The ‘absolutely brilliant’ war movie starring John Lennon that left viewers divided | Films | Entertainment
A black comedy war satire starring John Lennon features “fountains of stage blood” and continues to divide fans, with one branding the film “completely senseless” and another “absolutely brilliant”. How I Won the War was released in 1967, with a story told through the eyes of Lieutenant Goodbody (played by future Some Mother’s Do ‘Ave ‘Em star Michael Crawford), a bumbling, jingoistic officer leading a ill-fated rabble of enlisted British soldiers.
The platoon are tasked with clearing a heavily-mined area to create a cricket field in North Africa, where allied forces fought Italian fascists and the Nazis in the Second World War. The abusurd – and ultimately doomed – mission, designed to give the troops something to look forward to after victory, satirises the pomposity of the officer class and the disregard shown for the lives of the lower ranks.
Lennon stars as Musketeer Gripweed, mischevious, a wise-cracking private in the surreal film.
Though the Imagine singer gets top billing on the film and featured prominently in the promotion for it, he only gets around 10 minutes of screen time, appearing in a series of bizarre capers.
The film was directed by Richard Lester who was behind the group’s hit musical films A Hard Day’s Night (1964) and Help! (1965), with shooting taking place in 1966 after The Beatles stopped touring to concenrate on releasing studio albums.
Lennon is said to have started writing future Beatles classic Strawberry Fields Forever during the filming in Almeria, Spain.
Some critics have praised the film’s darkly comic take on war, with TimeOut saying: “Lester’s gruesomely black anti-war comedy still looks inventive, and manages to hit home with its blend of surreal lunacy and barbed satire.”
John Fortgang for film Film4 previously called it: “Ambitious, stylised British satire. Written and acted with conviction, it pulls no punches.”
One audience reviewer on Rotten Tomatoes said it was “one of the most confusing, odd, crazy, and absolutely brilliant films ever made”. They added: “It may be hard to get through, but trust me it’s worth every minute.”
However, other critics felt the tone of the film, which clumsily handles sensitive issues like sex work on the front line, got the tone all wrong and the intended message was missed.
Bosley Crowther wrote a review for The New York Times in 1967 in which he lamented that “Mr. Lester has not added a single discouragement of war, but simply a little discouragement toward patronising too-pretentious films”.
Writing for the Chicago Reader back in 1985, veteran film critic Dave Kehr said the director’s “op-pop style, jump cutting from incident to incident, seems too inherently cheerful for the material, which features fountains of stage blood”.
It’s divided legacy is reflected in a tepid Tomatometer score of 60%.
The film doesn’t appear to be available to stream online in the UK at present, though is still available to buy on DVD.
