The Doors

Plot synopsis:
California, 1968. In a dark recording studio, Jim Morrison, lead singer for the rock band, The Doors, drinks whiskey while recording spoken-word versions of his poetry. The engineer (a cameo appearance by Doors drummer, John Densmore) plays a pre-recorded music track and Jim begins to recite his work "An American Prayer".In a flashback to 1949, a young Jim and his family are seen driving across the Southwestern United States in New Mexico. They pass the scene of a car accident involving two families; one family are American Indians. An old Indian man lies dying on the side of the road. Jim watches until his family has driven out of sight.The film then jumps to 1965. Jim is seen hitchhiking to California and is picked up by a motorist. In Los Angeles Jim attends UCLA's film school. His student film, an artistic and surreal collection of haunting images, is heavily criticized by both his classmates and his professor (a cameo by director Oliver Stone). His future band mate, Ray Manzarek, tells Jim that his movie is commendable, despite the criticism. When the professor asks Jim to defend the film, Jim says simply "I quit."Jim takes up residence in Venice Beach and meets Pamela Courson, his future wife. The two spend a romantic evening on a rooftop and they have sex. Jim later meets Manzarek on the beach, interrupting him while he meditates. Jim shows Ray poetry he has written that he believes can be recorded as a song ("Moonlight Drive"). Ray is astounded and the two set out to form a band, the name being inspired by Aldous Huxley's memoirs, The Doors of Perception. They recruit John Densmore as their drummer and Robby Krieger on guitar. Their first rehearsals are held in Ray's apartment, where they perform "Break on Through". Robby plays a song he'd been working on which becomes "Light My Fire". The band finds themselves on LA's famous Sunset Strip, performing as an opening act in one of the Strip's many clubs. The band is approached by a talent agent who wants to sign them. The same man later tries to talk to Jim alone, thinking he could be signed without his band mates. Jim is indifferent.One year later. The band bonds further while on a trip to Death Valley to try peyote. Everyone experiences different hallucinatory visions while the film's soundtrack plays the strains of "The End." The scene changes to another performance by the band where Jim is singing the Oedipal interlude of the song, which offends the club owner who throws them out. Outside, they are approached again by a talent agent. They are given a chance to record an album in six days. The band agrees.Having achieved some measure of success, the band is asked to appear on the Ed Sullivan Show where they'll perform "Light My Fire." Before the performance, Sullivan's producer, asks the band to alter the song slightly, changing "Girl we couldn't get much higher", a potential reference to doing drugs. Jim is reluctant but agrees. During the performance, however, Jim does not comply (clearly defiant to sing the song as it is), drawing the anger of the producer, who angrily says the band will never perform on the show again.Another year later in New York City, at a party thrown by Andy Warhol at The Factory, Jim meets Nico, sometimes singer with the Velvet Underground, and Warhol himself. Warhol gives Jim a telephone that he claims can be used to speak with God. Later, at their hotel, Jim cavorts in the elevator with Nico, while Pamela staggers around in a drug-induced funk.The band is later interviewed by the press - one of the reporters is Patricia Kennealy. Jim speaks cryptically about his parents (saying they died in an automobile accident years before) and about life in excess and using drugs. Jim later has sex with Kennealy but is mostly unable to perform. She entices him with cocaine and consumption of his own blood which drives him into an animalistic frenzy. Jim later is unable to perform sexually with Courson. Jim asks Pamela if she'll die for him and dangles himself out the window. Pamela becomes nearly hysterical and manages to get Jim back in the room where he is able to finish sex with her.December 9, 1967. Backstage at a concert in New Haven, Connecticut, Jim has a feverish encounter with Kennealy, who reveals that she knows Jim's parents are still alive and that she talked to his father on the phone. Jim tries to convince her that they are at least figuratively dead, but she still tells him never to lie to her again. A policeman appears, asking who they are. Kennealy tries to explain who Jim is, however the cop becomes hostile when Jim resists arrest and sprays the singer in the eyes with mace. The rest of the band comes to his aid, Manzarek tells Kennealy to leave Jim alone. During their performance that night, Jim suddenly stops singing and recounts the incident to the crowd while mocking the police. A police captain walks on stage and arrests Jim, stating