Although Jim Morrison and Ray Manzarek met in film school, they made their fame in music with The Doors. But an impulse to make movies persisted. The closest they got, Feast of Friends, was never completed and seldom seen in a good print until its recent release on Blu-ray. And yet, Doors fans will recognize some of the footage, which has turned up in previous Doors documentaries.
Feast of Friends is a scattered set of impressions from a time of upheaval—a topsy-turvy that became the The Doors milieu. The concert footage included in Feast records some dangerous situations as crowds surge onstage and cops beat them back, of outdoor gigs where Hells Angels’ colors vie with law enforcement blue. In one memorable scene, a compassionate Morrison sits backstage with a woman bleeding after being struck across the head with a chair during a show.
Permeated with threats of chaos, Feast of Friends includes live versions of “Wild Child,” “Midnight Ride” and a rambling rendition of the already rambling “The End.” The best moments are the ones least expected, including a conversation about Pentecost between Morrison and a pipe-smoking Protestant minister.
