was true.

It was a shattering blow.

Stunned. I just couldn't... I just saw him.

Total shock. Absolute shock.

"Imagine all the people"

I could not believe it. I mean I was shocked and then I was

saying to myself, "Who did this?"

And why anyone would hurt John?

And then it struck me that I might have a picture of the kiler.

On January 1969, eleven years before John died, the

Beatles held their last ever concert.

On the roof of their office building on Saddle Row.

It was the end of an era.

John Lennon profoundly influenced a generation. And beyond.

What do you know happened here? What do I know happened?

The record label was run from here I suppose.

I don't know much what happened here.

Yeah. one last gig

"Dont let me down."

I see this house and I was in that queue.

It was his voice, man. It makes me sad

It makes me angry. It makes chilled. You know? It was

his voice really.

"Nobody ever loved me like she do."

I thought, :right? I want to be in a band like that.

why can't I make music like that

"One two three four"

John's whole life after he walked away from the Beatles

was an escape from the insanity of Beatle-mania

In 1971, he found his refuge with Yoko in New York

the city in which he was, nine years later, to meet his fate

(singing) New york city baby

Yeah the last time I saw John we were in Madison

Square Garden. He said, "I can walk down the street, walk through the park. People pass me-

'Hi John' and keep on walking". He said "I love it."

And I thought to myself, John's found peace at last.

Singing: all we saying is give peace a chance.

Peace had come at a price.

John's political activism had a real effect on young people.

And the President himself saw Lennon as a threat.

Nixon was determined to deny John his green card

There's a piece of tape somewhere of Nixon's

henchmen saying "You know this guy could sway an election."

This was preserved.

And the first step was to kick him out.

And they were very eager to do that.

(Singing I would like..)

It's August 1980, with his struggle for permanent residence long behind him,

John is about to embark on a new musical venture

with Yoko. They're snapped leaving the Dakota,

on the first day of recording their album "Double Fantasy"

They can have no idea it will be their last.

Their coproducer is Jack Douglas.

The idea of this album was a play, a dialogue between a man and his wife.

A man who had been through the sixties. It was about

"Well here we are. We're turning 40. And everythings ok. We can still do this.

We can still have our voice. We managed to make it through

all those terrible years. And now let's look to the future."

(singing) Even after all these years.

By September 1980, the album "Double Fantasy" is nearing completion.

He listened to it very intently. And I saw this smile come on his face.

And he yelled out, "Mother! Tell them we have a record!"

Mother was John's nickname for his wife.

He made me laugh all the time. I wasn't trying to make

him laugh.

But it seemed like he was laughing all the time about me.

Just the fact that I'm saying something serious. And he said, "You're so tiny and you're saying these things."

And you know, that made him feel funny I suppose.

To his fans, John could be kind.

In November 1980, the fan later to take the last picture of John alive, is granted his first photo opportunity.

So he says, "Well let's take it now."

"Let's get it the hell over with. You never know

if we'll get another chance to do it."

And this was 21 days before he gets murdered.

So, I mean, I was like a kid under the Christmas tree

on Christmas morning.

And when I stood next to him, John put his right arm

around my shoulder. And I couldn't believe

that he pulled me to him. And when he did that. He

gave me the idea and I held on to his fur collar.

Cause I was holding it almost to make sure

it wasn't a dream.

Like, he wasn't going to disappear on me.

The most iconic image of John Lennon in

New York was taken by his friend, photographer

Bob Gruen. Friday December the 5th, three days before he dies.

John phones him

He was in a good mood, very playful.

The next day he asked me to come back, cause he

had gotten a new jacket. He wanted some pictures of the new jacker, a very fancy Yamamoto jacket.

and so we stayed up all night talking while they were working in the studio.

And it wasn't until dawn that we were actually out on the street

I think it was Saturday morning, December 6th

and we took a bunch of pictures there and um

and that was the last time I saw him.

Later that Saturday, December 6th John gives a radio

interview to BBC DJ Andy Peebles at the Hit Factory recording studio in Manhattan.

There was my hero.

I remember he put his arm around my shoulder and said "Thank you for coming."

And I felt like saying, "What do you mean, thank you for coming?"

(Recording)

When I left England I still couldn't go on the street.