that his language as broken state obscenity laws. Jim is arrested on-stage by the cops whom provided security for him, and are now roughing him up as the crowd goes wild with rage. A near-riot is averted when other policemen arrive on the scene to disburse the crowd.Another year later. Jim and Pamela throw a Thanksgiving 1968 dinner party for their friends. Right before the party, Jim had convinced Pamela to take a tab of LSD and she spends the rest of the day in a largely depressed state. One of the guests is Patricia Kennealy, a name that Pamela recognizes immediately. She confronts both Jim and Patricia about their sexual relationship and becomes furious with Jim, throwing food at him in front of their guests. Jim stomps on the duck Pamela had been roasting and demands she kill him with a kitchen knife.A montage follows where Jim and Pamela have a furious fight and Jim locks Pamela in a closet and sets the door on fire. In a Celtic hand-fasting ceremony (the high priestess is played by the real Kennealy) Jim marries Patricia. Jim is also seen partying heavily and getting into a car accident when he runs into a police car.Jim is later in the studio trying to record "Touch Me" for the Soft Parade album. Their producer, Paul Rothschild, tells Jim that his life of excess is affecting his performance and that Janis Joplin suffered the same fate and died of alcoholism. On a small television in the studio, Jim sees a commercial for a car that features a pop version of "Light My Fire." The band tells him that they decided to sell the song to the auto company during a time when Jim was in minimal contact with them. Jim becomes infuriated and hurls the TV across the room, nearly hitting Ray, and then cheerfully apologizing. Later, while Pamela performs oral sex on Jim as he sings the title track for the album, everyone in the control booth leaves quietly, unimpressed with Jim's still lackluster performance.March 1, 1969. Backstage in Miami, where the band is due to perform, the band awaits the arrival of their front man. Densmore looks out on the crowd and hears a reporter recording a story about what he believes is the end of the band itself, criticizing the Soft Parade album. The band is told that Rothschild is bringing Jim to the venue. When he arrives his band mates are angry with him. Jim gives Robby a tab of LSD and they go onstage. Not long into the show, Jim sees a vision of a bonfire and a young American Indian girl and the old man he'd seen dying in the road years before. Jim stops singing and tells the crowd that they're slaves. The band stops playing, clearly annoyed and angry with Jim's attitude. The audience, already agitated at Jim's tardiness, begins to yell back at him. Jim yells mostly nonsensical gibberish and tells them he'll expose himself. When he unzips his pants, the police present at the venue, try to arrest him but he evades them and runs into the crowd, singing "Dead Cat, Dead Rats" and launching into "Break on Through."The incident is a low point for the band, resulting in resentment from the other band members and Jim's trial the following year for indecent exposure. At his August 1970 trial, Jim is found not guilty for lurid behavior, but convicted of indecent exposure and using profanity and is sentenced to eight months in prison. Yet, Jim is allowed to remain free on bail while the verdict is being appealed.When the last of his appeals for his 1970 indecent exposure conviction is denied, Jim and Pamela decide to flee to Paris, France where Jim can relax and focus his creative writing energy. After the Doors make a comeback with their early 1971 album, 'L.A. Woman', Jim decides to quit the band and focus on his poetry. At a birthday party for Ray's young daughter, Jim talks with the rest of the band who play "Riders on the Storm" for him. Jim comments that it "sounds pretty good for four guys who were barely talking to each other" the day they recorded it. Jim gives everyone a small printed version of "An American Prayer" and the band, despite having hardly spoken, say their goodbyes, Densmore even tells Jim him he'll actually miss him.On July 3, 1971, Pamela finds Jim Morrison dead in a bathtub in their apartment in Paris. The final scenes of the film are of graves of other poets, composers, writers & performers all buried in Père Lachaise Cemetery in Paris. A rock version of Remo Giazotto's "Adagio in G minor" plays in the background with a voice over by Morrison. The camera finally moves toward Morrison's own grave, showing the graffiti that covers other gravestones nearby, finally settling on his marker. Just before the credits, the screen whites out and text appears saying "Jim Morrison is said to have died of heart failure. He was 27. Pam joined him three years later from a heroin overdose in August 1974, and she was also age 27 when she died."During the credits, the band is shown recording the song "L.A. Woman" in the studio.

