Alex Gibney: Gonzo: The Life and Work of Hunter S. Thompson

[Chris Knipp]

Alex Gibney: Gonzo: The Life and Work of Dr. Hunter S. Thompson

The smartest guy at the bar

After Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room, Taxi to the Dark Side, and this vivid, significant depiction of the Sixties and Seventies superstar journalist Hunter Thompson, Alex Gibney has emerged as clearly one of the best documentary filmmakers we've got and also one of the most prolific.

Gibney tells a very smart, very verbal, very funny but also intensely significant story here. Some of the people who speak most highly of Thompson on camera are Billy Carter, William McGovern, and longtime Republican presidential adviser Pat Buchanan,as well as Gary Hart, writer Tom Woolf and Thompson's editors Jann Wenner and Douglas Brinkley at Rolling Stone, for which he did his best periodical pieces, the notable ones turned into books. More intimate details--but the man was such a perpetual performer that public and private are hard to separate--come from Thompson's first and second wives. And the English artist Ralph Steadman, who illustrated the writing, has much to say, as do plenty of others, including his son Juan. When Steadman first met Thompson he fed the Brit Psilocybin and he was never the same. Steadman became an invaluable cohort and collaborator and his wild drawings provide a perfect visual counterpart to Thompson's written words on screen.

Thompson was a notorious wild man from early on. "I wouldn't recommend sex, drugs or insanity for everyone, but they've always worked for me," he said. Prodigious in his consumption of drugs and alcohol, he was witness to some of the great events of his time, and got deeply involved in politics and opposition to the Vietnam war and of course the counterculture. Lean, athletic, flashily dressed, with trademark balding pate, big sunglasses, cigarette holder and drink in hand, Thompson was a demon at the IBM Selectric, gleefully spinning out brilliant pieces nobody else could have written, a master of outrage and wit.

To describe these events, fueled by craziness, substances, and his own tongue-in-cheek joie de vivre, he devised his own outrageous style of writing in which cold clear fact was blended with wild invention and the adjectives and metaphors flew like hornets around a honey pot. Others too partook of the kind of journalism he practiced. The times--the flamboyant and boisterous and revolutionary Sixties and early Seventies-- seemed to call for a new more violent, more committed language in journalism, a New Journalism. Norman Mailer also wrote about the democratic convention in Chicago in 1968 and on hand for Esquire were the likes of Jean Genet and William Burroughs. Three is something of Burroughs in Thompson, the drugs and the outrage and a way of seeing convention as conspiracy. One of Thompson's famous quotes gives a hint of the link: "America... just a nation of two hundred million used car salesmen with all the money we need to buy guns and no qualms about killing anybody else in the world who tries to make us uncomfortable."

This was the moment when the distinction between fiction and non-fiction blurred: Tom Wolfe (The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test, which used raw material from the more adventurous Thompson), Thompson's act of "embedded journalism" as Wolfe calls it, Hell's Angels, Truman Capote's murder story In Cold Blood done for The New Yorker, were all variations on the idea of the "non-fiction novel." Mailer had done a heroically personal and novelistic account of the 1967 March on the Pentagon, The Armies of the Night. The film might do a bit more to put Thompson in all this context, but it's clearly implied. He called his wild style "gonzo" journalism. In it the "reporter" is a central figure in his stories, with nothing hidden from view. To that he adds a mix of fact and drug-fueled fantasies that may terrify and also may crack you up.

Thompson also wrote about Las Vegas as the American dream and about Nixon, whom he loathed. He used a tape recorder a lot: the spoken word fuels all his writings. Tapes provide great material for the film. So does Terry Gilliam's screen version of Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas; and Johnny Depp, who played Thompson in it and became a great fan and friend, reads salient passages of Gonzo prose sitting in front of a well-stocked bar. Depp paid for the spectacular monument/funeral for the writer that Thompson had--on film--planned out long before, in which his ashes are fired into the Colorado mountains from a canon mounted atop a tower atop the Thompson symbol: a giant fist clutching a peyote button. Ralph Steadman did the sketches. This event is shown at the end of the film flaming bright against a dark blue velvet sky, and it provides a lovely and celebratory son et lumière finale.

Thompson's innate violence may explain how he could have blended in so well for a while with the Hell's Angels. He kept at least twenty firearms on hand in his house, all loaded, his first wife reports. He always planned to end his life with suicide and he shot himself. He did it on a nice day in February almost as a family event, with his son, daughter-in-law and grandson at the house and on the phone with his wife, a shot to the head, at the age of 68, not an act of depression but the completion of a careful plan. It was over. And he had been here to see George W. Bush and to accurately predict the decline and fall of the American empire. A late collection of short pieces is entitled Hey Rube: Blood Sport, the Bush Doctrine, and the Downward Spiral of Dumbness. (He is the maxed-out, maddened descendant of H.L. Mencken.)

