The Doors (1991)

The Doors is a 1991 American biopic about the 1960-70s rock band of the same name which emphasizes the life of its lead singer, Jim Morrison. It was directed by Oliver Stone, and stars Val Kilmer as Morrison, Meg Ryan as Pamela Courson (Morrison's companion), Kyle MacLachlan as Ray Manzarek, Frank Whaley as Robby Krieger, Kevin Dillon as John Densmore, and Kathleen Quinlan as Patricia Kennealy.

The film portrays Morrison as the larger-than-life icon of 1960s rock and roll, counterculture, and the drug-using free love hippie lifestyle. But the depiction goes beyond the iconic: his alcoholism, interest in the spiritual plane and hallucinogenic drugs as entheogens, and, particularly, his growing obsession with death are threads which weave in and out of the film. Due to the film's inaccurate depiction of Morrison, it was not well received by his band mates, close friends, and family.

Synopsis

The film opens during the recording of Jim's An American Prayer and quickly moves to a childhood memory of his family driving along a desert highway in 1949, where a Young Jim sees an elderly native American dying by the roadside. In 1965, Jim arrives in California and is assimilated into the Venice Beach culture. During his film school days studying at UCLA, he meets his future girlfriend Pamela Courson, and has his first encounters with Ray Manzarek, as well as the rest of the people who would go on to form the Doors, Robby Krieger and John Densmore.

Actors