I saw the film when it was released in theatres 35 years ago. A year later, I remember seeing it with nearly my entire dorm during my freshman year at Carleton University. It was one of those films which struck a chord with Gen X, which despite its cynicism, still had an admiration for the spirit of the late 1960s. Jim Morrison, of course, was a larger-than-life mythical figure who was a source of fascination.
I've probably caught it on TV a time or two here and there but thought it was worth another look a quarter of the way through our present century. To put it into perspective, The Doors was released a few months before the 20th anniversary of Morrison's death. More time has now elapsed between the time of the film and the present day than Morrison's 27 years on the planet. To some degree, I think Morrison and much of the 1960s has been lost to time. Indeed, most of the audience were Gen Xers & Boomers with perhaps a handful of older Millennials sprinkled into the mix.
I should mention The Doors was screened on a 70 mm print. Somerville Theatre film projectionist David Kornfeld gave a brief introduction. I remembered him from the special screening of a 70 mm print of Apocalypse Now last year and thought it was kind of fitting given that film begins with The Doors' "This is the End", a song which is also featured prominently in The Doors.
Kornfeld didn't think much of the story and that many of the events depicted in the film simply didn't happen. But he did praise Kilmer's performance and that the remaining members of The Doors were awed a how Kilmer captured Morrison's essence.
I share much of Kornfeld's assessment. I knew at the time of the release that certain things depicted in the film didn't happen in real life or at the very least didn't happen in the way they did in real life. To be specific, I am referring to The Doors only appearance on The Ed Sullivan Show. While the band was asked not to use the lyric, "Girl, we couldn't get much higher," Morrison didn't emphasize the word "higher" nor did the tv director accidentally show his crotch as depicted in the film. The only word Morrison emphasized was "fire".
While some might argue that Tombstone was Kilmer's epitaph, one could certainly make the case that he made a career defining performance in The Doors. After Kilmer's death, Doors drummer John Densmore wrote on Instagram, "As an actor, Val’s channeling of Jim (Morrison) was so close, he gave me the creeps on the set of Oliver Stone’s biopic. He should have been nominated for an Oscar as Best Actor."
There was a certain melancholy in seeing Kilmer onscreen especially in his scenes with Michael Madsen (portraying Tom Baker, an actor Morrison met through Andy Warhol) who also passed away last year. On an eerie note, Madsen passed away on July 3rd - the 54th anniversary of Morrison's death.
Aside from Kilmer, the visuals remain compelling and the music captures the spirit of the time. I must say that I found the casting of Meg Ryan as Jim Morrison's girlfriend Pam Courson a bit peculiar. Her voice and physical mannerisms made me think of Sally Albright from When Harry Met Sally cosplaying a hippie.
The cameos were fascinating - John Densmore playing a recording engineer supervising a session of Morrison reciting poetry, Billy Idol, Crispin Glover (as Andy Warhol), Mimi Rogers (the first wife of Tom Cruise who played photojournalist and 16 Magazine editor-in-chief Gloria Stavers), Paul Williams, attorney William Kunstler and, if you didn't blink, you might have caught Eric Burdon from The Animals and War and Sky Saxon from The Seeds.
Now that Val Kilmer has recently passed, he has become a mythic figure in his own right. Perhaps his mythos can help carry that of Jim Morrison through the Doors of perception. R.I.P to both men.
