Classic Rock Stuff

Movie Review: The Doors (1991)

Rating: R (Profanity, Nudity, Drugs, etc)
Director: Oliver Stone
Main Characters: Val Kilmer (Jim Morrison), Kyle MacLachlan (Ray Manzarek), Kevin Dillon (John Densmore), Frank Whaley (Robby Krieger), and Meg Ryan (Pamela "Pam" Morrison),
Lilly's Rating: 6/10
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(This chapter may have spoilers so if you and/or the party you are with does not want to know how characters die and how the story unfolds, please do not read this chapter. Thank you!)

So, the cable got cut July 30th and I was listening to The Who Live At Leeds when my mom came in and popped the case in front of me and I could you not, I screamed. It is the special edition do it had commentary and all that. I had real high hopes considering the fact that even Ray Manzarek said that it was terrible so I wanted to prove them wrong. I still think I can but it will be hard as fuck.

If a movie about a rockstar and a band that everyone knows what happened to the band and people counts as spoilers. So, The Doors were formed in 1965 when Jim Morrison and Ray Manzarek were going to UCLA and Jim showed his poetry to Ray, get the drummer John Densmore and guitarist Robby Krieger and boom, The Doors! We all know what happened to JimJam Jimmity Morrison he died in 1971 due to what is believed heart failure in Paris. He was only 27.

If you've seen my Before You Watch It The Movie: The Doors (1991), you'll know that I talked about how Jim in real life was really quiet, not a Robert Plant but American and brunette. That isn't the case with the movie.

The movie talks about how Jim met his wife (I think) Pamela, his failed attempt at a film, forming the band, different gigs, partying, his arrest, going to Paris, even his death. Like I said, this does have a fuck ton of nudity with girl's clothes off and even 1-2 sex scenes so not a great movie to watch with you your parents.

The movie displays Jim as the biggest douchebag of the 70s, he almost killed his wife by locking her in a closet and setting the door on fire. Now, I don't know if that actually happened but if it did it's messed up and if it didn't then bull fucking shit! The movie shows his wild, crazy side when he was more quiet.

It displays his wife Pam as a loveable idiot. One moment she said that she wouldn't die for Jim but three seconds later she's climbing out a hotel window trying to save Jim from killing himself. Not only that, she stayed with him when she saw someone giving him a BJ, him throwing shit at her, and him almost killing the woman by being burned alive. If that doesn't make you realize that you should probably leave him, nothing will.

It gets emotional at the end where Pam and Jim are in Paris and Pam goes into the bathroom where Jim is. She walked in and saw him "sleeping" in the bathtub. She thinks it's a joke and that he's sleeping when she said "Mr. Mojo Risin'" and other assorted things when reality hit her: He's gone. The final scenes are the camera going through Lachaise Cemetery in Paris showing all the graves when it gets to Jim's grave, which has graffiti. Then it shows that Jim died to what was believed heart failure in Paris in 1971, him being 27. Then it showed that Pam joined him 3 years later if you catch my drift. I'll admit, it made me shed a tear.

It shows Ray Manzarek cussing a lot but other than that, pretty stable. It showed the other two as more quiet and more to themselves. I don't know if this is actually how they acted in real life.

The best scene in my book was when The Doors were on the Ed Sullivan show and Jim was told that he couldn't say "Girl we couldn't get much higher", he had to say "Girl we couldn't get much better". I believe it was Robby Krieger that told them just to jam out and they did just that. Jim, being the savage he is straight up sang the actual lyrics while looking at the camera.

The strangest scenes was when it showed Indians. Jim kept having visions of these people and I don't know why other than he saw the people on the side of the road when he was a kid. It confuses me.

Now, after watching a commentary of the actors, real life people, and director, the real life guys say that some of the scenes didn't happen and that it isn't a biography, it's Oliver Stone's (the director) perspective.

That's about it. The Doors came out in 1991 staring Val Kilmer as Jim Morrison. There was some funny scenes and dramatic scenes but other than that, it was pretty bland and pretty fake. If they made another Doors movie with a different director who actually knows the story, make it PG-13, and get new cast (the old ones did do good), it would be higher in my book. I give this movie a

6/10