It was still Carnaby Street and all that stuff was going on.

We couldn't walk around the block, go to a restaurant, unless

you wanted to do the business of the star going to the restaurant garbage.

I can go right out this door now and go in a restaurant.

You want to know how great that is?

And towards the end of the interview, for some perverse reason

it just flashed through my mind- ask him about security.

And he came out with the classic quote, you know, "i can walk down the street

and people say 'hi John, how are you, how's the baby?'"

And I can see him now saying it with such conviction.

He could never ever have dreamt

what would ensue in 48 hours.

Never ever have dreamt. Pfft.

It's Monday the eighth of December, 1980.

At 10:00 a.m. John leaves the Dakota building for his favorite

local barber.

He just wanted a haircut.

I dunno maybe I have those hairs still.

I used to keep his hair.

Well the day started with the Liebowitz photograph.

As the photographer Annie Liebowitz completes the photo shoot

for Rolling Stone magazine and the cover that was

to become world famous.

John's fan, the amateur photographer Paul Garesh,

arrives as usual.

I got to the Dakota around 11:45 in the morning

and when I got there, it was a nice mild day for December 8th.

The only other person there was a guy standing

with a long overcoat with a fur collar. And a fur hat.

And he had a scarf on and he was holding "Double Fantasy"

under his elbow

And he says to me "Are you waiting for Lennon?"

And I said, "Yeah"

And he said, "My name's Mark. I'm from Hawaii."

And I said, "I'm Paul. I'm from New Jersey."

And he said "Oh. Do you work for him?"

And I said "No"

He said "I came all the way from Hawaii to get my album signed."

So I said, "where are you staying while you're in the city?" And with that he seemed to change his whole demeanor. From like a dope to an aggressive person.

And he said, "Why do you want to know?" And I said "go back where you were standing and leave me alone."

We were doing a sort of interview with RKO radio you know.

12:40 p.m. the RKO radio team from San Francisco with radio host Dave Sholan arrived with expectation for the interview that lies ahead.

We drive up to the Dakota which is a very impressive building. I mean it takes your breath away.

and then we're ushered into this incredible space. This beautiful room where you take your shoes off which is a wonderful custom.

And sit down on the couch and Yoko was there. And I look up to the ceiling and notice these clouds that are painted on Lovely.

Meanwhile Paul Goresh goes inside hoping to pick up a copy of John's 1965 book A Spaniard in the woods, which he's left for John to sign.

John was coming in from walk He said I will sign it for you today I promise. So I went back outside at my post.

When I went back outside, the guy with the overcoat was there and he was alone on the other side of the yard.

He came over to me and said "You know what, I want to apologize to you. I owe you an apology for the way I acted. You're in New York and you never know who you can trust these days."

Monday December the 8th 1980, it's 1:25 p.m. John Lennon begins a 2 and a half hour interview with radio journalist Dave Sholan

It's the last interview he will ever give.

The door opens and John appears. Does this little jump in the air and proceeds to say "here I am folks. the show is ready to begin."

He spreads his arms out and comes right over. He could not have been more upbeat.

In the interview John ranges over his whole life story from his Liverpool years to his relationship with Yoko and their son Sean.

He was born on Oct. 9th which I was. So we are almost like twins.

So now I have more reason to stay healthy and bright.

Around 1978-9, around then, he said "I feel very lonely. Because there's not a man that I can talk to. About being a house husband. They must have some kind of group session or something for those men.

and I said " well. I suppose there should be. But we couldn't find one."

and one day I saw John sitting in bed and crying and I said "what happened?"

and he was reading a book called The First Sex and its a book about how women don't get credit at all for what they did in history.

and he said I didn't know that we would do this to women. He has a very soft heart you know.

Seems to me, correct me if I'm wrong, that John came from a background that was very macho.

Very macho. Oh I was surprised. But you know, I think that was normal in those days for guys.

This is the Liverpool pub where John used to meet his art school friends.

One of these was Thelma Pickles. She was 16 and John 17.

Well of a romance I suppose it was in a way. A youthful romance.

John lived here in a house known as Mendips with his aunt Mimi who brought him up in the absence of his mother Julia.