His dissipation took its toll and so did fame. He fell into playing a self-parodying avatar of himself and his writing deteriorated after the later Seventies, so he had about ten good years and about twenty not-so-good ones. Some have dwelt on his decline; Gonzo doesn't. His writing faltered as early as 1974 when he went to Zaire with Steadman to cover the Foreman-Ali "Rumble in the Jungle" and he got drunk at the pool during the fight and never finished the story. Given how bright he burned and how hard he lived, it was inevitable that the man would burn out early. But the writing did not by any means fizzle out even into the Nineties and beyond. There is an immense wealth of spinoffs on film; Gibney had rich, rich material to work with here. Outrageous, hilarious, and brilliant, Thompson partied and rode with motorcycle gangs, ran for sheriff of Pitkin County, Colorado, was a serious photographer, made a film Breakfast with Hunter, and such was their glamor and appeal that he understandably came to confuse himself with his legend and his literary persona.

The best that could happen is that this beautifully edited and greatly entertaining film makes a host of new converts to the writing. And doubtless that's one of its chief aims.

[Johann]

Very happy to read this.
You can imagine I'll be buying a ticket. (and taking the ride)

[Johann]

I've read just about everything Hunter's written, except Fire in the Nuts (which is almost impossible to find) and tons of letters/correspondence.

He was a blazing man, with a conscientious fearlessness.
He wasn't writing to be wrong, that's for sure.
He wrote with a serious conviction about his subjects, whether it be sports, politics, freedom or just the weather at Woody Creek.

His editors had a hard-time fact-checking his reports from the campaign trail in 1972, and getting him to meet a deadline was quite a task. But he always delivered. Delivered passion and awesome canned heat.
People who write him off as some eccentric drug-addled loony obviously haven't read his books or actually listened to him. He's hit the nail on the head on more than one occasion.
It takes a special kind of passion for your country and hatred for what it's become to write books like Kingdom of Fear and Hey Rube. The man was at the zeitgeist the whole time he was alive. He was very very aware of what's gone down/is going down. The USA doesn't know what they had in him.
They had possibly the greatest patriot ever on their hands and they don't give a sniff. Why?
Because he longed for an America that just doesn't exist and never will. I think he realized it right after John Kerry lost.
The USA should just call itself MONEYLAND. Just change it's name completely. Change it to: The United States of Debt and Corruption. Because that's exactly what it is. Canada's not innocent either. We should change our name up here to Cashada.
It's sickening how money has become our God.
These wars are for money.
Not for freedom, not for future peace, not for anything else except CASHOLA. Anybody who believes otherwise needs a fucking slap.
Are the gas prices giving you a clue about how bad this shit is?
When exactly are people gonna wake up? When the gas hits $100 a litre? Is that when you'll drop your gas hose and shake your finger at the government? Is that when you'll say "enough is enough"? Is that when you'll grow a spine and drop what you're doing to march in absolute protest? I wonder man. I really do.

Hunter Thompson called it.
Kurt Vonnegut called it.
Gore Vidal called it.
George Carlin called it.

The American Empire is gonna collapse, and it will be very very very ugly. Hunter said Rome collapsed because of internal corruption and a totally ignorant decadent citizenry.
We got both as I sit here typing away.
The writing is on the wall, in big bloody, oily letters.
Things are gonna get much worse. I'm no chicken little here: I'm not squawking about the sky falling. Just America. And all the collateral damage that goes along with it. I can see it coming, I can feel it coming. Hunter did too, that's why he said Maybe we should steal a shipment of whiskey, just to be on the safe side. . He knew. And he told us what he knew, God love him.
How many have listened? Only the folks on the fringe I'm afraid.
Only the intelligent.

If America won't listen to it's most patriotic son, then who will it listen to? Nobody, which is the American way. America will keep doing what it does best, rape and pillage for profits until something occurs. Then everybody will be feeling sorry for themselves and wonder How did it all go wrong?!?!?!

Jesus H. Christ something's gotta change.

This film sounds like it honors Hunter properly.
Can't wait to check it out.

[Chris Knipp]

Johann, I savor your latest rant. Very well turned and in the right spirit. I knew you'd be a fan. The film does honor the man. Dr. Hunter S. Thompson represents a fiery spirit of idealism and anger at stupidity.

I curious to read some of his stuff after this--particularly the more historical pieces. Watching Gibney's Gonzo is the most fun I've had at the movies for a while.I've heard a lot of excerpts by now, but never sat down to one of his books or complete long articles.

I thought also of H.L. Mencken. Both men approached the national political conventions expecting a carnival of absurdity and were not disappointed.

[Johann]

Gonzo journalism has only one member- Hunter himself.
I try to write with his fearlessness- he's inspired me just as much as Jim Morrison. Those 2 men are absolute giants to me.

Norman Mailer admitted he found himself trying to see if he could add some gonzo to his writing but he realized he couldn't do it without seeming like he's ripping Hunter's style.
Hunter took inspiration from Norman and so did Morrison- Jim wanted to go to New York to help him with his campaign for Mayor but opted out because he didn't know how much help he could actually be. He did a poetry reading benefit for him instead in L.A.

