The Doors Page #4

PAM:

(reading, looking)

These are like beautiful! I never

read much poetry in school. I hated

it. What's a "shaman"?

(mispronounces)

JIM:

He's the medicine man who starts in

a peyote trance. And he gets everyone

in the tribe going and they share in

his vision and it heals them. It's

the same in all cultures -- Greeks,

Jesus. Some Indians say the first

shaman invented sex. He's the one

who makes you crazy.

PAM:

Are you a "shaman"?

JIM:

Uh

(pause)

no. I just write about it. What turns

you on?

PAM:

I don't know. Experience. Freedom.

Love... Now. Peyote's like love.

When it's given it's blessed. When

it's sold it's damned. I like peyote.

I like acid, it's easier to get. I

like the spiritual voyage. The first

time I did acid I saw God. I did. I

had a friend who was Christ. And he

was Judas too. I suddenly knew the

secret of everything -- that we're

all one, the universe is one. And

that everything is beautiful.

JIM:

Is it? I don't know. I think you're

alive by confronting death -- by

experiencing pain.

PAM:

I think you're alive by recognizing

beauty -- seeing truth because when

you discover truth you discover what

love is... we're all saying the same

thing. It's "love me and I'll love

you."

JIM:

(looks at her, ironic)

It's only thru death that you know

life. Jesus, medicine men heal people

by sacrificing their own life.

PAM:

Do you love Death?

JIM:

I think life hurts a lot more than

death. When you die the pain is over.

Pam shivers, a strange thought.

PAM:

Why do I look at you... and see my

death?

(pause, shrugs)

No, that's ridiculous.

JIM:

I bet your dad's a school teacher.

PAM:

How did you know!

JIM:

I don't know.

PAM:

What was your father?

JIM:

Military

PAM:

I bet you moved around a lot.

JIM:

Yeah, about 8 times.

PAM:

How many sisters and brothers?

JIM:

Two.

PAM:

One... she's the pretty one... I

love your neck.

(she gets in his lap)

He runs his fingers thru her hair, kissing her gently.

JIM:

"...but one, the most beautiful one

of all dances in a ring of fire and

throws off the challenge with a shrug"

PAM:

That's beautiful. Who did you write

it for?

JIM:

I wrote it for you.

The panties coming off. Rousseau dangling from the Venice

moon. He moves a little over excited, nervous, more awkward

than we might expect.

PAM:

...take your time, Jim... there's no

hurry, I'm all you have to do

tonight...

DOORS SONG:

Well the clock says it's time to close now

I guess I'd better go now...

As we depart the rooftop.

Your fingers weak with minarets

Speaking secret alphabets

I light another cigarette

Learn to forget, learn to forget, learn to forget

DISSOLVE TO:

Possibly we hear the soft backbeat of MOONLIGHT DRIVE without

lyrics.

RAY MANZAREK is meditating in yoga posture, longer hair as

well, in his post-graduate phase, sandals, colorful hippie

shirt. But the meditation is not going well. He's shaking

his head at himself, frowning.

RAY:

Om om... No bliss! No bliss!

Jim has approached closer, amused, looking down.

JIM:

Hey Ray, try acid man, it's

guaranteed.

Ray opening his eyes -- his POV -- Jim, slouched, jacket

over his shoulder, sun behind him.

RAY:

(surprised)

Morrison... Aw sh*t. Last trip I

thought I was going through hell's

digestive system. Something painted

by Hieronymus Bosch.

JIM:

I never had a bummer on acid.

RAY:

I like naturally high man.

JIM:

Whatever works. Making movies at MGM

yet?

RAY:

Well I saw the head of production

and I said Godard doesn't use scripts,

he improvises with his camera and he

said, "great who's Godard?"

JIM:

(laughs)

We gotta take the planet back,

reinvent the Gods, make new myths.

RAY:

Right on. I thought you went to New

York?

JIM:

Never got there. Went out to the

desert and uh... got lost y'know.

Days. I been living on Trick's

rooftop. Got stuck on this chick...

RAY:

Whatcha been doing?

JIM:

Writing. Poems. Songs.

RAY:

Songs? Lemme hear one.

JIM:

I can't sing.

RAY:

So neither can Dylan. "Johnny's in

the basement mixing up the medicine,

I'm on the pavement thinking about

the government". But he's got the

words man. That's what they want.

JIM:

(suddenly sings)

Let's swim to the moon un hunh

Let's climb thru the tide

Penetrate the evening

That the city sleeps to hide

Jim has crouched, digging his hand in the sand. As the grains

spill out of his fist he has his eyes closed.

Ray pantomimes chords in the keyboard sand. All of a sudden

we're in RAY'S POV -- a mystical moment. Jim singing, no

sound, then pure song, unadulterated by atmosphere.

JIM:

Let's swim out tonight love

It's our turn to try

Parked beside the ocean

On our moonlight drive

Jim stops, shrugs. Ray looks at him a long beat. Intense

eyes, the manner of a man who knows what he wants and cannot

be stopped.

RAY:

Wow!... Y'know man those are hot

lyrics -- really hot!

JIM:

(pleased)

...could you write the music for

that down, if we went over to your

place, could you write that on your

organ?

RAY:

Are you kidding! I could fly. You

wrote that? You got others?

JIM:

A bunch. It's like I'm taking notes

at a rock concert going on inside my

head. I actually hear the music --

the spirit of the wine y'know,

intoxication.

RAY:

(slaps him on the

knee)

Man. You got a voice like Chet Baker --

haunted! What the hell happened to

you in the desert? Let's get a rock

and roll band together man and make

a million bucks.

JIM:

...be great wouldn't it?

RAY:

(walking JIM)

It's the perfect time man! Two of

the guys outta my band are really

into this. I meditate with them. You

know them... Robbie and John. We

could have it in the can in three

weeks.

JIM:

Hey why not, I could write the songs

with you guys.

RAY:

The Stones did it outta the London

School of Economics for Chrissake.

Things are about to explode man. You

can feel it in the air.

(points out over the

ocean)

Vietnam's right out there. Sides are

being chosen. People wanna fight or

f***, love or kill, everything's

gonna flame. The planet's screaming

for change, Morrison. Make the myths

man!!

Jim laughs, loves Ray's ardor as they move along the ocean

side.

JIM:

There oughta be great orgies man.

Like when Dionysus arrived in Greece,

he made all the women mad, leaving

their homes and dancing off in the

mountains. Great golden copulations

in the streets of LA.

(looks at a passing

girl)

Hey, do you know her?

RAY:

What do we call ourselves. "Dionysus"?

JIM:

I got a name.

RAY:

What?

JIM:

The Doors.

RAY:

The Doors?

(facial distaste)

That's the most ridiculous...

(then)

...you mean the doors in your mind?

Like the Huxley book.

JIM:

"The Doors of Perception"? Acid...

RAY:

Yeah sure mescaline experiments --

reducing the sugar flow to the brain.

Great book.

JIM:

It's from William Blake actually,

the line -- "when the doors of

perception are cleansed -- things

will appear as they truly are..."

Rate this script:0.0 / 0 votes