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ROCK-N-ROLL: THE DOORS, THE COMMITMENTS

© Sean Gallagher

When Elvis Presley appeared in LOVE ME TENDER in 1956, it began the uneasy relationship between rock-n-roll and movies. As both forms of entertainment in the last 50 years or so have been seen, more often than not, as being pitched to "the kids," they've complimented each other in more ways than one; rock stars following Presley's footsteps in becoming actors, while actors like Bruce Willis record albums, music used not only in movies, but to promote them, songs being mini-movies, and so on. Early on, however - and, to be honest, even today - movie executives had no understanding of rock-n-roll except as a marketing tool (if the kids love it, we gotta get it in there!), and often softened it up to make it acceptable to the masses, or, more likely, to them (Presley's subsequent movie career being the best of many examples). As the years passed, however, and filmmakers who grew up on rock-n-roll and understood it came to Hollywood, however, this started to change. For every dud (SGT. PEPPER'S LONELY HEARTS CLUB BAND), we got exploitation films that worked (A HARD DAY'S NIGHT), movies that used rock-n-roll to define a generation (AMERICAN GRAFFITI), or good biopics (LA BAMBA). In 1991, two different movies - Oliver Stone's THE DOORS and Alan Parker's THE COMMITMENTS - got inside rock-n-roll.

One of the enduring myths of rock-n-roll is that it's either the devil's music, or that it's inevitably tied in to self-destruction. And this viewpoint doesn't always come from rock haters like the Moral Majority, either: the famous story of Robert Johnson selling his soul to the devil to make good music, and Jerry Lee Lewis' tirade while recording "Great Balls of Fire" about rock being the devil's music live on because rock's proponents either embrace these myths wholeheartedly, or are uncomfortable with the ramifications of them. Jim Morrison, it seems, fully lived out, if not the myth of rock being the devil's music, the myth of rock leading to self-destruction.

After a brief prologue of the young Jim Morrison with his parents in a car, where they witness an accident, and Jim sees a shaman (Floyd Red Crow Westerman) who supposedly haunted him for the rest of his life, we cut to 1960's L.A. There, Morrison (Val Kilmer) is going to UCLA film school (though the class boos his first effort, after which he walks out), and basically living hand to mouth. One day, while on the beach, he meets Ray Manzarek (Kyle MachLachlan), a keyboardist who was in Morrison's class. Morrison reads some poetry he's written (some of which turns out to be the lyrics of the song "Break on Through," which became one of the Doors' biggest hits), and Manzarek suggests they start a band. They're later joined by guitarist Robbie Krieger (Frank Whaley) and drummer John Densmore (Kevin Dillon), and become the Doors. With Morrison's lyrics, voice, and stage presence in the spotlight, the Doors quickly rose to fame on the strength of songs like "Light My Fire," "People are Strange," "L.A. Woman," and "The End."

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