When You're Strange: A Film About The Doors |  | Artist: The Doors
Label: Eagle Rock Entertaiment
Category: DVD
List Price: $19.98
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Rating:  39 reviews
Sales Rank: 1,106
Format: Color, Dolby, DTS Surround Sound, DVD, NTSC, Widescreen
Language: English (Original Language)
Rating: R (Restricted)
Region: 1
Discs: 1
Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1
Running Time: 86 Minutes
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.3
Dimensions (in): 7.9 x 5.5 x 0.8
MPN: 801213030590
UPC: 801213030590
EAN: 0801213030590
ASIN: B003H5WF3U
Theatrical Release Date: 2010
Release Date: June 29, 2010
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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Product Description
Examines the lives of the members of the Doors from 1966-1971 with concert footage and interviews.
Amazon.com
Of course that's Johnny Depp narrating When You're Strange, the 2010 documentary about the Doors: who else but Hollywood's biggest fan of counterculture history? The film's other prominent attraction is the treasure trove of heretofore unscreened footage from the band's heyday, including backstage material, film-school stuff, and a curious project shot by (and starring) Jim Morrison after the group had broken through. That color footage, which When You're Strange returns to throughout its running time, has a bearded, zonked Morrison driving through the Southwest desert, on the road to who knows where. For fans, this footage is fascinating to watch, although the actual narrative of the band's rise and flameout will be very familiar if you already know the story. And even for newbies, the breathless, grandiloquent nature of writer-director Tom DiCillo's approach will likely be a bit off-putting. Made with the participation of band members Ray Manzarek, Robbie Krieger, and John Densmore, the movie adopts a general air of sadness about Morrison's substance abuse, noting that a band intervention led to but one week of sobriety for their lead singer/shaman. It's not all gloom: footage of Morrison wading through a pre-concert crowd catches some of the giddy promise of his unpredictability, which seems so in tune with the era. Those fresh glimpses of an icon make this film worth seeing, even if you've traveled down this road before. --Robert Horton
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Showing reviews 1-5 of 39
 In the loose palace of exile May 8, 2010
D. Hartley (Seattle, WA USA)
43 out of 59 found this review helpful
In the short 4 ½ years that keyboardist Ray Manzarek, guitarist Robbie Krieger, drummer John Densmore and lead vocalist Jim Morrison enjoyed an artistic collaboration, they produced six timelessly resonant studio albums and the classic Absolutely Live (which still holds up as one of the best live albums ever by a rock band). The Doors were also one of the first rock bands to successfully bridge deeply avant-garde sensibilities with popular commercial appeal. It was Blake and Rimbaud... that you could dance to.
Surprisingly, it has taken until 2010, 45 years (!) after UCLA film students Jim Morrison and Ray Manzarek first starting kicking around the idea of forming a band, for a proper full-length documentary feature about The Doors to appear, Tom DiCillo's When You're Strange. You'll notice I said, "about The Doors". I felt that Oliver Stone's 1991 biopic ultimately lost its way as a true portrait of the band, because it was too myopically fixated on the Jim Morrison legend; Morrison the Lizard King, the Dionysian rock god, the drunken poet, the shaman. Yes, he was all of that (perhaps more of a showman than a shaman), but he was only 25% of the equation that made The Doors...well, The Doors. That's what I like about DiCillo's film; he doesn't gloss over the contributions of the other three musicians.
In fact, one of the things you learn in the film is that Morrison himself always insisted that all songwriting credits go to "The Doors" as an entity, regardless of which band member may have had the dominant hand in the composition of any particular song (when you consider that Morrison couldn't read a note, that's a pragmatic stance for him to take). The band's signature tune, the #1 hit "Light My Fire" was actually composed by Robbie Krieger-and was allegedly the first song he ever wrote (talk about beginner's luck). He's a great guitar player too (he was trained in flamenco, and had only been playing electric for 6 months at the band's inception). Manzarek and Densmore were no slouches either; they had a classical and jazz background, respectively. When you piece these snippets together along with Morrison's interests in poetry, literature, film and improvisational theatre (then sprinkle in a few tabs of acid) you finally begin to get a picture of why this band had such a unique vibe. They've been copied, but never equaled.
The film looks to have been a labor of love by the director. Johnny Depp provides the narration, and DiCillo has assembled some great footage; it's all well-chosen, sensibly sequenced and beautifully edited. Although there are a fair amount of clips and stories that will qualify as old hat to Doors aficionados (the "Light My Fire" performance on the Sullivan Show, the infamous Miami concert "riot", etc.), there is a treasure trove of rare footage. One fascinating (but all too brief) clip shows the band in the studio constructing the song "Wild Child" during the sessions for "The Soft Parade". The real revelation is the interwoven excerpts from Morrison's experimental 1969 film "HWY: An American Pastoral". Although it is basically a bearded Morrison driving around the desert (wearing his trademark leather pants), it's mesmerizing, surreal footage. DiCillo must have had access to a pristine master print, because it looks like it was shot last week. It wasn't until the credits rolled that I realized this wasn't one of those dreaded recreations, utilizing a lookalike. As a matter of fact, Morrison has never appeared so "alive" on film. It's eerie.
Never before seen footage! July 22, 2010
music lover (Northville, MI United States)
I really enjoyed this film.....many things I had not seen before, such as footage from concerts and interaction within the studio and with the fans. Good look at the band, although most of the focus is naturally on Jim Morrison. Nothing much new about him offered here. I feel he remains an enigma. Was he just a gifted jerk, or someone who just couldn't handle his success other than with excess? I will never understand how an otherwise normal 27 year old person can suffer a fatal heart attack while relaxing in a bathtub, even though he was overly indulgent with an unhealthy lifestyle. Others have lived much, much longer living the very same way......
When Your Strange July 31, 2010
Judith Isaack (Beebe AR USA)
This documentary is a must for all Doors fans! This video really got me going when it was first aired on PBS back in June 2010. Since watching this video back then I've become a fanatic about the Doors. It is so well done - you can't stop watching. And it doesn't hurt that Johnny Depp is narrating.
The Doors performances and history are riveting. I especially enjoyed the interview with Jim's father. I can't say enough good things about this!
When You're Strange August 4, 2010
Txjack (Central Texas)
I first saw this on my local PBS station and enjoyed it. I now have it on DVD and the it has a few snippets of nudity and profanity that the TV version cut.
If you are a Doors fan and have read much about them, you won't find out a tremendous amount of new information. What is nice, though, is the footage in the film that you may not have seen before. There is some great footage of Jim Morrison from a movie he put together (HWY). That footage alone is worth the price of admission. It looks like it was shot yesterday. It's that good, and yes . . . that IS the real Jim Morrison, not a recreation.
Aside from those scenes there's not much new, but I did like the film and it held my attention to the very end. It has a good narration by Johnny Depp, and, let's face it . . . it's The Doors in all their glory.
Ah-mazing!! August 17, 2010
N
This is the best film I've seen about The Doors. There is plenty of old video that I was just in awe of..It's a really beautiful film and I could watch it every day!!
Showing reviews 1-5 of 39
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