He got up to the kinds of things young people get up to He had a very pristine bedroom.

He once asked me if I knew that making love expended the same amount of energy as going for a 5 mile run.Which I didn't know and I don't know to this day is true but I believed him.

And then it became a euphemism.

One evening there was a party at the art school where they were both students.

He said "Come on. Let's go for a five mile run. So we went upstairs to the Art history classroom. When we got inside there were at least three other couples.

I said "I'm not staying here and he absolutely whacked me one. I didn't speak to him after that. I didn't care who he was, how funny he was, how interesteing he was. I was not going to be hit by a lad."

John's relationships with women were often controversial.

By 1970 he had become one of the most famous people in the world.

His early marriage with Cynthia with whom he had a son Julian, was over. But Yoko proved unpopular.

The reason for the Beatles splitting up, with precious little evidence ascribed to her.

The hostility directed toward Yoko didn't dimish when they moved to New York.

I felt terrible about me but then I was feeling guilty about him. He was really getting it as well.

Because his records were not selling too well either. And it was all because he was with me in a way.

Because we were together almost 26 hours a day. And I think it was very unusual for John to be like that.

And for any rocker, they kind of sneak out. There was none of that. Because he was worried that I might do it.

He was laughing about it. Because you know, I'm an artist. He was afraid I might be sort of free about things. You know. Unlike other women.

I probably was. But i wasn't free about that sort of thing.

In fact it was John's misbehavior with a woman at a party which in 1973 made Yoko realize they needed time apart.

I call it my lost weekend. It lasted 18 months. When the feminine side of me died slightly. And she said "get the hell out".

Give me 30 seconds to just be in this space.

Elliott Mintz was a Los Angeles based reporter who had become a friend of John and Yokol

Yoko thought it would be best for John to go off on his own and for the two of them to part as a seperation.

She suggested he leave New York and go to Los Angeles.

That choice was partially based upon the fact that I was here and that somehow I might be able to look after him. Talk about a burden.

In the first couple of weeks he did what people do in this city if you're a bachelor and by former profession you happen to be a Beatle.

He liked the action. For a short time he liked the parties.

He liked the nightclubs. He liked the drinking. He didn't mind the attention of the ladies.

I can tell you this. A week, two or three, into the experience the only thing he wanted was to figure out a way of getting back with Yoko.

And I would say to Yoko, look he keeps saying to me "tell mother" he referred to Yoko as mother, "tell mother that I'm ready to come home."

and I would say that to Yoko and Yoko would say No he isn't. I will let you know when he is.

After 18 months apart, John and Yoko reignited their relationship.

That's when in l975 their son Sean was born.

John was a changed man.

and he wraps up his historic interview with Dave Sholin on December the 8th by saying he is entering a new phase in his life.

Because I always considered my work one piece whether it was with the Beatles, Elton John, David Bowie, Yoko Ono and I consider that my work won't be finished until I'm dead and buried.

and I hope that's a long, long time.

So we ended this interview, said our goodbyes, all took photos. I had my photo taken with John and Yoko which I treasure more than anything.

We wrapped up the gear adn then headed on down to our car. We were going right to the airport.

It's 4 p.m. and still hanging around at the entrance, fan and amateur photographer Paul Goresh sees the RKO team coming out of the building with their recording equipment.

Now a little bustle of people start coming out and noticing a lot of silver cases so I figured John will be coming out soon.

The next thing, John comings walking out looking for a car that was going to take he and Yoko over to the record plant

So he turned to Jose and said "Jose, where's my car?" and he said it's not here yet Mr. Lennon.

Im looking around and I'm thinking, This is pretty amazing. Here's John Lennon outside in New York.

I thought of that and dismissed it quickly. In this town, it's no big deal and that was it.

He said to me "dont forget your book. Did you get your album signed?"

I said "I'll get the album signed tomorrow. I'll get the book before I leave."

and as he was talking to me, the man with the overcoat approached from the left.

He didn't say a word he just held the album out in front of John.

and John turned to him and looked at the album and said "do you want it signed?"

and the guy nodded. He didn't say a word. Just nodded. It looked like a picture. So I snapped a couple of pictures.

the first picture I took was John signing the album and looking at the album.