These writers fascinate me. I bought a biography of Sam Beckett by Diedre Bair and it is utterly fascinating.
So much to mine and contemplate.

Johnny Depp says he thinks about Hunter everyday. That's a memorable man to say the least.
Hunter said Live your life like a work of fine art, Walk Tall and shit on the chests of the weird
His son said something awesome about him:
He Stomped Terra. Meaning, he walked the earth with a fierce stride. A real man.
So few of those today.

[Johann]

By the way Chris, that wasn't a cigarette holder he had.
It was a filter.
He got angry once in an interview when the reporter asked him about his prop, the "holder".
He explained that he needed a good filter because of all the crap in cigarettes. (Dunhills was his favorite brand)

*and his favorite chocolate bar was Dove, which I agree is better than Caramilk*

[Chris Knipp]

What makes "gonzo" journalism unique to Thompson is the drug-fueled element. He may have carried that farther and more explicitly than any other writer but it's otherwise only right to set him in the American tradition as well as the New Journalism context of the Sixties and Seventies in which Mailer, Tom Wolfe, Truman Capote are equally notable and perhaps even more accomplished figures (also more prolific). An Amazon reviewer named Robert Stribley writes (http://www.amazon.de/Proud-Highway-Desperate-Gentleman-1955-1967/dp/0345377966)
Thompson is the creator and sole practitioner of "gonzo journalism." One dictionary defines "gonzo" as "exaggerated, highly subjective, and unconventional in style, esp. in journalism." A more accurate definition might be "any writings, shaped under the influence of controlled substances, esp. by Hunter S. Thompson." Another writer, John W. Crowley, has an essay (http://historyofalcoholanddrugs.typepad.com/SHADv20n1xCrowley.pdf) about Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas that tries to put it in a broader American context. I haven't read all of Crowley's piece but it seems very understanding and appreciative but not starry-eyed assessment of Thompson's achievement. As I mentioned I wished Gibney's film had done more to put him in the context of other writers of his generation, though it does it some, for sure, and provides a thorough and very enjoyable portrait. Gibney also might, as Crowley specifically does, have dealt with the substance addict aspects (which come up for sure in any discussion of William S. Burroughs. Burroughs is a writer close to Thompson in that both have a fiendish and fantastic vision directly related to intense drug highs. But Thompson is in an American tradition and he's been connected to Walt Whitman and other earlier giants. He's a classic now with several of his books in the Modern Library series of canonical American lit.

Another source I've found, Kevin Kizer's literary blog, cites (http://www.litkicks.com/HunterSThompson) as the source for the phrase "he stomped on the terra" Thompson's tribute to his Fear and Loathing cohort Oscar Acosta ()"Raul Duke"), who disappeared in 1974, three years after their epic journey, and was never seen again. Kizer draws a comparison with Charles Bukowski and that may be germane too.

[Chris Knipp]

[A sample.] I'm sampling Thompson's prose and I'm enjoying what I find. It's brisk. It's hot. It's energetic. It's full of indignation and fury. And he spoke the truth of recent times more than I knew. Here he is in the opening of "Jesus Hated Bald Pussy" from The Kingdom of Fear, 2003. He said it: our president now makes Richard Nixon look good.
Let's face it, the yo-yo president of the U.S.A. knows nothing. He is a dunce. He does what he is told to do, says what he is told to say, poses the way he is told to pose. He is a fool.

No. Nonsense. The president cannot be a Fool. Not at this moment in time, when the last living vestiges of the American Dream are on the line. This is not the time to have a bogus rich kid in charge of the White House.

Which is, after all, our house. That is our headquarters, it is where the heart of America lives. So if the president lies and acts giddy about other people's lives, if he wantonly and stupidly endorses mass murder by definition, a loud and meaningless animal with no functional intelligence and no balls.

To say this goofy child president is looking more and more like Richard Nixon in the summer of 1974 would be a flagrant insult to Nixon.

Whoops! Did I say that? Is it even vaguely possible that some New Age Republican whore-beast of a false president could actually make Richard Nixon look like a Liberal?

The capacity of these vicious assholes we elected to be in charge of our lives for four years to commit terminal damage to our lives and our souls and our loved ones is far beyond Nixon's. Shit! Nixon was the creator of many of the once-proud historical landmarks that these dumb bastards are savagely destroying now: the Clean Air Act of 1970; Campaign Finance Reform; the endangered species act; a Real-Politik dialogue with China; and on and on.

The prevailing quality of life in America-by any accepted methods of measuring-was inarguably freer and more politically open under Nixon than it is today in this evil year of our Lord 2002.

[Johann]

Sheer brilliance, isn't it?

Get your hands on both Kingdom and Hey Rube, Chris.
Those are two of the most important written works ever published. (I tend to skim the sports pieces because sports is so utterly meaningless to me. And in a very direct way Hunter reinforces that. His laments on the state of sports in our day and age speak volumes about how we've "evolved").

