I remember hearing about this movie when it was in the planning stages and one news agency was reporting that Mark Lindsay Chapman was turned down for the part of John Lennon, as was Julian Lennon. I saw the last half of this when it originally aired in December 1985 and have wanted to see it again ever since. I purchased a copy on ebay in 2005 and have viewed it several times since. For a TV movie, I'd say it was better than average as far as acting and technical aspects are concerned, with the exception of the actors who played the other 3 Beatles which I felt fell into caricatures of Paul, George and Ringo with obvious fake mustaches, but other than that, overall pretty good. Mark McGann looked a lot like John Lennon but Kim Miroyi really does not look at all like Yoko Ono. I think this was a pretty objective portrayal as far as specific events and characters but overall, I think it falls into the same trap many Lennon tributes do and that is they leave the viewer with the impression that he was more 'saintly' than he really was. John Lennon was not a martyred saint but rather the victim of a random and tragic act of violence. John's ex-wife Cynthia has often stated "He's no saint, never was" but the way this movie raps up you could be left with that impression. Perhaps because it was made in the mid-80s, this movie portrays John Lennon as having changed into "Mr. Conservative" toward the end of his life. While he had matured and embraced and espoused family values, the portrayal of him with short hair and conservative dress toward the end of the movie may be a bit inaccurate. Lennon's untimely death was/is indeed a tragedy and overall this movie is pretty fair in its portrayal but the transformation at the end seems out of place. I still feel that watching it is time well spent.