Tags: insanity, cult, psychedelic, flashback

Review:
For 140 minutes we follow Doors singer Jim Morrison from his days as an aspiring film student at UCLA to his death in Paris in 1970 at the age of 27.
Writer-director Oliver Stone based the story of the film on some 150 transcripts detailing the life and character of Morrison.
The only performance among the supporting cast worthy of praise is that of quirky character actor Crispin Glover in a cameo as Andy Warhol, a scene that is absolutely spellbinding.Some may criticize The Doors for glamorizing a life of excess; this film gives younger viewers the idea that drugs and promiscuous sex are fun, critics may charge.
My only significant criticism of the film is that the title is certainly a misnomer; this could have easily been titled "The Jim Morrison Story" as there is not a single scene on screen without the eccentric singer while the remaining members of the band are relegated to obscurity.
Val Kilmer delivers a powerful performance in which he almost seems to be channeling the energy of Jim Morrison, and though I've seen many of Meg Ryan's films this is the only one I can recollect where she does such a good job that she makes you really forget about her and focus on the character.
Through using The Doors actual music (what was missing from the recent Sylvia, the art of the subject itself - her poetry) to help tell its story and colour its scenes, and filmic techniques to create the drug-induced world vision of Jim Morrison, Stone really takes you into the world of his movie, and the world of the sixties.This movie made me appreciate what an exciting experience The Doors were, and has actually cultivated love in me for their music.
This, however, is but three minutes in the movie and has no effect on it as a whole.Oliver Stone has an amusing cameo: a young film student, Jim Morrison, shows his short film to his class, who are uncouth and disparaging about it, after which camera pans to reveal Oliver Stone standing at the lecturn, (obviously, playing the film professor), who says: "Why don't we ask the author what he thinks?".
We get some insights into Jim's early years, and we get to hear some of that great music, like "Riders On The Storm", and "Light My Fire".The film's second half is less interesting.
It was the first of many films that Stone created in the 90's using an almost dream like quality to evoke the feeling of the turbulent times.Although this picture is not a 100% accurate account of who or what Jim Morrison was it is still very engaging and enjoyable.
He is shown in Oliver Stone's The Doors as a shy, though often obnoxious and crude, persona who self describes himself in one scene: "I think of myself as a sensitive, intelligent human being, but with the soul of a clown that forces me to blow it at the most crucial of moments." He may have blown it in the end, but it makes for a fascinating story.As being a Doors fan, the music and words are the best character of the movie- the songs represent feelings and emotions, desires and hatreds, and other facets of life in the late 60's, are indispensable gems of rock and blues.
The result is that some scenes are very surreal and after a while you may think that Oliver Stone himself took some acid before shooting them.The negative side of the film, which have made many people upset, is the way Jim Morrison is presented.
Other things could never happen or are just simply wrong; the Andy Warhole-party where Jim is abandoned by the rest of the band (something that true friends would never do to one another), Jim's student project (his movie didn't look like that at all), Jim's red mustang (Jim had a blue mustang which he actually called "the blue lady").Oliver Stone focuses the movie on the wrong things.
Another strange thing is that Oliver Stone has said that he loved Jim and wanted the movie to be a sort of homage to him!?