He was a fucking genius and I'm really sad he's gone.
But I'm also OK with how he went out.
I always smile inside when I think of how he lived.
What a man to go to for inspiration..

[Chris Knipp]

I understand your admiration and I can see howThompson's style and outlook have influenced your hugely. I'm just really astonished to learn that he was writing good, lively stuff right up to 2003 and that he was around to comment on 9/11 and what the response would be and the monumental tininess of Bush II. I am skimming over the sports writing too but I can see that his involvement in team sorts was as intense as his involvement in everything else he wrote about.

Whatever people think of the man--and there are those who disapprove of the way he lived and the way he died--the movie is getting good press. It's on the NYTimes recommended list and A.O. Scott gives it a glowing thunbnail video review It remains the most fun I've had at the movies in a while. That includes Woody Allen's new one VICKY CHRISTINA BARCELONA, which is only involving for as long as you watch it, and THE WACKNESS,, which I did like.

[Johann]

I too am happy he was around long enough to deliver a post-mortem on the U.S.A.
Where would I be without him?

What amazes me is that Nancy Pelosi just said that Bush is "A Total Failure" when the smart ones have been saying it since Christ was a corporal.
Everything Michael Moore said about Bush in Fahrenheit 9/11 has been proven to be true. Bush's approval rating is non-existent. Most Americans are *finally* realizing what a colossally greedy and ignorant fuckhead clown Bush is.
How great is the economy now, Bushheads?
How do you like the cost of filling your tank?
Did you see or care what he did to your fellow citizens in the Big Easy once upon a time in September 2005?
That's what I thought.
Carry on with your not giving a shit.
Bush loves you for doing it.
Continue being an obedient worker drone who doesn't want to lose his couch. But be warned: Bush might take it from you anyway, because you gave up your rights when you allowed the Patriot Act to be published in the middle of the night.

Hunter Thompson wasn't crying foul for the hell of it.
He meant it, BUBBA.
He wasn't joking in the slightest when he said Bush is a squalid example of shame and failure coming home to roost.

We get the Leaders we deserve.
Amen. Praise the Lord.

[Johann]

Something amazing that I just found out:

In conjunction with the release of the film, a 5-CD set of Hunter's late-night recordings are going to be released.
The man's own home-made tapes, with his own voice, released for the masses.

Now we can get just that much closer to him..
Awesome news!

[oscar jubis]

I also enjoyed this documentary about Hunter S. Thompson. Regarding American politics, I think it's more useful at this stage to consider who we really are, rather than bash Nixon and Bush. What is it about Americans that caused us to re-elect these individuals? We had four years to get to know them on-the-job, yet the people voted them back in office. I think that to blame the results on the revelation that VP candidate Eagleton had a history of clinical depression, voting irregularities in Ohio, or such events is to deny that there is a chasm within the society; there is a sizable chunk of American society who don't share the progressive values of most who post in this site; there are perhaps one hundred million Americans who would advocate for a theocracy rather than the quasi-democracy we still have in place. A third of America would proudly vote Bush back into office and many more say they will vote for a man who supported Bush's policies 95% of the time last year (according to Congressional Quaterly). Let's "look in the mirror" as a people rather than blame those we elect, however deserving of criticism and scorn they are.

[Chris Knipp]

Yes, I think it was intensely enjoyable, and it's led me to sample a lot of Thompson's stuff. I have got a copy of his collected letters I'm reading now. It seemed cool to read the book, because it's a title relatively untainted by a ton of outside opinions about it.
I think it's more useful at this stage to consider who we really are, rather than bash Nixon and Bush.
it's not an either/or. "We" can consider who "we" are, and bash Bush and Nixon. Both are valid and absolutely necessary activities. I don't want anybody to get away with passing off the notion that Nixon and Bush were okay. We have to blame those we select, as you put it. They have a responsibility to keep their promises, but there are a lot of voters who vote different from me. Is that a revelation? Unfortunately a lot of people who could have defeated Bush didn't vote, or perhaps were even prevented from voting. Hunter Thompson's involvement in politics was a lot more intense and direct than most people's, and than these generalizations. Attacking bad or idiotic leaders is as good a way as any of making people wake up and see where they're letting the politicoes take us. Yeah, you have to be aware of the spread of political positions among the public. But what can you do about that? Only pick good candidates and try to get out the vote for them. A third would vote for Bush to continue? Okay, but that's a third. Not enough to win. It's more indicative that the republicans can exploit fear, than that a majority admire their policies.

[oscar jubis]

I think that a large segment of the electorate don't have the same values that you and I share.
There's another large segment who are quite susceptible to the tactics of the Republicans to exploit fear, mistrust of those of other races, creeds, sexual orientation, etc.. What interests me the most is to study why these tactics work. What is it about this large cross-section of Americans that makes them so willing to buy into the bullshit they are being fed?

