Hendrix, Unfilmed

Janis Joplin got the feature-film treatment in the fictionalized “The Rose� (1979). Jim Morrison’s life will be dramatized in Oliver Stone’s upcoming “The Doors.� But a feature film about legendary rock guitarist Jimi Hendrix--who died in 1970 at 27--is still without voltage.

Alan Douglas, who supervises the production of the Hendrix music catalogues and related merchandising (including the upcoming concert video of Hendrix’s last major concert--at the Isle of Wight Festival), says he receives a steady stream of scripts--many of them from independent producers and “smaller studios� that promise financing. At present, “a stack about 3 1/2 feet tall is sitting in my office.�

The problem is, says Douglas, “they all say the same thing--nothing. We’ve yet to see one that’s got something to say about him that’s special.�

Douglas, who produced Band of Gypsies--Hendrix’s final group--says there were talks several years ago with Warner Bros. and various filmmakers. “But nothing ever got going. I don’t think anyone understood how to write the story,� says Douglas, who claims “Jimi was all music. That’s what he was about. Consequently, you don’t have the colorful stories of a Jim Morrison or a Janis Joplin. There are no sordid stories.�

But, what about all those tales--many of which have made their way into assorted Hendrix bios--about the sensuous rocker’s appetite for women--and drugs?

“So what! The guy was a superstar at 25. Sure he had a lot of women. And, yeah, he did drugs--like everyone else. But his isn’t the story of a junkie.� Stressing that Hendrix died of asphyxiation when he choked on his own vomit--�not from a straight overdose�--Douglas adds, “sex and drugs were a part of the backdrop of the times. But they weren’t what he was about.�

Could it be that Douglas is being too protective of Hendrix?

“Of course I’m protective, in that I don’t want some movie to go beyond the truth in an attempt to find some offstage madness and satanic drama.

“Because that wasn’t Jimi’s story. Jimi changed the music. He’s a reference point to every musician who ever picked up an instrument. I haven’t seen the script that captures that part of Jimi, the metaphysical part that asks where did the muse come from.