The Doors (1991)

The story of the famous and influential 1960's rock band and its lead singer and composer, Jim Morrison.

Director:

Oliver Stone

Writers:

Randall Jahnson, Oliver Stone

Stars:

Val Kilmer, Meg Ryan, Kyle MacLachlan

3 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Val Kilmer	...	Jim Morrison
Meg Ryan	...	Pamela Courson
Kyle MacLachlan	...	Ray Manzarek
Frank Whaley	...	Robby Krieger
Kevin Dillon	...	John Densmore
Michael Wincott	...	Paul Rothchild
Michael Madsen	...	Tom Baker
Josh Evans	...	Bill Siddons
Dennis Burkley	...	Dog
Billy Idol	...	Cat
Kathleen Quinlan	...	Patricia Kennealy
John Densmore	...	Engineer - Last Session
Gretchen Becker	...	Mom
Jerry Sturm	...	Dad
Sean Stone	...	Young Jim

Storyline

Oliver Stone's homage to 1960s rock group The Doors also doubles as a biography of the group's late singer, the "Electric Poet" Jim Morrison. The movie follows Morrison from his days as a film student in Los Angeles to his death in Paris in 1971, at the age of 27. The movie features a tour-de-force performance by Val Kilmer, who not only looks like Jim Morrison's long-lost twin brother, but also sounds so much like him that he did much of his own singing. It has been written that even the surviving Doors had trouble distinguishing Kilmer's vocals from Morrison's originals.

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Plot Keywords:

jim morrison | the doors | singer | 1960s | drugs | 

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Taglines:

The Ultimate Story of Sex, Drugs & Rock 'N' Roll

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Genres:

Biography | Drama | Music

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for heavy drug content, and for strong sexuality and language

Details

Official Sites:

Lions Gate [us] The Doors Official Website

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

1 March 1991 (USA)

Also Known As:

Ha-Dlatot

Filming Locations:

Ambassador Hotel - 3400 Wilshire Boulevard, Los Angeles, California, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$38,000,000 (estimated)

Gross:

$35,183,792 (USA)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Bill Graham Films, Carolco International N.V., Carolco Pictures

Technical Specs

Runtime:

140 min

Sound Mix:

70 mm 6-Track (analog 70 mm prints) CDS (digital 35 mm and 70 mm prints) Dolby SR (analog 35 mm prints)

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Val Kilmer broke his arm badly when he performed a jump from the stage into the crowd and the stuntman failed to catch him, leaving Kilmer with an abnormal growth on his right elbow.

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Goofs

As with most biopics, some of the events did not occur exactly as they are portrayed in the film, or may have happened at a different time. Some did not take place at all and are included purely for dramatic purposes.

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Quotes

Jim Morrison: They don't want me - they want my *death*!

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Connections

Referenced in Hollywood Mouth (2008)

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Soundtracks

"Heroin"
Written by Lou Reed
Performed by The Velvet Underground

User Reviews

Absorbing movie - i didn't want it to end. (my only friend...)

Utterly absorbing bio-pic of Jim Morrison. The name Val Kilmer is, or should be, synonymous with incredible acting that is not merely natural or convincing, but immensely fun and commanding. You may have noticed while watching his recent Wonderland - Val has the ability to make a picture. Here, he IS The Doors: The Movie. There, he WAS Wonderland. I am exaggerating, i suppose. For Oliver Stone has crafted a marvellous film which makes you feel like you've experienced what the sixties were like. 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. I didn't realise they had more than one classic: Light my Fire, The End, People are Strange, Love her Madly, Break on Through to the Other Side, Riders on the Storm, Touch Me, Roadhouse Blues (Let it roll, baby roll) and probably more i'm yet to discover.

For a better recreation of what Andy Warhol's factory actually felt like, see I Shot Andy Warhol. Crispin Glover actually looks more like Andy than the guy who plays him in "I Shot," but the guy in I Shot much better captured Andy's vagueness and almost unconsciousness while in conversation. 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?"