The Doors (Feature Film)

I rate this as the best music film ever. I saw it at the cinema when first released, bought it on VHS in 4:3 then again in a limited VHS widescreen version. Couldn't wait for GB release on DVD and bought the US issue then the GB one when released. No I'm not daft - just a Doors fan since 1968. They're my favourite band of all time. Far from making me biased, I think it enables me to give a more honest, objective assessment of the film, as I would severely criticise anything I didn't like.

Val Kilmer is superb as Jim Morrison. He's his double and has the mannerisms and voice off pat. You can't tell when Val Kilmer sings in place of Morrison. The others are a little dodgy in that they only have passing resemblances to the band members. Never mind - none of us are perfect.

As with any film about a specific band or person, there is some artistic licence used to make the story more interesting for, and ensure it appeals to, the passing punter. One classic example is that the… more »

I rate this as the best music film ever. I saw it at the cinema when first released, bought it on VHS in 4:3 then again in a limited VHS widescreen version. Couldn't wait for GB release on DVD and bought the US issue then the GB one when released. No I'm not daft - just a Doors fan since 1968. They're my favourite band of all time. Far from making me biased, I think it enables me to give a more honest, objective assessment of the film, as I would severely criticise anything I didn't like.

Val Kilmer is superb as Jim Morrison. He's his double and has the mannerisms and voice off pat. You can't tell when Val Kilmer sings in place of Morrison. The others are a little dodgy in that they only have passing resemblances to the band members. Never mind - none of us are perfect.

As with any film about a specific band or person, there is some artistic licence used to make the story more interesting for, and ensure it appeals to, the passing punter. One classic example is that the band perform in their early days at The Matrix exactly as they would at the height of their powers, with similar audience reaction. Original Matrix recordings, however, tell a story of a subdued, thin sound, with Morrison thanking the audience for their barely audible and sparse applause. Others include Jim dancing with spirits during a performance and being shown his own death by a native American Indian Chief's spirit that he claimed to have entered his mind whilst a child. These do not, however, in my opinion spoil the film one iota.

The film does miss out on at least one brilliant opportunity which would also have appealed to Joe Public and that is to use the available stories to support or at least hint at the myth that Jim didn't die in the bath in Paris and is still around somewhere. For example would middle-class parents let their son be buried in a foreign country in an unmarked grave (as it was still when I visited it in 1975)? Jim allegedly calling in to a US music station long after his death and double-tracking his own vocals perfectly with the records. The death being illegally certified by one doctor and the body never being seen by anyone but Pam. The fact that in the last ever photos of Jim in Paris with his beard shaved off, his face looked just like it used to before he got fat. Many reported sighting of Jim after death. Now there's a thought. Far out man. Break on through and don't bogart that joint. Now where's that film about the life of Jimi Hendrix, Oliver?