Ten For Two on AllMovie

If you ever wondered why the U.S. government wanted to deport John Lennon, you have only to look as far as this documentary, which was withheld from distribution for the 18 years it took to settle all the legal matters relating to the incident. In fact, given the views of the F.B.I. and other government agencies at the time, what is more surprising is that he was allowed back in. The cause for this documentary is that, in 1970 or 71, John Sinclair was sentenced to a ten year prison term for possession of two marijuana cigarettes; hence the documentary's title, Ten for Two. This was no ordinary drug bust, as Sinclair was the head of the Rainbow People's Party and the sentence he received was, in everyone's minds, political punishment not commensurate with his crime. In protest, a large number of performers and counter-culture protestors gathered for a concert in Ann Arbor, Michigan. The concert featured Stevie Wonder, John Lennon and Yoko Ono, Alan Ginsberg and many others. Political figures included Black Panther leader Bobby Seale, Rennie Davis and Jerry Rubin, to name just a few. This documentary shows many of those performances, and also shows Sinclair when, three days after the concert, he was released from prison.