Saint or Sinner? Oliver Stone’s “The Doors” Hits the Mark in 4K Ultra HD

“The program for this evening is not new
You’ve seen this entertainment through and through
You’ve seen your birth, your life, your death
You might recall all of the rest
Did you have a good world when you died?
Enough to base a movie on?”

— Jim Morrison, "An American Prayer"

Amidst a wave of controversy, greed, deceit, death, war and destruction that tore the heart out of American innocence in the 1960s, an era of free-spirit, peace and harmony surfaced from the ashes to cleanse the souls of lost youth and redefine the common ground of an otherwise close-minded nation.

The music of The Doors became the apotheosis of a lost generation; arrogant and brooding to some, cool and inspiring to others. Filmmaker Oliver Stone’s affinity for Jim Morrison and the music of The Doors is quite discernible in the new Lionsgate 4K Ultra HD disc release of the epic 1991 biopic.

For Stone, Morrison was a demi-God. The poet/singer/songwriter’s influence presented itself to Stone who, as a 21-year-old G.I. fighting in Vietnam, was for the first time in his life opening himself to the culture of sovereignty and revolution. Music became a necessary release and spoke many truths to the young generation about the mendacities, ignorance and arrogance of this sad and tragic era.

A master of mayhem and excessive extremity, Stone is no stranger to controversy. The momentum of his work seems to feed off of the mixed reactions his films have on critics and the movie-going public alike. “The Doors” is certainly no exception to the standard.

A showstopper to many who view the film merely from an entertainment standpoint, the one-sided biopic did not fare well with dedicated Doors fans upon its release in the spring of 1991. Stone was denounced a traitor for his questionable script (co-written by J. Randal Johnson) which overflowed with paper thin truths and overzealous theatrics. This was not the Jim Morrison they idolized, but merely an inaccurate vision of one who possessed the unfortunate power to influence others with dramatic misinformation.

Saint or sinner, Jim Morrison was simply a poetic genius.

Filming “The Doors” was an arduous and painstaking process. His intentions in good nature, Stone attempted to clear away the myths surrounding Morrison’s life and untimely death in 1971 at the age of 27. To his surprise, Morrison was not the God-like shaman his lyrics made him out to be. He was an ordinary human being with the same passions and frailties we all encounter — Morrison was genuine flesh and blood.

“The Doors” was the product of a ten-year fascination in Hollywood with bringing the Jim Morrison story to the big screen. The immense success of the 1980 bestseller “No One Here Gets Out Alive,” the legendary Morrison biography by Jerry Hopkins and Danny Sugarman, revived strong studio interest. Mavericks like Martin Scorsese, William Friedkin, Francis Ford Coppola, Walter Hill, Brian DePalma and Paul Schrader expressed interest in telling Morrison’s story — each to no avail.

It wasn’t until 1988 that Morrison’s estate accepted an offer from Carolco’s Mario Kassar and Andrew Vanja for the rights to film a biopic. Producer Sasha Harasi hired Oliver Stone, fresh from Oscar-winning glory with 1986s “Platoon” and “Wall Street” a year later, to write the first draft screenplay. Discovering who their writer was, Kassar and Vanja expressed wishes that Stone direct the film as well. Though Stone still had a contractual agreement with Carolco, Kassar and Vanja felt certain that the daring filmmaker possessed the visual flair they were looking for.

With his experiences in Southeast Asia, as both soldier and teacher, Oliver Stone was indeed the quintessential spokesman for his era, a cinematic bookkeeper documenting a time that floated helplessly within a lethal concoction of innocence and bitter upheaval.

In “The Road of Excess,” an original documentary included on this 4K disc set, co-writer/director Stone, actor Val Kilmer (Jim Morrison), Kathleen Quinlan (who portrayed Patricia Kennealy, the journalist/self-proclaimed witch who married Morrison in a Wicca wedding ceremony), and Richard Rutowski (a longtime Stone collaborator and confidant) mutually agree that the film is not nearly as much a biography as it is Stone’s personal fantasy of what it was like to be Jim Morrison.

An interview with the real Patricia Kennealy-Morrison contradicts any claims to the film being a genuine portrayal of Morrison’s life. First noting the curse she put onto Morrison’s story that prevented Hollywood from touching it for 20 years, Kennealy does not shy away from bombarding Stone’s irresponsibility when it comes to biographical accuracy. Nor does she forgive him for the mockery he made of the day she told Morrison she was carrying his child. After insisting the scene be excised in post-production, Stone at first conceded, but then purposely retained it, deciding to let audiences judge for themselves whether or not they should view it as fact or farce.

Additional interviews with former Doors guitarist Robby Krieger and actor Frank Whaley (who portrayed Krieger in the film) round out this fascinating documentary.

Kilmer’s exhaustive, yet unbridled performance as Morrison is still his best to date. In “The Doors,” he is at center stage and stuck with the unforgiving job of making the audience forget the film’s inaccuracies and misconceptions, allowing them to view Stone’s sole interpretation of the man he worshipped. Stone idolized Morrison, even going so far as to, in 1971, send Morrison a copy of his first script, “Break,” an abstract work in which Stone wanted Morrison to star. The script was found amongst Morrison’s possessions in 1989 and sent back to Stone only weeks before production on “The Doors” was to commence.

The 4K Ultra HD 2160p high-definition AVC-encoded down conversion transfer maintains the intended visual integrity, showing off Stone’s and cinematographer Robert Richardson’s frenetic camera work in its original 2.35:1 aspect ratio — the color palette is outstanding with the 1960s era-specific orange, browns and yellows dominating each frame, purposely projecting a hazy, dreamlike look. Visually, “The Doors” has never looked better on home video as it does on this release. The concert sequences never cease to amaze, particularly after one learns that Stone always had at least eight cameras running simultaneously to highlight Kilmer’s dead-on portrayal amidst the 10,000 screaming extras.

A solid Dolby Atmos Audio track enhances the film’s occasionally surreal atmosphere and, more importantly, bolsters the songs at the heart of the story. I was particularly pleased with the fullness of the soundfield every time Morrison climbed on stage or dabbled in hallucinogens. The surrounds get a nice workout in such scenes, enveloping the listener and creating a solid immersive experience.

This release contains all of the supplemental material found on the movie's 2008 Blu-ray, plus new interviews with director Oliver Stone and sound mixer Lon Bender. Stone’s dry, but workable audio commentary has its interesting moments. “Jim Morrison: An American Poet in Paris” is a fascinating documentary that explores Morrison's career towards the end of his life, focusing on his death and the reasons behind his demise. “The Doors in L.A.” is a somewhat interesting feature where Stone is able to sit down with the remaining members of The Doors to reflect upon the film and Morrison's life. Also included are 14 Deleted Scenes, a 1991 promotional featurette and also the film's theatrical trailer and TV spots.

With “The Doors,” Stone’s dark obsessions are crystal clear — not merely creating the ultimate rock musical, but paying homage, accurate or not, to James Douglas Morrison, the shaman trying to achieve immortality through glorious death.