Sorry I didn't write last night. I didn't have a movie to report. Instead, Grimsley came over because he wanted to read me some stuff out of a Jim Morrison book that he bought. Though I am not a major Doors fan (which I think I have mentioned before), I have been interested in the life and death of Morrison, especially since reading an account of his last days in Paris at the end of his life, as written by his friend Alain Ronay, one of the handful of people who were present at the time throughout the ordeal of Jim's final hours. The story used to be that he died of a heart attack, in a bathtub in the Paris apartment he was leasing with his girlfriend Pamela Courson. That was The Official Story of The Death Of Jim Morrison from 1971, until perhaps the early 1990s. I wasn't paying that much attention back then, because as noted I am more of a casual fan. For Grimsley though, it's different - The Doors are one of his very favorite bands, they were the first band he ever saw live, and Jim Morrison is his favorite singer and overall Rock Star.
So last night he read me some pages from his Morrison biography that detail the more likely set of circumstances surrounding Jim's death. And of course, they involve heroin. His girl Pamela was an addict. She got her heroin from a "celebrity" dealer, the young and suave Count (with a French name that I don't remember but that you can Google). She also lived with The Count for a while, apart from Jim. Jim was an alcoholic of the first degree, but he did not use heroin. The Count had been in Los Angeles, apparently with Pamela, when Janis Joplin died of a heroin overdose in October 1970. It turned out that it was his heroin; The Count sold it to her, and it was uncut, meaning it was much too strong. And it killed Janis Joplin.
When that happened, The Count and Jim Morrison's girlfriend Pamela hightailed it back to Paris to avoid scrutiny, and the L.A. cops and coroner chalked Janis' death up to accidental overdose, which it was. But what they didn't mention was that The Count was a lowlife sociopath, and that Pamela would do anything to hang on to him because he got her the heroin she craved.
The next Summer, in July 1971, Pamela was still in Paris, no longer living with The Count, because he was now hooked up with junkie Marianne Faithfull, Mick Jagger's sometime girlfriend. Faithfull was faithful to The Count for the same reason as Pamela Courson, because of his supply (though he was young and dashing). Pamela encouraged her boyfriend Jim Morrision, who was back in Los Angeles finishing up a Doors album, to come spend time with her in Paris. She was a hopeless junkie and somewhat deranged, and in agreeing to go to Paris, Jim made the mistake that killed him. Though he drank like a fish, he did not use smack. But when he got to Paris, he started using it to accommodate Pam, and The Count sold Jimbo a big 'ol dose of the same uncut, high-powered stuff he sold to Janis Joplin nine months earlier in Los Angeles. Chalk up two for The Count : his heroin killed two of the most talented singers of their generation, not to mention two of the biggest rock stars.
In a not-so-ironic twist, after The Count fled Paris, following the death of Jim Morrison, he wound up in Morocco, where he himself died of a heroin overdose in 1972 at the age of 22.
And Pamela Courson died two years later in April 1974 at the age of 27, also of a heroin overdose.
A rather charming story, wouldn't you say? Or perhaps not.
In Jim's case, he might've died young anyway, due to his heavy drinking. Or he might've gotten sober.
Janis probably would have gone on to become an even bigger star in the 70s. She was a drinker too, and a druggie, but not to a deadly extent..........until she met The Count.
So that is what me and Grimsley talked about last night. I am interested, of late, in the deaths of people like Jim Morrison and Kurt Cobain, who were vulnerable to stronger and more negative personalities in their midst. In Jim's case it was the manipulative and death-driven Pamela, and in Kurt's case it was the absolutely demonic Courtney Love, who had him murdered plain and simple.
Grimsley says I should be a homicide detective. He even says, "can you apply to the police department at age 57"?
I am sure you can apply, but I am fairly certain that you will not be accepted. :)
Grim is right, though. I would be a natural. I have an instinct and I am thorough and I hate bad guys. ////
Tonight I did watch a movie, but I will only give it a cursory review because of the late hour.
The movie was called "A Highjacking", also directed by Tobias Lindholm from Denmark, who made "A War" which I reviewed a couple nights ago. "A Highjacking" tells the story of the crew of a Danish freighter that is hijacked by Somali pirates on the high seas. Shades of "Captain Phillips", and a similar dramatic tension as well. Your nerves are on edge throughout the film, due to the realism of Lindholm's direction and filmmaking style. He uses the same lead actor from "A War", once again to good effect.
I have now seen two films by this director, and I give both very high marks. He utilises this "new realism" of some of the modern European directors. The Dardenne Brothers come to mind, and Christian Petzold.
The only thing I didn't like about "A Highjacking" was the ending. I won't give a spoiler, but it just seemed like a really false note, something the character in question would never in a million years do, after all he had been through to endure and finally escape from the captivity of the hijackers.
So, a definite Thumbs Up, but with a mark against the ending. See it anyway.
And I will see you in church in the morning. :):) xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo
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