Gonzo: The Life and Work of Dr. Hunter S. Thompson (2008)

Hunter Thompson's gift was to fall gracefully into chaos. He didn't always do well in this, and rarely do movies that reference him in any way.You can only approach this world of righteous anarchy in one of two ways. You can stand outside it and draw it as informed disorder, or you can try to go with the flow scribbling blind, surfing unseen cultural fields that you make visible. Only Gilliam with Depp has been able to dissolve Gonzo with value. All else who try fall off their skateboards.This takes the other route: straight interviews and archival footage, assembled as if it really could say something about what happened. The result is so off the mark that it flattens a whole era, erases the very spidery traces that Thompson teased into visibility. This is a film that destroys its subject because of a vast misunderstanding. It is easy to do, since the man himself was too doltish to know what he did when it worked.Ted's Evaluation -- 1 of 3: You can find something better to do with this part of your life.

Opening with Hunter S. Thompson's written reactions to seeing 9/11 unfold on TV, Alex Gibney's Gonzo thrusts us into the idea of Hunter first as a journalist, a rebel, a successful writer, a political campaigner and finally a man, the product of all his excesses, who was loved and admired by many. In-between detailing the author's rebellion, out of control gun enthusiasm and drug use, we focus on only three major writings of his - his breakthrough novel; Hell's Angels, his most popular work, Fear & Loathing in Las Vegas and arguably his best work; Fear & Loathing on the Campaign Trail '72.Gibney gives us a cross section of interviewees, hearing mainly from his former wives and son, Juan Thompson, various ex-politicians including George McGovern and Jimmy Carter plus his Rolling Stone editor and contacts during his prolific 1970's period. Friends and peers are present too of course; Ralph Steadman, Tom Wolfe, Jimmy Buffet, but most notably Gibney avoids the trap of having an onslaught of celebrities reminisce about Hunter which helps to give the audience a more serious view of his importance to journalism and American politics, at the same time successfully evading or rehashing comments or ideas from Tom Thurman's 2006 documentary, Buy the Ticket, Take the Ride.It's put together with a professional pace, combining large amounts of archival footage and photos with narration by Johnny Depp, who reads from - and is sometimes shown reading, relevant passages from Hunter's writings. The biggest coup, however, is hearing various excerpt from Hunter's own tape recorder - showcasing unique "in the moment" time capsules with the writer whilst on his wild escapades of gonzo journalism.Ironically, the film's most clunky moment is when focusing on his most popular novel, F&L in Las Vegas. The director spends too much time showing clips from Terry Gilliam's film adaptation and not enough exploration via the interesting Depp reading device or Hunter's at the time comments - the segment certainly stamps the novels importance, but the overuse of movie footage broke up the tone a bit for me. It's a rare moment of ill judgment on Gibney's part, but the following sections on his political campaigning alongside George McGovern and his influence as a journalist on American politics during the late 60's, early 70's retain the best moments of the documentary alongside an earlier part which shows in detail Hunter's attempts to run for Sheriff of Aspen, Colorado. These are poignant moments and one where ex-wife, Sandi Hunter recalls it being Hunter's greatest moment, "having the passion to move people".As the film moves onto Hunter's suicide, the tone shifts and even though his son admits "that it was no secret" his father had planned to kill himself for many years, there's a difference between that and it actually happening. Above all, the emotion is still clear on some of the interviewees during this part, recorded not three years after the event. Appropriately, we are shown the construction of the "gonzo fist" tower Hunter had organized for his funeral and we're left with the feelings of if only he'd waited, or perhaps not killed the man over the myth. A man that Tom Wolfe describes as probably being "trapped in Gonzo".Though not definitive, Gonzo is definitely recommended for fans of Hunter Thompson, anyone with an interest in American politics or who just want to see what effect a true visionary can have on people and culture.4/5

I really liked this movie. It's basically like watching one of those history channel shows about the 60's, and as the thing proceeds you see all the major events and the material nicely accented by the personal story of Hunter S. Thompson. It's more like the craze years : a personal story than a documentary on Hunter S. Thompson.As for the documentary aspect about the late father of Gonzo which many fan's that part of the plot is also carried out quite well. I think honestly they go a little overboard about how much influence the guy had, but the story is at its heart honest. The producers make Hunter into more of a tragic hero, a man consumed by his and others need for him to be a generational icon and then the story of both the world and more importantly the man coming to terms with stark reality. Honestly, the movie is great. I would recommend it to anyone.

Gonzo: The Life and Work of Dr Hunter S. Thompson is a very well put together documentary from Alex Gibney, whose Enron: the Smartest Guys in the Room was a fascinating insight into the fluff and fraud of a section of Corporate America in the early years of the 21st century. Not sure how I managed to miss Gibney's Who Killed the Electric Car? but I intend to track it down now, as on the evidence of this movie, it will be worth the effort. Gibney frames his subject well, with a wealth of background detail on the 60s West Coast counter culture which launched Thompson's literary career, and he has assembled a great soundtrack; it's almost worth watching this movie just to hear the music. Gibney follows Thompson's story coherently. He tracked down some revealing home movies and some unexpected people (Pat Buchanan, Jimmy Carter) to explain Hunter S Thompson to the world, (his first wife seems remarkably lacking in angst despite having to call the sheriff when she feared for her safety), although I felt there could have been a little more emphasis on the early years (the air force, the time in Puerto Rico and Brazil). There is some suggestion that Thompson carried a fairly major chip on his shoulder from his teen years, when his father died, leaving his mother to raise 3 sons in genteel near-poverty. Hunter, with his sharp intellect, mixed with the rich kids but was in actuality a fairly poor kid, and one incident when he was jailed for his proximity to a crime, may have contributed to his life long despising of authority.I'm slightly too young to have been a fan of his writing back in the late 60s and early 70s, when I was a teenager living on another continent, and although I've caught up with some of it since, the movie of Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, which I re-watched recently, produces little reaction from me these days beyond a yawn. It's better on the page. But he was a fascinating character, no doubt about it, and I can't think of anyone around today who can write with quite his accuracy and style (and how we need it.) My husband confessed that he had never heard of Thompson (well we are foreigners!) before watching this movie, so it may well be an indication of how good a documentary this is, that we both enjoyed it so much.Gonzo tracks the journey of Thompson from outsider journalist and acute spectator, whose acid sharp observations skewered the Great American Dream, to the sad situation where Thompson himself became the story, stoned, drunk and wasting his talents, apparently feeling a need to live up to the over-the-top persona he had created on the page. On an objective level, it's intriguing to watch the winding path from the great and original writing of Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, Hells Angels and the 1972 presidential election - where he championed the decent McGovern - to the debacle in Zaire, the Ali Forman match-up, where Thompson gave away his tickets and spent the time drunk in the hotel pool, thereby missing one of the greatest boxing matches of all time, (and failing to report on the fight for the mugs who had paid his expenses.)Much as I admire his well pointed vitriol and satire – and wish we had it around today - I have a very limited amount of sympathy for people who choose self destruction as a life style, and Thompson always seemed to blow it just as true greatness beckoned. He comes across as utterly self obsessed and I found myself lacking any real sympathy for him, or connection to him, rather feeling impatient that he chose not to hang around long enough and stay sober often enough, to wield his pen a few years longer. Everyone, of course, is free to chose their own path to death, and Thompson's makes interesting viewing. Just don't ask me to feel much sympathy for the guy. Still, it's a good movie.