Doors (Special Edition) (1991)

"Spectacular filmmaking. Staggering performance by Val Kilmer.  Joel Siegel, Good Morning America
"One hell of a ride...  Los Angeles Times
"The Doors opens the mind, then blows it away.  Gannett Newspapers

Editor's Note Covers the period from 1965-1971; Produced and released in 1991. Val Kilmer stars as Jim Morrison in Oliver Stone's electrifying profile of the Doors, which takes the group from its inception to its demise with the death of the "Lizard King" in a Paris hotel room in 1971. In the early days of the group's formation, Morrison is at his most benign; he's just a guy hanging out at the beach writing poetry. But soon the Doors' fame begins to spread--with Morrison as the focus of attention. Capable of an eerily correct vocal imitation of Morrison, Kilmer makes manifest the talent and charisma, as well as the confusion and despair, of the complex man who was the focal point of the group. As Morrisson's drug consumption and erratic behavior increase exponentially, the rest of the band--Ray Manzarek (Kyle McLachalan), John Densmore (Kevin Dillon), and Robby Krieger (Frank Whaley)--begins to grow tired of his late arrivals, the increasing number of cancellations, and the drunken recording sessions requiring infinite retakes. But no one can help Morrison as he spirals downward into an inferno of drugs, alcohol, public obscenity, and depression, bringing the music to an untimely close. Stone's intimate familiarity with SoCal in the 1960s provides the film with a high degree of surface verisimilitude, though the film is as much a tribute to the enduring power of the Doors' music as it is a cautionary tale about the perils of both celebrity and substance abuse.

	Frank Whaley
	Josie Bissett
	Kathleen Quinlan
	Kevin Dillon
	Kyle MacLachlan
	Meg Ryan
	Michael Madsen
	Mimi Rogers
	Val Kilmer
	Oliver Stone - Director
	Robert Richardson - Director of Photography
	Jim Morrison - Misic
	John Densmore - Music
	Bobby Krieger - Music
	Ray Manzarek - Music
	Sasha Harari - Producer
	Bill Graham - Producer
	Oliver Stone - Screenplay
	Randall Jahnson - Screenplay

Rolling Stone
"...THE DOORS is a thrilling spectacle - the KING KONG of rock movies..." 03/21/1991 p.83-4

New York Times
"...Clamorous, reverential, much-larger-than-life....Kilmer captures all of Morrisons's reckless, insinuating appeal..." 03/01/1991 p.C1

Los Angeles Times
"...The whole movie is white hot, lapped in honeyed golds, evilly blue and black or drenched in those swoony, fiery reds. THE DOORS blasts your ears and scorches your eyes..." 03/01/1991 p.F1

Total Film
"...Val Kilmer is an authentic lead and Meg Ryan supplies credible support as his tortured soulmate..." 05/01/2000 p.110

Chicago Sun-Times 7 of 10
The songs (Morrison) left behind, it is true, are wonderful. Many of them are on the soundtrack of The Doors, which combines Morrison's original vocals and new vocals by Val Kilmer so seamlessly that there is never, not even for a moment, the sensation that Kilmer is not singing everything we hear. That illusion is strengthened by Kilmer's appearance. He looks so uncannily like Jim Morrison that we feel this is not a case of casting, but of possession. - Roger Ebert