But the Sixties, the L.A. rock scene back then, and especially Morrison's life, were just like that, so it is oh so fitting!I adore the fact that it was Oliver Stone's labour of love (one of thankfully many) and that the surviving members of the band basically had full input.
Very insightful movie and excellent performance by Val. Val Kilmer did a great job portraying Jim Morrison.
He brings you into the spiraling life of Jim Morrison and back to the days of sex, drugs, and rock and roll.Throughout the movie you see what made Jim Morrison tick, and get to hear some great music along the way.
Val Kilmer does an incredible job playing Jim Morrison, and Meg Ryan is equally good as his girlfriend Pamela.
At some points in this movie you tend to forget that you're not really looking at Jim Morrison, that you're actually watching Val Kilmer in the role of Jim. Val should have received numerous awards for this role, he really knows how to play one f---ed up individual, the late great Jim Morrison..
On the other hand, the film is loaded with great performances from Kyle MacLachlan, Kevin Dillon, Frank Whaley, and, my personal favorite cameo...Crispin Glover as Andy Warhol.My only major issue with the film are the liberties Oliver Stone took with the details of Morrison's life.
Those who watch this film need to understand that Stone exaggerated a good deal in this movie, tweaked history, and seemed to focus on Morrison's drunken antics rather than the tortured artist or his underlying intelligence (the man was tested at genius level IQ of 149 in grade school).
Such is the case with "The Doors", a movie that any real Doors fan knows is only a caricature of the band's front-man, Jim Morrison.Stone took the most sensational moments in Morrison's life and focused on it entirely, the end result being that he captured only a mere sliver of Morrison's true life and personality.
Nice going, Oliver.On the positive side the movie looks incredibly good, (most likely due to cinematographer Robert Richardson rather than Stone himself), and the viewer does come away with a feel for Morrison's charisma, stage presence, and mystical inclinations.
If Stone had made Morrison into a more well-rounded character than this could have been a great film.What cannot be criticized about the film is Val Kilmer's electrifying performance.
Kevin Dillon, Kyle MacLachlan, and Frank Whaley do the best they can with limited screen time as the remaining members of The Doors.Stone's films have always been uneven when it comes to visual styles.
He did it with Nixon, he'll most likely do it with his upcoming Alexander the Great movie, and he most certainly did it with "The Doors."First and foremost, Jim Morrison was a well-educated, intelligent, and very funny person who got along very well with almost everyone he encountered in his 27 short years of life (if he is in fact dead).
Ray Manzarek, the real Doors keyboardist, said Oliver Stone twisted Morrison's image around, making it appear as though Morrison was a constantly drugged-out, crazy rock-n-roll jerk who loved two things: drugs and loose women.
Finally, he was one hell of a good singer who, although he may not have had the best voice in music history, definitely had the greatest, most blood-curdling screams and rough, awesome voices.In conclusion, Oliver Stone should have never made such a ridiculously terrible movie about my favorite band, and one of the best bands ever, The Doors..
I cannot put into words just how appalling this film is from the point of view of a lifelong Jim Morrison/Doors fan.Firstly, after seeing the movie in full (I walked out of the cinema the first time I went to see it), I amazed as to how Ray M and John D had gotten involved in the movie when they themselves could see how fictional it was.
I never felt for a second I was in the 60's, terrible wigs/false beards, the wardrobe was consistently poor, the script was dire, terrible casting (in particular Kevin Dillon, Meg Ryan, Val Kilmer and what the hell was Billy Idol there for?) and the overall feel of the movie was all wrong.However, Stone did pull some nice shots off from a cinematography point of view and there were some good choices of location.
He was only ever going to film Jim as The Lizard King but he didn't even get that bit right; Doors fans should know what I mean by that.I hate this movie passionatly and could tolerate it if I thought it would help gain new fans of the music but I don't think it does.If you want the real Jim Morrison/Doors then your best bet is to go read a book like Angels Dance and Angels Die or No-One Here Gets Out Alive (as flawed as that is).Jim had a sense of humour but I bet it would be sorely tested by this pretentious, self serviant piece of fiction that dares to claim it is a rock documentary.
