HWY: An American Pastoral (1969) User Reviews

An interesting experiment by Morrison and his pals that is ultimately worth watching today if you are a Doors/Morrison fan.

[MovieAddict2016 · 8/10 · 17 July 2006]

I was listening to the 1970 Rolling Stone interview with Jim Morrison and he had mentioned a film he made with some friends a few months beforehand about a hitchhiker who comes out of the desert and travels to LA.

"What's it about?" the interviewer asked.

"It doesn't really have a plot," said Morrison.

Very true. This unfinished project made by Morrison and his friends was really just an experiment in film-making. Morrison originally went to the University of California (I believe) and was a film major, and he continued to express a deep interest in film later on in his musical career.

If you are a Doors fan or a fan of Morrison in general then this will probably appeal to you. It's about fifty minutes long and begins with Morrison (The Hitchhiker) emerging from a small pool of water in some woods and he makes a trek to the highway, where he gets a ride and goes to LA. That's all that happens.

If you have no interest in Morrison you probably won't find this very engaging - but for a fan of The Doors such as myself it's an interesting, rare slice of Morrison's creative work outside of music and poetry.

Very bad and very good

[wbskinner · 8/10 · 19 January 2006]

Much of this movie is bad. Very slow, no plot at all, very rough. It looks like a student film. Much is 1960s cliché. The songs are lousy, there's no acting. The cinematography ranges from decent to unbelievably murky. There are a couple of scenes which are brilliant, though. Mostly visuals, like when Morrison spins the book carousel and just keeps spinning and spinning in front of the camera. When he tells his friend that he just killed a man, and when he's talking to some people outside a club or bar of some sort.

And then there's one scene that the crew must have stumbled across by chance which could be the most stunning and poignant in all of cinema. That it's so raw, so obviously unscripted, and so fitting with the overall theme of life and death on the road makes the scene truly remarkable. The movie is worth finding and watching for that 30 seconds alone.

All in all if you're a Morrison fan or if you like experimental film this is a movie to watch. You'll be fast-forwarding through most of it but it will be worth your time. Had they cut it down from 50 minutes to about 15 it might have been fantastic.

Very Intriguing

[Connorharris9 · 6/10 · 27 May 2015]

Being a huge fan of Jim Morrison/The Doors I got a little excited when I found out about this experimental film put together by Jim and his close friend Paul. I wasn't quiet sure what to expect with it only having 220 votes but I kept an open mind while watching it.

There wasn't much plot or dialogue, however I was still interested in what Jim was doing and going to do next. There were also a few parts that I found pretty funny since Jim was such a weird/interesting guy. Overall I enjoyed this film and recommend that every Jim Morrison fan watch it.

Note: This film also plays good music throughout

Take the highway

[shierfilm · 19 January 2004]

Like the man himself, HWY: An American Pastoral is complex and mysterious. He hits the road like Kerouac, wandering, searching for meaning.

Morrison's Mustang Cobra cruises the highways of a forgotten America, the unknown lurking behind every rock edifice and cactus that dots his journey. He's almost like Caine in Kung-Fu, except the Asian landscape is now America. Jim Morrison is on the spiritual warpath.

To see the mind of the poet at work without his bandmates is a rare gift. Jim and The Doors are/were inseperable, but this little magna carta on freedom shows us his solitary genius and glorious madness.

The soundtrack is eerie, unsettling, not quite right. But considering the artist at the heart of the film, I'm not surprised. HWY is very special. Every frame reminds the viewer that there was a man in the late 60's of immense power who dared to search for the unknown, who attempted to shake up America with words and images. He tried to tempt the gods as it were, like Loki, a man on a mission.

An American Pastoral is proof.

Insight into the Morrison Icon film HWY

[StaffordPLansman · 10/10 · 24 January 2005]

"HWY An American Pastoral"

The movie you love to hate. James Douglas Morrisson Stars in this apparent "non-movie" about a man, a car, and a HWY. With Morrison behind the wheel the movie takes a lot of dark and somewhat twisted turns but even without any outside financial backing, he was able to hold it all together, complete this risky experimental film, and turn in an admiral acting performance considering that much of it is unscripted. HWY is considered By some ( including myself of course) to be the first American Indie movie. The movie predates the movie Easy Rider by two years and the quality is almost on par with that film. Jim Morrison made this film in the void following the demise of the Hollywood studio system and was aware that a change was happening. He realized that anyone could now make and distribute their own films. Morrison and his film "HWY An American Pastoral" were right on the edge of what seems like the exact moment our culture of mass media kicked in...kind of like the acid Jim loved to consume.

Stafford P. Lansman

The Vast American Landscape

[Screen_O_Genic · 5/10 · 29 July 2023]

Originally released as a rough draft/demo to compel support in the making of a bigger and fuller film project, "HWY: An American Pastoral" is an experimental indie release that finds The Doors' lead singer Jim Morrison in a leading role. Built on the concept of a hitchhiker who murders a driver who picks him up the movie took a life of its own during the shoot. Filmed in the Mojave desert and Los Angeles with an eclectic soundtrack backing it the flick finds Morrison roaming the places' environs. Swimming, driving, conversing, hanging out - Morrison takes the day in the life plot and emerges as the solitary oddball, immersed with the world while naturally distant from it. A decent script as a short would have alleviated the tedium that this navel-gazing exercise in boredom is. For what it's worth it's a good glimpse at Morrison from another perspective and an interesting view of that fascinating time. While not for the casual viewer this is one fans of The Lizard King and The Doors would be able to tolerate.