He nodded, looked at the album and just backed away.

So John was saying, "well our car isn't here. You're going to the airport? Yeah. Would you mind giving us a ride?"

Hop on in, we're heading the same direction.

So, as he was getting in the limousine, I took a picture.

And, that turned out to be the lst picture of him alive.

He got in the limousine and he was facing me. and as he was pulling away, John turned and wave to me.

I waved back and smiled at him. And I would never see him again.

It's now 5:05 pm, on Monday December the 8th.

John Lenon is given a lift to his recording studio by his intervier.

He causually asks about his relationship with Paul McCartney

He says," Well, he's like a brother. I love him. We certainly have our ups and downs and quarrels.

But at the end of the day when it's all said and done, we would do anything for each other.

So, that was grea to hear.

We dropped John and Yoko off at the studio and said our goodbyes.

While John and Yoko were busy at the studio, a few blocks away at central park

a young ABC newsman was in a motorbike accident. It is to make him a key figure in the nights events.

The cops came, the ambulance came.

And I remember riding in the ambulance an the doctor was saying Your lucky.

It's a monday night, it's quiet.

There is another doctor at the E.R, your gonna love her.

She's friendly, and she'll fix you up 1,2,3.

Back at the studio, John and Yoko put the finishing touches on the final record they will ever record.

It's title is The Sound Significance.

The last thing we did was record Walking On Thin Ice.

It's still hard for me to think about it, because it a song that just came to me.

When you hear the song, it's about us.

You know, and how we will be remembered and will remember.

How we will turn to ashes. Why was I singing that?

Really weird?

And, John loved that song and he said Yoko this is your first number one.

you just got your first number one.

We finished the mix that night, and I walked him down to the elevator.

Um, and I said to him " well I'll see you in the sterling house, the master house, at 9am.

And he was all smiles cause of the song, and Yoko was smiling.

the elevator doors closed.

The last music that John ever records is the guitar work of that track.

And then when we were in the car, I said shall we then go to a resturant before we go home than?

And he said "I want to see Sean before he goes to sleep."

I was thinking that he's probably asleep by now, but okay let him see him.

So, But you know even if we went to the resturant, it wouldn't have changed anything.

It didn't make us avoid anything.

Horrible

And, the car stopped and we got out of the car.

It was really, it was really terrible.

I was a patrolman in a radio car, and I got a call that there were shots fired at 1 West and 72nd street.

There was a man pointing into the vestibule and he said that the man that is doing to shotting.

and at that point we realized that this was for real.

So I peeked in and saw a man with his hands up.

So, I threw this man against a wall, and at that point Jose says to me " That's the man that shot John Lenon."

I took a turn around to see what was going on behind me.

And I saw two of my fellow police officers carrying out a body out.

Face up, blood coming out of his moulth.

At that point, I looked and I recognized John Lennon.

Two police cars, one with John and one with Yoko, rushed to the hospital.

Emergency room Doctor. Lynn is on stand by.

I actually got here before the patient, I didn't know exactly what had happened.

Everyone there was ready.

Through the doors, two police officers walked in. We didn't have locks back then, but we do today.

And these police officers were carrying this body over their shoulders. It was lifeless.

It was a very busy night, other people came in, swaggering in with very minor problems.

There was a waiting room full of people.

And there was a gentleman about an hour before Lennon cam in, with a motorcycle accident

And it turned out he was a reporter.

The Doctor comes in, and I am filthy with everything.

And she says, I'll take you into x-ray. See what the damage is.

I said okay.

And at that moment, the door behind me slams open, and a man walks in saying we have a gunshot in the chest.

The doctor says whernis it coming in, he says that it's hitting the door right now.

She says I'm sorry, Allen, I've got to take care of this.

No problem, I understand. And at this point I can hear footsteps as the door opens agaid.

And in walks a stretcher. Five six policeman walk in carrying a stretcher.

We positioned that body on a stretcher in front of us.

It was clear that there were three gun shot wounds in the right upper chest area.

And one under the left arm

It was also clear that there was no breathing.

We immediatly didnt know that it was john lennon.

As part of our routine we took his identification out of his pocket.

It said John Lennon but the nurses said that this doesn't look like John Lennon. I can't be.