Journeying into Val Kilmer’s Underrated Films of The Doors and Thunderheart

Val Kilmer, who died of pneumonia at 65, has left a legacy of films that showcased his versatility as an actor. It’s easy to forget that he got his start doing comedy roles in Top Secret! (1984) and Real Genius (1985). But it wasn’t until he played the cocky Iceman in Top Gun opposite then-newly minted star Tom Cruise, giving him a well-deserved breakthrough. He reprised his character thirty-six years later in Top Gun: Maverick, albeit in a cameo but memorable performance. It was Kilmer’s final performance.

The post-Top Gun fame saw Kilmer follow up with Willow and Kill Me Again, where the latter was one of the best neo-noir crime thrillers in the 80s era. Entering the 90s era, Kilmer played his most ambitious role and arguably the best performance of his career as Jim Morrison, the controversial lead singer of the legendary California rock band, The Doors, in Oliver Stone’s 1991 biopic. The Doors was made at the time Stone was at the peak of his directing career, coming in hot from the Oscar-winning Platoon to the iconic Wall Street and gave Tom Cruise one of his best roles to date in Born on the Fourth of July.

So, naturally, Stone’s follow-up in The Doors seems to be positioned for another winner, but the reality was a different story altogether. The box office wasn’t anything to write home about, grossing only US$34.4 million against the $32 million budget, but the most shocking of all was zero Oscars. A total shutout without any nominations, which remains one of the Oscars’ biggest sins till this day, for not at least giving Val Kilmer a Best Actor nod.

That year, the Best Actor category included Anthony Hopkins (The Silence of the Lambs), in which he took home the golden statuette while the four others were Warren Beatty (Bugsy), Robert De Niro (Cape Fear), Nick Nolte (The Prince of Tides) and Robin Williams (The Fisher King).

Kilmer was no doubt the heart and soul of The Doors that holding the biopic together. He successfully channels the late Jim Morrison’s enigmatic and rebellious, devil-may-care personality and even nails his soft-spoken voice. Amazingly, Kilmer is also a dead ringer for Jim Morrison, and it’s hard to imagine anyone else at the time playing the rock singer. His commitment to the craft is extended to learning how to sing like the legend, going as far as performing them live for a total of 15 tracks for the movie. And not to mention mastering 50 songs of the band’s discography.

Co-written by J. Randal Johnson and Oliver Stone, The Doors charts the rise and fall of the legend before his death at just 27 years old due to heart failure. The biopic, which clocks in at a hefty 141 minutes, begins in 1949 with the young Jim Morrison (Sean Stone) witnessing an accident while he and his family are on the New Mexico highway.

By 1965, the grown-up Jim (now played by Val Kilmer) is studying at UCLA, where he made an avant-garde student film to mixed responses and met his classmate, Ray Manzarek (Kyle MacLachlan). He also falls in love with Pamela Courson (Meg Ryan), and his gradual passion for music begins to take shape after he writes a few lyrics. The Doors is subsequently formed alongside Ray, and two more members join, including Robby Krieger (Frank Whaley) and John Densmore (Kevin Dillon).

From there, they work their way up and build a large fan base, thanks to their hit single “Light My Fire”. Stone is more interested in exploiting the mythical side of Jim Morrison rather than encompassing his direction in giving each member a fair share of screentime. In other words, the supporting turns from Kyle MacLachlan to Frank Whaley and Kevin Dillon are mostly relegated to background roles.

The Doors is primarily Val Kilmer’s star vehicle through and through, and as much as I admired his dedicated performance, Stone’s decision to delve deeper into Morrison’s drug-fueled madness is equivalent to an acid trip that wanders around in circles rather than following the tried-and-true biopic formula. It was a bold, creative risk, and I admit it gives the mixed feelings.

But at the same time, it’s hard to deny Stone knows his way around in depicting the psyche of his real-life subject using an eclectic approach, including trippy visuals and disorienting camera angles. All these are meant for us to see Morrison from his psychedelic point of view and how his drugged-out routine ruins him from his nonstop substance abuse to sleeping around and even engaging in a series of obscene acts in front of the crowds. The Doors reportedly took a lot of artistic liberties in making this biopic, resulting in conflicting criticism over historical inaccuracies.

A year after his acclaimed performance in The Doors, Val Kilmer appeared in another underrated movie called Thunderheart. Loosely based on the 1973 Wounded Knee incident, the movie follows young FBI agent Ray Levoi (Kilmer) being assigned to the case to investigate the murder of a Native American reservation tribal council member, Leo Fast Elk (Allan R.J. Joseph) in South Dakota. Ray is chosen due to his mixed Sioux heritage, hoping this will make things easier for him to connect with the local tribe.

He soon teams up with senior FBI agent Frank Coutelle (Sam Shepard) and their investigation leads to two prime suspects: one’s an extremist leader of the Aboriginal Rights Movement (ARM) named Jimmy Looks Twice (John Trudell), and the other’s a Native American political activist, Maggie Eagle Bear played by Sheila Tousey.

One of the highlights of the movie comes from the introduction of Walter Crow Horse (Graham Greene), a tribal police officer, where he, Ray and Frank first got on the wrong foot. Greene’s supporting turn gives the murder mystery a surprisingly lightweight touch, but not overwhelming to the point it drives into the self-parody mode. His performance as Walter Crow Horse is often seen as a sardonic cop who would give Ray the finger every now and then. Or how he tends to be condescending each time he faces Ray. His easygoing personality certainly matches well with Kilmer’s Ray’s by-the-book mannerism, where the latter brings the ideal stoicism into his role.

It was fun watching Kilmer and Greene playing off each other, resulting in one of the best buddy-cop pairings I have seen during the 90s era. The movie also benefits from solid supporting roles from Sam Shephard’s no-nonsense FBI agent Frank Coutelle, while Sheila Tousey delivers a sympathetic performance as Maggie Eagle Bear, and not to forget, Ted Thin Elk’s unforgettable portrayal of the tribal elder Grandpa Sam Reaches. The latter turns out to be his acting debut, and yet, he manages to steal every scene each time he appears on the screen with his perfectly deadpan performance, particularly when he deals with Ray.

Director Michael Apted gives Thunderheart the gritty look and feel of a neo-Western vibe, with muscular action sequences alongside Roger Deakins’ stunning cinematography and James Horner’s atmospheric score deserve equal mentions. The underlying murder-mystery angle and how it all connected to everything may have been convoluted, but Thunderheart remains an above-average effort as one of Val Kilmer’s best acting roles.

The Doors

Thunderheart