[Chris Knipp]

They probably don't read enough of the works of Dr. Hunter S. Thompson. They're good instruction in bullshit-detecting.

Or they get all their information from TV. The Boob Tube.

[Johann]

I get satellite cable included in my rent, and guess how much TV I actually watch? Maybe 10 hours a week.
75 channels and nothing to watch.
It`s too bad I don`t get IFC or TCM- I`d watch them all the time.
You can sit there with a remote control and click through every single channel and not find one program worth watching.
I`m amazed that society stands for this.
Shouldn`t we have in the 21st Century some astounding channels to flip through? Where`s all the amazing TV programs?
Surely we`re way beyond being entertained by Oprah by now?

Man, finding a high-quality program is tough.
It`s like looking for a needle in a haystack.
And all those fucking infomercials! I can`t click that remote quick enough when I see an infomercial. It`s like I get a sick shock to my system when I see one and I panic- change the channel! quick! or I`ll die!
I can`t remember the last time I saw engaging, awesome TV.
Maybe you guys get better TV in the U.S., I don`t know.
But up here, the only thing worth watching is the news.
Ours isn`t so much about sensational stories and making money- it`s just straight news. With usually a stone-faced newsperson. That`s way we like it.

I wish someone like Henry Rollins would deliver the news:

I crush lies like a steel-toed boot crushes a child`s skull.
Cities will kill you if you don`t have the stomach.
Nights long. Endless long. Lifetime long.
Fear is the monkey on the back of your soul.
I wanna clean up the streets with a sickle in my hand.
Sharks teeth and razor blades.
This is what I want.
I`m a secret hero. DIVINE.
Will your upbringing be your undoing?
If there was a God, he fucked up. He let us get away with too much.
I like natural disasters. You can`t blame anyone.
You can`t put an earthquake on trial. You can`t send a flood to the chair.
Look at this fucking zoo I live in.
The streets are full of idiots running wild without a clue.
Freedom is too big an idea for these pieces of shit.
Violence is the only thing you understand, besides money and fear.
You pollute my mind, my world.
My jaw is clenched.
My train is on shiny molten tracks, Slamming down the line.
My War Dream.
I`m a machine with scar tissue.
Undeniable.
Unbreakable.
Beyond pain.
Beyond suffering.
You feel nothing?
What a joke.
You`re too stupid and ignorant to get anything as huge as nothingness.

[Johann]

This film and Man on Wire are playing at the Bytowne in a little over a week. (And the latest Guy Maddin).
The Polanski doc will be showing later in the month and I intend to go to each screening. All of them seem like can`t miss..

[Chris Knipp]

you should definitely see those films. the documentaries this summer have been really good.

I am reading Hunter S. Thompson's letters 1955-67, THE PROUD HIGHWAY: SAGA OF A DESPERATE SOUTHERN GENTLEMAN. He was himself from very early on, and wrote great, generous letters.

if you get extra cable channels that are good it would make a difference. It is even possible to get a whole set of Arabic channels (if you knew Arabic), and Arabic TV is damned interesting. Or French TV, which is much more classy than ours. Arte, etc. But I don't have cable and all I ever watch is Charlie Rose's interview show and the reruns of "Tht Seventies Show."

[Johann]

That 70`s Show is pretty cool.
I`ve seen some shows and it always gives me a laugh.
Fez is a riot.
And Tommy Chong appears sometimes.
They`re all stoners on that show, no?

Barack Obama admitted to smoking pot.
Jay Leno asked him if he inhaled.
He said: Wasn`t that the point?
Another reason to vote for Obama.
He truly gets it.
He`s been on the hippie highway!

[Chris Knipp]

Yeah, and yeah!

[Johann]

I saw this with a packed house last night at the Bytowne and everyone broke out in applause when the credits played to Warren Zevon's Lawyers, Guns and Money.

What a fantastic historical record that Alex Gibney has put together! He traces Hunter's life, from his childhood upbringing in Kentucky with his single mother (his father died when he was a tot) to the final days when he says: It's great to look back and say I did that...I was a good read...

Johnny Depp narrates as the voice of Hunter, but Johnny doesn't speak on camera about his experiences with him.
I think it's appropriate that the "Colonel" just reads the words.
We HST fans know what Johnny's times with Hunter mean.

This man was a real mover and shaker of living history.
You find out how he came to write the way he did, originally by typing out the words to Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby, so he can understand the "music" of writing. Then going full-bore into "embedded journalism" with the Hell's Angels of Oakland and San Fran. He wanted to be a photo-journalist at first- his photos of the Angels are absolute classics. The angles and compositions of his shots, his "eye"- just wonderful stuff.

