Bringing Jim Morrison back to life in the long-lost HWY.

Bringing Jim Morrison back to life in the long-lost "HWY." (photo)

One of the most immediately striking things about "When You're Strange: A Film A
bout the Doors," the feature-length doc about the L.A. band hitting theaters thi
s week, is the film's use of "HWY: An American Pastoral," an experimental film s
hot by Jim Morrison in 1969 that up until now has only been available in blurry
bootleg copies (like the one that currently exists on Google Video). While there
's a hallucinatory haziness inherent to a deteriorating VHS copy of a copy, it's
the pristine footage of Morrison that director Tom DiCillo dug up from the film
's original 35mm negative that proves to be truly surreal. (So much so that when
the film premiered at Sundance in 2008, potential distributors complained that
the film featured reenactments of the iconic singer, which is understandable not
only because of the quality of the footage, but also when you see scenes with M
orrison driving down...
Movies
Posted April 07th, 2010, 10:04 AM by Stephen Saito
One of the most immediately striking things about When You re Strange: A Film About
the Doors, the feature-length doc about the L.A. band hitting theaters this week
, is the film s use of HWY: An American Pastoral, an experimental film shot by Jim M
orrison in 1969 that up until now has only been available in blurry bootleg copi
es (like the one that currently exists on Google Video).
While there s a hallucinatory haziness inherent to a deteriorating VHS copy of a c
opy, it s the pristine footage of Morrison that director Tom DiCillo dug up from t
he film s original 35mm negative that proves to be truly surreal. (So much so that
when the film premiered at Sundance in 2008, potential distributors complained
that the film featured reenactments of the iconic singer, which is understandabl
e not only because of the quality of the footage, but also when you see scenes w
ith Morrison driving down a lonely highway as a radio announcer reports that the
singer has died.)
There s no way in hell we could ve recreated that, says DiCillo, who sifted through ho
urs and hours of uncategorized footage when he came across Morrison s HWY. It wasn t un
til I was deeply into it I realized that this came from HWY and I m actually glad I
didn t know that because it might ve made me a little resistant to somehow pilfer hi
s film. But once I had the idea, I was kind of locked onto it, which was wow, th
is is like the spirit of Morrison wandering through the film.
04072010_JimMorrisonHWY2.jpgIndeed, HWY serves as the narrative backbone of When Yo
u re Strange, which consists strictly of archival footage of the band and narration
from Johnny Depp, charting The Doors six-year run from 1965 to Morrison s death in
1971. The fact that the film looks as good as it does, thanks to the well-honed
preservation efforts of the band, is a reminder that the initial seed of The Do
ors was planted when Morrison and keyboardist Ray Manzarek first met at UCLA Fil
m School. (Depp devilishly informs us during the film that Morrison s lone student
film earned him a D.)
People have actually suggested to me that you should ve distressed [the footage], Di
Cillo says now. You should ve made it dirty and cracked and all this. No, I don t agree
with that. I think it should look as good as it was when [Morrison] shot it.
The result is as arresting as Robby Krieger s meandering guitar licks at the begin
ning of The End, heightening the legend while leaving the impression there s still m
uch more to be discovered.
Tags: HWY, Jim Morrison, Johnny Depp, Ray Manzarek, The Doors, Tom DiCillo, When
You're Strange: A Film About the Doors