Let's just say I was testing the bounds of reality. I was curious to see what would happen. That's all it was; just curiosity.
- James Douglas Morrison
The Doors were a band from Los Angeles, California who were formed in 1965 and lasted until 1971. It was singers Jim Morrison's early death at the age of 27 in 1971 that finished the band. Their dark music and mysterious lyrics was not the usual fare of the early days of the genre.
The Doors still remain a 55 year old underground rock band. Go into a bookstore to the music section and see what they have in stock for The Doors. There are usually only one or two, at the most, books on the shelves about them. Now look for for books on Bob Dylan, Led Zeppelin, or The Rolling Stones and you will find 50. Thankfully, more options can be found online.
Growing up, I had heard of The Doors, Jim Morrison, and Light My Fire, their only #1 hit. However, I had not
listened to The Doors. This changed in 1991. I was in a record store (remember those?) and emanating from the speakers was an intense and passionate opera. I went to one of the associates and asked him what opera was playing. It said it wasn't an opera, it was, "Carmina Burana", from the The Doors motion picture soundtrack. The movies was being played at the college I was attending and intrigued by the song I heard, so I went to see it.
I still remember nearly 30 years later how I felt leaving the movie, how blown away I was; Jim was so free, uninhibited, and living his life to the fullest. He was the literal embodiment of the '60s; sex, drugs, and rock-and-roll! He exceeded in all three categories, unfaithful to his girlfriend proven by the multiple paternity suits pending before he died, a drug/alcohol intake and tolerance of biblical proportions, and music that still sells out venues 50 years later. His influence as a frontman lives on in Micheal Hutchence (RIP), Scott Weiland (RIP), Iggy Pop, Ian Asbury, Steven Tyler, Eddie Vedder, and others. Jim even influenced Elvis Presley to wear a black leather suit for his 1968 comeback tour.
This is the only movie about The Doors, released in 1991, twenty years after Jim's death. Directed by Oliver Stone, with his unique way of directing and with his own vision of the facts, faced a critical Ray Manzerek. I actually met Oliver Stone and asked him if he had tried to appease Ray. (answer) Robby and John were ok with it as they both have small cameos; Robby can be seen making his way backstage after the, "Oedipus Rex", concert and John plays the sound engineer during the American Prayer sessions. Paul Rothchild, the legendary record producer and Bill Graham, the legendary concert promoter of the era, also had short cameos. Stone makes an appearance of an UCLA film professor during the screening of Jim's student film. The most interesting cameo is Patricia Kennealy.
She was one of Jim's actual girlfriends he kept on the side. She and Jim were, "married", in a Celtic ceremony in 1970. In the movie she is depicted as the priestess who marries Jim and Kathleen Quinlan, who stars as Patricia!
Scrolling through IMDB, I was impressed at the depth of then unknown extras in the movie who went on to more recognizable roles:
Michael Wincott - starred in The Crow, Aliens 3, Along Came A Spider, Miami Vice (tv)
Micheal Madsen - several Quinten Tarantino movies
Billy Idol - major rock-and-roll star in the 1990s
Kelly Hu - starred in Scorpion King, X2, Friday the 13th part 8, and the Hawaii Five-O reboot
Mark Moses - starred in Mad Men, Platoon, Desparate Housewives, and Homeland
Wes Studi - starred in Speed, Last of the Mohicans, Heat, Dances with Wolves, and Mystery Men
Josie Bissett - best known for starring in Melrose Place
Eric Burdon - lead singer of the 1960s group, The Animals
Debi Mazar - starred in Good Fellas, Malcolm X, LA Law, Empire Records, and Batman Forever
Lisa Edelstein - best known for starring in House as Cuddy
Christopher Lawford - son of Rat Packer, Peter Lawford
Titus Welliver - starred in The Town, Bosch, RED, Gone Baby Gone, Deadwood, and Prison Break
Danny Sullivan - winner of the 1985 Indianapolis 500
Eagle Eye Cherry - had a one-hit wonder with, "Save Tonight"
Costas Mandylor - starred in Picket Fences, Nash Bridges, Gangland, and 7th Heaven
Kathleen Quinlan - starred in A Civil Action, Apollo 13, American Graffiti, The Waltons...
Paul Williams - Oscar and Emmy winning songwriter
Crispin Glover - best known for portraying George McFly
Jennifer Tilly - Bound, Liar Liar, the Chucky franchise, Family Guy...
Jack McGee - The Fighter, Basic Instinct, MoneyBall, Rescue Me...
Mimi Rogers - starred in Austin Powers, Lost in Space, X-Files, Two and a Half Men...
The movie works for someone who has a casual interest of The Doors. However, since the the enemy of all biopics is time, one would have to dig much deeper to fully understand the complexity of the band and especially of its singer. Life.Death.Legend by Stephen Davis remains my favorite biography so far. 90% of the locations visited in my Los Angeles and Toronto for my Doors Tour have arrived from this book.