There's a hairy scene where Hunter's on some talk show in the late 60's discussing his latest book (Hell's Angels) and a full-blown member rides his motorcycle right on the set and challenges Hunter, calling his book trash, and reinforcing why he got the shit beat out of him while he was with them: Hunter got really upset with how an Angel treated his wife and dog, saying:
what kind of man beats up his wife and kicks his dog?
Saying that almost got Hunter killed.
His audio tapes of how he felt after the beating juxtaposed with photos of his fat lip and black eye are pretty sobering. He had to get away from that crowd. The Angels basically asked him to join them after he was hanging out with them so much. But he balked at that, witnessing the changes for the worse that the gang was taking.

His run for Sherriff of Pitkin County is covered perfectly by Gibney, with lots of vintage film and interviews.

He then started writing for editor Jann Wenner at Rolling Stone magazine, who decided to have him cover the Mint 400 motorcycle race in Las Vegas. (We all know how that turned out).
This part has some awesome historical merit, as we get to see on film and hear on tape Oscar Zeta Acosta, or "Dr. Gonzo"
I always wanted to know more about him, and here we have it, from Alex Gibney, who has made the most of his access to Owl Farm's archives. Massive thanks to Anita, who allowed this man to make this film. The fans are grateful beyond your wildest imagination, Anita!

Then Wenner suggested he go to Washington, become a political correspondent. This is where his life and work take on more meaning and importance (to my mind anyway).
He gets right into the zeitgeist of the political scene, covering the 1972 campaign like a man possesed. Nobody knew who he was when he arrived there, and he would ask bizarre, unexpected questions of the candidates. His book Fear and Loathing on the Campaign Trail 1972 is the best book ever published on American politics. As it's pointed out in the film, this was written as it happened, not in hindsight. This is on-the-scene reporting, blistering commentary by Hunter on a Nation gone horribly wrong.
The cover had a picture of a skull painted in the colors of the American flag. "All hell broke loose" after that book saw print.
He was now a writer of note.

The worst part of his career came next, when he was sent to Zaire Africa to cover the Ali-Forman "Rumble in the Jungle", a fight he did not want to go to, even though Ali was his hero. He felt Ali had no chance in hell of beating the all-powerful George Forman and he decided to do tons of drugs at his hotel and splash around in the pool.
It turned out to be the greatest boxing match in the sports' history, and he never finished the story.
He started to feel as if he couldn't write anymore.
He did the Hawaii assignment which resulted in The Curse of Lono, but it wasn't exactly the same firey Hunter of years prior.

His writings in the 80's were still awesome to my mind, loaded with loathing and contempt for the utter strangeness of his country. But he was still having fun.
The clips of Hunter speaking as himself were great for giving insight into his insecurities and philosophies. He talks about how his myth and legend has superceded him, how he doesn't know if people want Raoul Duke or Hunter Thompson.

Others talk about how "Gonzo" trapped him, boxed him in.
At one point Gibney cuts from a shot of Nixon to a shot of Bush, and the comments about how it's the same thing all over again only worse are quite powerful.
I could say so much about this film but I don't want to give you a transcript.

Get your ass to a theatre that's showing this and support the Legend of a man who had patriotism firing out of his pen and the barrels of 22 personally loaded guns.

[Chris Knipp]

Glad to hear the film is doing good box office in Canada. I appreciated your enthusiastic report.

As I said, I wish Gibney had set Thompson's writing more fully in the context of the new journalism that included Mailer, Tom Wolfe, Truman Capote. The Hell's Angels interview moment I'd forgotten. What sticks with me is the hoax Thompson engineered about mysterious drug injections while covering the campaign of Edmund Muskie. I need to take a look at the Campaign Trail book. I recommend the letters. They show he didn't need to copy out passages of Fitzgerald to develop an elegant prose style. It came naturally to have one.

I think his career faltered due to dugs and booze well before the Zaire debacle, though that is a dramatic foulup. Jann Wenner wasn't his only important editor but he is the one who speaks most prominently in Gibney's film. Another thing that stands out in the film, which is lots of fun to watch, does justice to the man, and is very well made, is the funeral celebration paid for by Depp with the clenched fist peyote button monument and the guns and fireworks. The coverage of the Sheriff of Pitkin County campaign as you mention, is thorough and enlightening and helps flesh out the man's wildly intense enthusiasm for politics at every level.

I expect great things to come from Alex Gibney in the documentary field. He's been given the 2008 True Vision Award. (http://truefalse.org/program/truevision.htm) ENRON: THE SMARTEST GUYS IN THE ROOM, TAXI TO THE DARK SIDE and GONZO add up to a remarkable achievement in the field. Gibney's ealier credits include THE TRIALS OF HENRY KISSINGER, and he has done a lot of TV work including "The Pacific Century," "The Fifites," "The Sexual Century," "Soldiers in the Army of God," and "Speak Truth to Power." Another project is "Hancock," a film biography of the jazz pianist Herbie Hancock. His producer credits are too numerous to mention but notably include "THE BLUES." His next film is FREAKONOMICS. It will be a film adaptation of the best-selling book by Steven Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner. Nine documentary filmmakers will collaborate, doing separate segments from the book. I haven't read it. It purportedly uses the methodology of economics to treat a variety of social issues.