Oliver Stone is impeccably true to the music and the look - the musical instruments are perfect and authentic, from Ray Manzarek's Vox Organ to Robby Krieger's Gibson guitar.Val Kilmer does an excellent job as Jim, as do the rest of the actors playing the Doors.
The focus is more on the mythology on the band and on Jim himself, the Lizard King.As a Doors' fan, I appreciated the film on many levels, and felt it really got the story right.
Kilmer plays frontman of the famous 60's rock band The Doors, Jim Morrison.
This may have been the role Kilmer was born to play.At first I was worried I wouldn't like this film by the end because of the character of Jim Morrison.
I watched the movie knowing about how Oliver Stone skewed the facts and changed some things around, so instead of expecting a 100% factual biography on Jim Morrison, I watched it expecting an entertaining film with great music...That's what I got.Even though the film isn't completely factual, it conveyed really well what the rock and roll was like for most rock stars.
Oliver Stone didn't really do wonders with Jim Morrison's story, but his direction style was really good with this movie.
Everybody in the movie does a really good job in their roles, and it was really cool to watch.So if you want a 100% factual Jim Morrison biography, read a book.
a great achievement for oliver stone too, meg Ryan could have been replaced for the better though....i also did not quite understand two things- why were all the other doors shown so smaller against Morrison, and where was the serene emotion seen in Morrison's eyes when he used to perform as seen in many of his live acts?
Oliver Stone's biography of Jim Morrison(it says Doors but it's about Morrison)is very well done.The music of The Doors is sublime and most of their greatest songs are woven into this movie.Highlight to me is the performance of "The End",their best song(also the best psychedelic song ever written).The intensity of the song and the acting performance of Val Kilmer makes this scene brilliant.
Other highlights are the scene in "The Factory" of Andy Warhol,with even better music of The Velvet Underground in the background and the stage brawls with the cops(GO JIM GO).Stone shows us that America wasn't ready for The Doors at that time in history and probably still aren't,considering the popularity of the religious and highly old fashioned psycho George W.
Val Kilmer (Jim Morrison), Meg Ryan (Pamela Courson), Kyle McLachlan (Ray Manzarek), Kevin Dillon (John Densmore), Frank Whaley (Robby Krieger), and Kathleen Quinlan (Patricia Keneally) look like dead-on copies of the real thing.
Although I'd still recommend one of the many documentaries (some made by the Doors themselves) if you want the real Jim Morrison story, this movie does a pretty good job of telling the tale.
Stone has taken the music of The Doors and made this film as a homage to one of the great rock performers.
It seems to dwell on the most negative aspects of Morrison's life and personality, and that doesn't help to paint him in a positive light.The positives:  Val Kilmer was great (the acting was pretty good), Stone's experimentation with camera techniques (like the peyote scene), and of course the music.
Central cast [Meg Ryan, Frank Whaley, Kyle MacLaclan, Kevin Dillon as Jim's wife and the rest of the Doors] is perfect, as are the odd compilation of supporting players: Mimi Rogers, Kathleen Quinlan, the always-whacked-out Crispin Glover as Andy Warhol, and bit parts by Michael Madsen, Jennifer Rubin, Will Jordan, Paul Williams, etc.The only flaw I can see [from Stone] is the ending [featuring real-life Doors drummer John Densmore], which makes it seem as if Morrison is still alive...As if.
So, with no emotion and no character development, what we have is the outline of what happened with The Doors, and a lot of Val Kilmer imitating Jim Morrison's singing.Everything about this was not all bad.
Like it says here, on the silvery special two-disc DVD set, "Jim Morrison (Val Kilmer), one of the most sensual and exciting figures in the history of rock and roll, explodes on the screen in 'The Doors', the electrifying movie about a time called the sixties and a legendary outlaw who rocked America's consciousness - forever.