As with all his movies Stone takes his vision to the screen. He is allowed by the tenet of artistic license to take certain liberties. Look at his other highly controversial movie, JFK. The following are events portrayed in the movie that do not align with what actually happened:
When did Jim and Pam meet? It was in the spring of 1966, not in 1965 as noted in the movie. In the movie Jim spies Pam walking along the Venice Boardwalk. He follows her to a house where he waits until nighttime, climbs a tree, recites a few lines of poetry, and then kisses her. In reality, he saw her at a party at UCLA, but was unable to get her phone number. She then happen to see the band twice and was noticed by John. He ended up chatting with Pam and her friend when Jim came over and sat down...
The movie opens with Jim walking on the boardwalk in Venice when he lived there wearing shoes. He was known to go barefoot during this period.
It was depicted Jim meeting Pam before he runs into Ray on the beach. The Doors were already performing as a band with Ray, then Jim met Pam at the Whiskey.
Pam could have not been on the rooftop with Jim as he was living with Ray and Dorothy before he met her.
The other members of the band were not interested in any way tripping out in the desert while high on Peyote.
There is no mention of Jim locking Pam in a closet and setting it on fire.
The woman in the bathroom with Jim in New Haven was in 1967, not 1968, and she was not Patricia Kennealy.
In the movie, after the disappointing class review of his student film, he quits on the spot. Really, it was later, he was considering quitting, but stayed in the film program and graduated.
While performing Light My Fire on Ed Sullivan, he did not emphasize the word, higher. In the movie, Jim is wearing a black shirt, but he really wore a white ruffled shirt with a black leather jacket.
The band met with Jac Holtzman on August 15 and the Oedipus concert occurred on August 21, 1966. Since these two important events happened only 6 days apart, I am guessing Stone combined them to save time and money.
In the movie, when the band is jamming Robby says he came up with a song, Light My Fire. This event occurred at Robbie's parents house, not at the beach.
The accident involving the Native Americans in Albuquerque, NM, occurred in 1946, not 1949, as shown. The family was living in Los Altos, CA, more than 1700 km (1047 miles) to the north by then. Jim's father stopped at a gas station to call the police, however, the movie has police already on scene.
The character of Dog is based on Babe Hill.
After Rays and Dorothy's wedding on December 21, 1967, they went to a Mexican restaurant near downtown. In the movie, the wedding happened on Thanksgiving and the reception was held at Pam's house.
The concert where Jim swings the mic over his head and ends up hitting a man in the head is shown as happening in Miami in 1969 where the venue looks like a concert hall with balconies. Stone had to include this as it was the infamous Dinner Key concert which was actually held in an old airplane hanger. This was the concert that ended The Doors career as Jim was cited for swearing and exposing his genitalia. After this concert, promoters cancelled most of all of their future performances and Jim had to stand trial. The part with the mic occurred in San Francisco in June of 1967 at the Fillmore. Jim's target was aforementioned Bill Graham.
Now for the most controversial one; the death of Jim Morrison. Even as I write this on the anniversary of his death, July 3, 49 years ago, the truth is still an uncertainty. Rumors of Jim dying in the bathroom of the Rock and Roll Circus only add to the mystique. Compounding the mystery a disk jockey, after speaking to a couple of drug dealers at the club, La Bulle, announces the death of Jim Morrison at 8am. Who else could have known Jim was dead, besides Jean and Pam, that early in the morning? By 8am, Jim was discovered dead in his apartment roughly an hour earlier. How could these two men have known? One could argue, even if the story is true, why would anyone utter a single word about it? Let the world believe he died in the bathtub and be done with it. Did the people at the club really want the French authorities asking questions about the illegal activities that occurred there every night?
Unfortunately, the only person with Jim in the apartment that night was Pam, an unreliable heroin junkie. One of the versions of what she remembers of that night and early morning are as follows: after both of them indulge in heroin, she goes to bed. Around 4am, Jim was having an intense fit of coughing. Pam suggested he take a bath. Around 5am, she hears Jim vomiting, she goes to the kitchen and grabs a pan so Jim can throw up in it. She returns to bed and around 6am, she awakens and notices Jim is not in bed. She goes to the bathroom and tries to open the door, but it is locked from the inside (who locked the door?). She calls his name with no response. Now frantic, she contacts one of her lovers and heroin supplier, Count Jean de Breteuil. He arrives at the apartment within 30 minutes and breaks into the bathroom. They find Jim dead in the tub with blood drying under his nose and mouth in dark pink water. There are two large, purple bruises on his chest. Pam immediately flips out, gets in the tub, and slaps him in a futile attempt to revive him.
The movie has a more sanitized and shorter version. Did Stone have strict guidelines by the Morrison and Courson estates on how he would present the death? Did Stone not want to dwell on the mystery of his death? The movie has Pam getting up from bed, walking down the hall, entering the bathroom to find Jim dead in the tub. She calmly talks to him as if he was still alive. A very quick shot of Jim in the tub shows no blood on his face or bruises on his chest in crystal clear water.
I primarily used Life.Death.Legend by Stephen Davis and No One Here Gets Out Alive by Jerry Hopkins and Danny Sugarcane for my research.
