Showing Oliver the Door
An informal survey at Pere Lachaise cemetery, Paris, July 3, 1996

by Lisa Nesselson

Sure, they give Val Kilmer credit for his performance and they give Stone credit for the atmosphere and they praise the film's camerawork, but I wish I had a nickle for every cemetery-goer who told me the film's script "sucked."

Estimates of how much of the script is egregiously off the mark ranged from 40% to 60% -- neither exactly a flattering ratio of gibberish to truth when depicting the life of an historical figure more contemporary than, say, Atilla the Hun or the Wright brothers.

"An awful lot of Jim's peers are still walking the earth, Oliver," one disgruntled fan said. "The music was good but the script sucked."