To be honest, I was never a big fan of The Doors when I was younger. As a kid of a different generation, The Doors always seemed like my brother’s music. It was something not to be embraced but to be mocked and ridiculed. Then, much later, I saw the movie The Doors with Val Kilmer and Meg Ryan. The story of Jim Morrison as told by Oliver Stone was a tale of youth gone awry, with the wish of peace never coming to fruition. It was the down side to the Summer of Love. It was like most of Oliver Stone’s work, a bit too melodramatic and a bit too one sided, playing a tad too loose with the facts. To set the record on a straighter path is the new documentary about The Doors called When You’re Strange.

The film opens with a young man, very Jim Morrison-looking, cruising across the desert with the music of The Doors blaring on his AM radio. He has the beard and the too tight leather pants. It is announced over the speakers that Jim Morrison has died in Paris. Then we go back into the story of The Doors.

Director/Writer Tom DiCillo weaves his tale using old pictures and concert footage. We get the beginnings of the band with Jim and keyboardist Ray Manzarek working up tunes. Soon they were joined by drummer John Densmore and guitarist Robby Krieger. Since both Manzarek and Krieger were classically trained musicians, the sound of The Doors was more sophisticated than much of the music of the day. The four begin crafting lyrics and tonal poems that are very much mystic and challenging. It is Robby who pens their first hit “Light My Fire” by trying to one-up the lyrics of Jim.

With a very shy Mr. Morrison, they begin the assent to the summit of popular music. They become sensations at L.A. clubs like The Whiskey a Go-Go. We also get the change in Jim from poet/pauper to leather clad rock god. The camera just seems to love Morrison, always framing him in the best of light. But as stardom pushed the band, the personal demons of rock and roll begin to take their toll. We all know the tragic ending of Jim Morrison and The Doors. This tale give few new insights to the fall of our rock hero.

The film is narrated by Johnny Depp. If I were a film director, he would have been my first and only choice to play Jim. His reading of the script is hypnotic, delivered with a reverence infused with sarcastic tones. There is this love of the subject that comes out in the reading, something that couldn’t have been manufactured.

Director Tom DiCillo has found some amazing footage of Jim and the boys for this feature. We get all sorts of backstage bits and pieces as well as forgotten live shows. It paints the band with a very wide brush, telling years of their run in a scant 85 min.
My biggest complaint with When You’re Strange is the lack of solid long-form concert footage. In telling the tale of a rock band, one expects to see loads of footage of live shows, with entire songs showcased. Here we get all the highlights such as The Ed Sullivan Show and The Smother’s Brothers Show, but with a live outfit like The Doors, one wants to see entire concert segments. While many live shows are mentioned and parts shown, it becomes more of a taste test than a sit-down feast. I wanted to experience more of the concert aspects of a Doors performance.

The film is made by Rhino, my favorite re-issue music company. Over the years, they have released some of the greatest music from previous generations, all in crystal clear perfection. This soundtrack is no exception with the tunes just jumping off the recorded track and into the theater. It is a joy to experience music that rings as true.

But the biggest question is – which is better, the “fact” Doors movie or the “fiction” Doors movie? With all respect to Mr. Stone, I prefer this version of the story. Actually seeing the band perform is much better than seeing someone act like they are in the band.

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