HWY: An American Pastoral was made by the singer songwriter Jim Morrison of the famous late 60s Los Angeles band The Doors and his friends, drinking buddies and drug pals. As a film HWY is a fairly boring way to spend 51 minutes and 7 seconds. It is, as Morrison himself said, not really about anything. It features the familar image of Morrison waking up in the semi-desert (Charlie Manson style) beside a lively stream, he stumbles over the rocks with the grace of a wounded armadillo and then makes his way to the city by hitchiking. At 22 mins a dying dog is encountered on the highway by Morrison who is so moved by its howls he steals a car and drinks a beer (or has he killed a person..hard to know). Screaming as he drives away.
As a historical document it is today interesting. HWY embodies the late 1960s loose, counter culture with its chauvenistic masculinity, romantic naturism, car worship, flavored with visual appreciation of landscapes and the perceived freedoms of the open road. The sound track is a good with some nice remixes present, including Morrison's spoken words that later were used on the An American Prayer album. The film itself has a remix feel to it with random sequences shot as Jim and his firends drive through the desert towards LA, stopping as gas stations and taking in the views, graffiti and general decay and extreams of the city. Late hippie flowers baking in the sun.
HWY: An American Pastoral, a project he started in 1969. Morrison financed the venture and formed his own production company in order to maintain complete control of the project. Paul Ferrara, Frank Lisciandro and Babe Hill assisted with the project. Morrison played the main character, a hitchhiker turned killer/car thief. Morrison asked his friend, composer/pianist Fred Myrow, to select the soundtrack for the film. Wikipedia
I must confess here that when I was 19 years old I was a Doors fan. That was long time ago, although I still listen to them now and then.
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