If only it were more insightful ******* The Doors (2/23/91) Oliver Stone ~ Val Kilmer, Meg Ryan, Kyle MacLachlan, Frank Whaley.
It is a surprise though, how poorly the movie's message seems to have been accepted.What Oliver Stone has done here, is not an accurate portrayal of Jim Morrison or the Doors.
In an early scene of Oliver Stone's typically overwrought tribute to one of the 6o's more typically overwrought bands, young rock messiah Jim Morrison makes an uninvited visit (over the balcony) to the Venice Beach pad of his girlfriend Pamela Courson, who says, "don't you believe in doors?" Morrison's reply, "they're a waste of time", not only provides the one moment of (unintended) wit in the entire film, but sounds an ominous warning to what follows: another jarring one-note melodrama from a director clearly too preoccupied with his own bogus sense of cinematic 'style'.
It's 1965 L.A. Jim Morrison (Val Kilmer), UCLA film student, meets Pam Courson (Meg Ryan).
Oliver Stone has made Jim Morrison look like some kind of a monster, and made it seem like he and the rest of the band never got along.
The film focuses on charismatic singer Jim Morrison (Val Kilmer) who falls into alcoholism and drug-addiction.
I prefer their more artistic songs like "Riders on the Storm" and "The End" as opposed to their 'hits,' but who can deny the catchiness of "Light My Fire" or the goofy charm of "People are Strange"?The film focuses on Jim Morrison and leaves the viewer with the impression that he was a miserable artistic-genius type who had no sense of moderation; he sought to escape his personal struggle through loose sex, substance misuse and rock 'n' roll.
The image this leaves you with is that Jim Morrison is no fun to be around, even in death.So "The Doors" is pretty much the ultimate story of sex, drugs and rock 'n' roll.
They properly point out that Stone's film only shows Jim's 'wild & crazy' side, emphasizing that the events depicted in the picture, while sometimes true, aren't "all that happened." They unanimously describe Morrison as genuine, innocent, shy, loving and gallant, an amazing person who made those around him feel important, as if he was their best friend.
Val Kilmer is not Morrison but still in some parts of the film he really look like Jim. My favorite film of Oliver Stone and my favorite rock film.Finally well i'm very exciting because in less than 4 hours i'm going to see Ray Manzarek and Robby Krieger as the Riders on the Storm here in Mexico City so maybe is going to be the best concert in my life.DVD: it's amazing, the cover is just great and the bonus disc whit delete scenes and some documentary's is great..
This movie believes The Doors were Jim Morrison and a group of half-assed sidekick men and to hell with the fact that some of the better tunes were written by other band members or the overall (organ based) sound had little to do with Jim Boy.Rock and roll cannot be encapsulated in two hours.
He was a living legend that refused to abide by the rules society placed on him.And thirdly: Some sequences in the movie will strike you as awkward if you're not familiar with the Doors, but fans will recognise them, and appreciate the effort put into this film.At this point I have to say that Val Kilmer's portrayal of Jim was scary in it's accuracy.
) didn't like Oliver Stone's 'Doors' film, but I appreciated it, and it's one of the many movies I own.
All in all Stone did an excellent job in bringing to screen the ultimate rock lifestyle.To sum it up, see this film if you are into The Doors music, great performances, and an interesting look into the life of a stereotypical rock star legend...
If anyone did not know anything about Jim Morrison and his rise to fame as a great Rock "N" Roll performer, Director Oliver Stone gave one fantastic biography in this film.
I found Oliver Stone's film The Doors to be an effective and genuine glimpse into the life of Jim Morrison and the music that The Doors created.
The Doors were much more than just Jim Morrison and that's what the film lacks in characters and plot.
Oliver Stone) recounts the life of the lead singer of The Doors, Jim Morrison.