I finally got around 2 watching the movie by Oliver Stone about the Doors. Was that movie accurate as it portrayed Jim Morrison? Was there any foul play suspected in his death?

i always wondered this same thing. It never even says what he actually died from....

I Loved the movie though!

The most overrated band ever...

Once even got in a physical fight with a mate of mine because I said that Jim was a pompous freak...

I lost the fight!

I love this movie as well, but from what I've heard over the years about this movie is that it centers the life of Jim Morrison, not the band itself. The remaining members of the band have also stated that when this film was released, they hated every scene of the movie because it was not the most accurate depiction of the man they knew as Jim Morrison.

Ive never watched that movie all the way through.
Every time my friends and I were going to watch it, we were having a Jim Morrison night of our own with it playing in the background.
[Edited 2/25/08 16:54pm]

MikeMatronik said:

I love The Doors. I'd say the most overrated band title definitely belongs to The Beatles.

Moonbeam said:

I'm mad at u because u called Depeche Mode...New wave...

MikeMatronik said:

But they are considered new wave by many definitions!

The movie does made Jim look like this egotistical, druggy, out-of-control sociopath. I know that is not who the real Jim was. But that whole depiction of the infamous 1969 Miami concert incident was classic stuff, man. Val Kilmer played that role from top to bottom.

silverchild said:

thew term sociopath has quite a broad meaning and could apply to anyone

horatio said:

Well, mad man..

Did anyone else notice how badly they did the Ed Sullivan scene in this movie? I've seen the real life footage of that performance and Jim DID NOT emphasize the word "higher" like they portray in the movie.

JuliePurplehead said:

Moonbeam said:

Make that Radiohead...

MartyMcFly said:

They're both a billion times better than the Doors.

There was always a lot of mystique and intrigue surrounding the Doors, even in their early years....my guess is Jim Morrison died from overindulgence of booze and drug, no foul play.

A picture I took of his grave at Pere Lachaise in Paris:



People young and old still flock to his grave, leave candles, flowers, some even stand there with CD players listening to his music whist gazing at his grave.....after all this time.

JuliePurplehead said:

That sucks, cuz that's my favorite part of the movie.

It seems that the guy just burned himself out. At least based on the movie.

gemini13 said:

I think it was just emphasizing what people who didnt like the whole culture felt when The Doors were on prime time television.

horatio said:

I thought it was KICK ASS!!

I have no real interest in the movie, but the Doors - the band imo were one of the great rock bands of the late '60s - very early '70s. They had a unique sound, and were a thoroughly capable, grooving, purring, psychedelic rock n' roll band.

Yes, Jim Morrison's lyrics were a touch on the first year college lit. student side at times, but some of them I find either quite powerful and striking in their imagery or amusing (some intentionally on his part, some not). For the tracks 'LA Woman' and 'Riders On the Storm', they deserve to be legends.

Ray Manzarek's jazz infused organ, Robbie Krieger's unique, spidery guitar style, and John Densmore's powerful, again often jazz influenced drumming made up a powerful band, with a seemingly telepathic connection and grooving dynamic, and Morrison's leering, preening, ironic darkness makes the icing on the cake. A lot of people don't seem to realise that Morrison had a sense of humour. Also, it's less well known that Morrison wasn't the only song writer/ wordsmith in the group, with Kreiger in particular delivering a couple of hits for the band too.

The Doors - one of my favourate rock bands. There's some fine musicianship there.

JuliePurplehead said:

that was one part that bothered me
the real jim didn't emphasize "higher" at all, it was much cooler that way
another change was that the other doors didnt agree to sell the song without jim's knowledge, none of them were aware of the sale
another change, im fairly certain, is that jim never followed pamela home and climb onto her balcony. that whole scene was fictional.
my good friend is a huge doors fans and she listed all the inaccuracies once for me, those are the few that i recall, though i know there were many.

shockadelicaa said:

Thanks 4 the update.

Miles said:

Was the guitar player switching between a lead and a bass? how were they playing live with no bass?

Graycap23 said:

Simple. Ray Manzarek normally played the bass parts with his left hand on his funky organ . Though on some of their later studio tracks ,they did employ a couple of session bass guitarists.
[Edited 2/27/08 12:56pm]

Miles said:

Duh.....why didn't I think of that. Thanks.

The movie might not have been totally accurate or fair, but it gets across the message of what they were, and who Jim was, and what was special about them.

the photographer said it best: "Jim Morrison, the god of rock." He was like a pagan god of rock. Oliver Stone's technique captured that really well, though Jim's fake beard at the end was pretty bad.

the most impressive thing about this movie is that Val Kilmer actually sang the parts...

Slave2daGroove said:

Val was on point. I don't know why I waited so long 2 watch the movie.

Miles said:

I have to agree with you about the musicianship about the doors. Ray keyboard playing ability was an amazing compliment with drums and lyrics. Some of my favorite cuts by the Doors was: Hello, I Love You, Riders on The Storm, Come And Touch Me,& Love Me 2x.