The Doors Movies

During the 1980s and '90s, professional snowboarder (or 'X-Games Pro') Craig Kelly clocked in as one of the top-tiered international competitors of his sport, then swept up a veritable pantheon of awards and honors including seven World Snowboarding Championship titles. Kelly also perfected the practice of mountain-back country riding - and developed such a longstanding affinity for that pastime that he opted to devote all of his time to it and qualified as the first accredited snowboarding mountain guide in history. In addition, Kelly developed and honed a unique spiritual philosophy related to snowboarding that explores the unity between the participant, the snowboard and the surrounding mountains. Jacques Russo's documentary homage Let It Ride interweaves two narratives: it observes and traces the history of the rise in snowboarding as an international pastime, as it relays Kelly's own personal ascent to legendary status within his field. ~ Nathan Southern, All Movie Guide

Under the Covers offers an examination of over a dozen different musical performers. Comprised of interviews, archival footage, and photographs the film includes segments on Joni Mitchell, The Doors, Jackson Browne, and The Eagles. ~ Perry Seibert, All Movie Guide

For about a year after the Woodstock Music and Art Fair in 1969, it seemed as though everyone wanted to stage a rock festival. However, The Rolling Stones' disastrous Altamont free concert (documented in the film Gimme Shelter) forever tarnished the image of the rock festival in the U.S., while in Europe, the 1970 Isle of Wight Festival was fortunately less deadly than Altamont, but nearly as controversial. Staged by two men with greater ambitions than practical experience (not unlike Woodstock), the festival was held on a small island off the British coast, where some of the finest rock talent of the day -- Jimi Hendrix, The Doors, The Who, Miles Davis, Joni Mitchell, Donovan, Jethro Tull, Joan Baez, Leonard Cohen, and Kris Kristofferson, among many others -- were scheduled to play over the course of five days. But while at Woodstock no one had given much thought about keeping gatecrashers out, at the Isle of Wight those without tickets were greeted with corrugated steel fences that sealed off the festival grounds. Huge numbers of visitors simply camped on hills surrounding the grounds, while others broke down the fences by force after refusing to pay the three pounds admission. This led to heated conflicts between the promoters (who railed bitterly against the audience from the stage), the festival's security staff (who had to deal with the many gatecrashers), the concert-goers (who were upset with both the admission price and the site's facilities, one spectator calling it "a psychedelic concentration camp"), and the performers (who had to deal with unruly audiences and the prospect of not being paid). It was estimated that 600,000 people attended the festival, but less than 50,000 actually paid to get in, spelling financial ruin for the promoters. American documentary filmmaker Murray Lerner brought a crew to record the festival on film, but thanks to the festival's bad publicity and uneven reviews, he was not able to obtain completion funds for the project until 1995, hence the presence of many musicians who had since passed away, such as Jimi Hendrix, Jim Morrison and Miles Davis. Message to Love: The Isle of Wight Festival examines the concert both on-stage and behind-the-scenes, capturing performances from many of the artists who appeared. We see Joni Mitchell and Kris Kristofferson angrily confronting the rowdy crowd, and The Who at the peak of their form (their full set was released as a separate film), alongside the numerous catastrophes and conflicts that dominated the festival's five days. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

This 1981 documentary of the 1960s group The Doors is less accessible to non-rock fans than the 1991 clipfest Doors, the Soft Parade, but more reliable and coherent than Oliver Stone's self-indulgent 1991 biopic. The surviving members of the group are interviewed about the impact of their music and the influence of leader Jim Morrison. Interspersed throughout are rare glimpses of Doors concerts and TV appearances, including the notorious Ed Sullivan Show gig. Musical highlights include "The End", "Moonlight Drive", and "Touch Me". Doors: A Tribute to Jim Morrison packs an awful lot into its brief 60 minutes; it's an exhausting trip backward, but a fascinating one. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

This live in Europe, 1968 tour was filmed from Stockholm, Frankfurt, and London. This documentary features songs like "Light My Fire," "Break on Through," "Back Door Man," "Hello, I Love You," "Love Me Two Times,' and many others. ~ All Movie Guide