Gibney's segment deals with cheating teachers and Sumo wrestlers. Gibney graduated from Yale with a specialization in Japanese. He lived in Japan as a youth with his father, a life-long Japan specialist.

[Johann]

Yes Alex Gibney is doing fantastic work.
For a guy who never met Hunter he sure presents his life with a gonzo zeal. I loved the psychedelic montages with photos of Hunter and scenes where he's simulating trips and being high.

Gibney said in an interview that he learned a lot while making this film and that he's amazed he gets paid to learn.

Of additional importance (which I forgot to mention) is that Hunter played a crucial role in America's awareness of Jimmy Carter, long before Carter ran for President.
Hunter is quoted as saying that a speech that Carter gave in Georgia was one of the greatest speeches he'd ever heard any man give.

The deal with Ed Muskie in 1972 is explained too: Hunter had it in for Muskie, and he used political tactics of his own to throw Muskie off course. It worked. Pretty substantial achievement for an unknown journalist. The rage & contempt Hunter had for Nixon is quite clear in the film. He even states it himself in one clip: "I got rage in me as I sit here. I need to smoke a joint and calm down"

The film also uses some clips from the only 2 Hollywood films based on Hunter's work: Where The Buffalo Roam and Terry Gilliam's adaptation of Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas. Great clips that the audience at my screening really loved.
They also loved Johnny's reading of Hunter's works. People were really enjoying it. It was a nice screening. I could tell there were serious Hunter fans there. It was the Ottawa premiere and it was pretty much sold out.
There's also clips from "When I Die" and "Breakfast With Hunter" one of which I'd seen before. "When I Die" would be great to see, because we only got a limited amount of time spent on his funeral bash with "Gonzo".

I also can't forget the commentaries of his first and last wives, which were quite illuminating, especially his first wife Sandy.
She's a real trooper. But she wasn't happy with the way he killed himself, and neither was Anita. Anita cries at one point (and so does Jann Wenner). Anita says Hunter promised her ten years of marriage and he didn't deliver. I felt hurt for her. She really loved that man. His son Juan also says some great things, and if he's OK with his father killing himself the way he did with him and his wife and child in the house then how on earth can I?

Juan acknowledges his father's legacy in a proud way and his marking his Dad's death minutes after the gunshot with a shotgun fired three times into the Woody Creek sky is just plain awesome.

Beautiful, Glorious film from Alex Gibney.
He can make whatever he wants as far as I'm concerned.
He's on track to be one of America's best filmmakers ever.

[Chris Knipp]

Gibney said in an interview that he learned a lot while making this film and that he's amazed he gets paid to learn. Would like to know where this interview was. Was just looking for interviews with Gibney and couldn't find much, not contemporaneous with GONZO. Thanks for the additional comments. Obviously you got a lot out of the film, as did I. It really put me onto something new to me, though I'd seen the Gilliam film. The WHERE THE BUFFALOS ROAM one is said by some to be terrible but I haven't seen it. Do you think he was really an "unknown journalist" at the time of the Muskie campaign? I don't think so.
There's also clips from "When I Die" and "Breakfast With Hunter" one of which I'd seen before. "When I Die" would be great to see, because we only got a limited amount of time spent on his funeral bash with "Gonzo". I'd like to see more of "Breakfast with Hunter," which was new to me. I felt like we got a pretty good taste of the funeral bash. I also thought it was impressive that Thompson's son Juan was understanding about how he chose to go out. He seemed like a well balanced kind of guy too. I do think this together with ENRON: THE SMARTEST GUYS IN THE ROOM and the apparently badly distributed and therefore under-seen TAXI TO THE DARK SIDE (Gibney sued the distributors) set him out as preeminent among this country's by now rather numerous documentary filmmakers. The most important thing is to choose a topic and he has done that brilliantly. Then comes the execution and that has been impeccable.

[Johann]

I'll try to find the link to that interview.
It was a video interview, not a transcript.
I wish I could remember how I linked to it.
I didn't save it either- I just saw it before I headed out to the theatre. Sorry man. I'll try to locate it. It was a good interview. Gibney discussed how Hunter's view of America impressed him, and how human it is.

In the film there's also a photo of Hunter cuddling a kitten that is really adorable. He also cried in front of his wife Sandy after the 1968 horrors that he witnessed first-hand in Chicago.

You realize that Hunter was a tremendously passionate man about his country. He really gave a shit about what was going down all around him. His life is really a fantastic window into the American character. And not just one side, either.

He was unknown as a journalist to the politicos he was hounding in 1972. He didn't really get widespread attention until the 1972 book got published. He was known (the Hell's Angels book gave him some great notices) and editors wanted him to write for them, but he wasn't "famous famous " until he published the 1972 Campaign Trail book.
Definitely read that one Chris.
That one really stands out in my mind.
When I read it in 2002 I think I finished it in 5 hours.
I've never read a book so fast in my life.
It's like a rocket- no joke. He doesn't let up from the first sentence until one of the most devastating endings you've ever read hits you right in the gut.
Just tremendously powerful, that one.
He deserved the Pulitzer for that brilliant, brilliant work.
No person on this earth could have written a book like that.

He was a special guy, that Hunter Thompson...

[Chris Knipp]

I know FEAR AND LOATHING ON THE CAMPAIGN TRAIL is the one 'must' of Thompson's whole oeuvre. I will focus on getting hold of a copy as soon as I can.

I think I noticed a video review with Gibney but skipped it. If you find it tell me but that hint may make me able to find it myself.

Well, if you say "famous famous," I get wat you mean, I guess. Politicoes don't pay much attention to Gonzo journalists. I don't know when I first heard of him. It seems like he has been famous for a long time though.

Gibney's father Frank, recently deceased, was a notable scholar, and started out a little like me, with being taught a difficult languge by the government (mine was Arabic, his Japanese). I thought this might interest PMW, who also is fluent in Japanese.

Great though this one is, for me and I think for all of us the most important of the documentaries Gibney has made is TAXI TO THE DARK SIDE. If if has been under-seen that is a tragedy. It is the one film Americans need to see. But when I saw it in New York City it was watched by a handful of people at a somewhat obscure theater. I'll read CAMPAIGN TRAIL, Johann, and you see DARK SIDE--okay, deal?

[Johann]

Deal.

"Taxi to the Dark Side" actually played here for one day (September 11th) at the Bytowne and I couldn't get there.
I've wanted to see it ever since I read your review.
Plus the Oscar win makes it even more important to check out.

I think I'll buy the DVD when it comes out.

[Chris Knipp]

Well, there you are: one day.
Documentary filmmaker Alex Gibney is seeking more than $1 million in damages from ThinkFilm, distributor of his recent Oscar-winning film, "Taxi to the Dark Side." Late last week X-Ray Productions, producers of Gibney's film, charged that ThinkFilm fradulently hid the fact that it could not properly release the film in theaters. . .--Beginning of June Indiewire article (http://www.indiewire.com/biz/2008/06/alex_gibney_v_t.html) about the issue of TAXI TO THE DARK SIDE'S limited distribution.
n June 2007, the Discovery Channel bought the rights to broadcast Taxi to the Dark Side. However, in February 2008, they made public their intention never to broadcast the documentary due to its controversial nature.[7] HBO then bought rights to the film and announced that it would be broadcast in September 2008, after which the Discovery Channel announced it would broadcast Taxi to the Dark Side in 2009. Many pundits and bloggers derided the decision, claiming that the Discovery Channel did not wish to risk Gibney criticizing the network at the Academy Awards should his movie win the Best Documentary Oscar, and also pointed out that the Discovery Channel's projected 2009 broadcast date would occur after President George W. Bush left office--Wikipedia article (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taxi_to_the_Dark_Side) on [TAXI TO THE DARK SIDE. It's all very scandalous and unfortunate. The Oscar-winning documentary, and on a topic of enormous importance, ought to have been seen by a very wide audience in theaters, fostering public forum, rather than just on DVD's. But by all means get hold of it.

I'm putting this also over on the TAXI TO THE DARK SIDE Filmleaf thread (http://www.filmwurld.com/forums/newreply.php?s=&action=newreply&threadid=2225) as an update.

[Johann]

Good idea. We gotta get the word out.

I read a review that said "Taxi" was the only really important film to emerge from the cloud of films about the Iraq war.

Did you know that Osama Bin laden isn't even on the FBI's most wanted list? Isn't he the number one enemy to the U.S.?
Or are my gut feelings right: Bin laden works for Bush?

Bush and Cheney need to be sent to fucking JAIL.
War criminal pieces of shit.
Some guy on the net said that Bush makes Nixon look like a Nun.
He's got that right.
I'm amazed we're still talking about this war, 5 years later.

I loved what George McGovern said in Gonzo:
I am sick and tired of old men in air conditioned offices dreaming up wars for young men to die in.
Amen George.
AMEN.

[Chris Knipp]

McGovern was my hero. Alas, his candicacy was a spectacular flop. I'm perpetuality out of tune with the veniality of the times. There is truth in the comment about Nixon vs. Bush II.

I read a review that said "Taxi" was the only really important film to emerge from the cloud of films about the Iraq war. I woldn't say "only" by any means, but it could be seen as the single most important one. NO END IN SIGHT is also very important.

[Johann]

Ok I found the video interview.
go to www.youtube.com and type
"DIRECTOR ALEX GIBNEY ON GONZO".
It's about 9 minutes in length.

[Chris Knipp]

Great!

[Johann]

Here's a link to two images of the denim "Gonzo fist" jacket that is for sale at the official Gonzo store. It's $250 + shipping.
Love it. I want one.


http://www.gonzostore.com/images/jacketdetail-1.jpg

http://www.gonzostore.com/images/jacketdetail-2.jpg