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

Director:

Alex Gibney

Writers (WGA):

Alex Gibney (screenplay)
Hunter S. Thompson (writings)

Release Date:

19 December 2008 (UK)

Genre:

Documentary | Biography | Music

Plot:

A portrait of the late gonzo journalist Hunter S. Thompson.

Plot Keywords:

Doctor | Gonzo | Journalist | Drugs | Hippie

Awards:

2 nominations

Cast

Hunter S. Thompson	...	Himself (archive footage)
Johnny Depp	...	Himself - Narrator
Joe Cairo	...	New York Studio Shoot
David Carlo	...	New York Studio Shoot
Victor Ortiz	...	New York Studio Shoot
Gilleon Smith	...	New York Studio Shoot
Alex Ziwak	...	New York Studio Shoot
Melissa Otero	...	New York Studio Shoot - Typist
Pierre Adeli	...	Taco Stand Shoot
Angela Berliner	...	Taco Stand Shoot
Eugenia Care	...	Taco Stand Shoot
Brian Kimmet	...	Taco Stand Shoot
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Oscar Acosta	...	Himself (archive footage)
Muhammad Ali	...	Himself (archive footage)
Sonny Barger	...	Himself (also archive footage)
Warren Beatty	...	Himself (archive footage)
Bob Braudis	...	Himself
Douglas Brinkley	...	Himself
Pat Buchanan	...	Himself
Jimmy Buffett	...	Himself (also archive footage)
George W. Bush	...	Himself (archive footage) (as George Bush)
Patrick Caddell	...	Himself (as Pat Caddell)
Jimmy Carter	...	Himself (also archive footage)
Tim Crouse	...	Himself (also archive footage)
Richard J. Daley	...	Himself - 1968 Convention (archive footage) (as Mayor Daley)
Thomas Eagleton	...	Himself (archive footage)
Gary Hart	...	Himself (also archive footage)
Hubert H. Humphrey	...	Himself (archive footage) (as Hubert Humphrey)
Jefferson Airplane	...	Themselves (archive footage)
John F. Kennedy	...	Himself (archive footage)
Robert F. Kennedy	...	Himself (archive footage) (as Robert Kennedy)
Ted Kennedy	...	Himself (archive footage)
Martin Luther King	...	Himself (archive footage)
Timothy Leary	...	Himself (archive footage)
Annie Leibovitz	...	Herself (archive footage)
Frank Mankiewicz	...	Himself (archive footage)
George McGovern	...	Himself (also archive footage)
Edmund Muskie	...	Himself (archive footage)
Laila Nabulsi	...	Herself
Richard Nixon	...	Himself (archive footage)
Charles Perry	...	Himself
Grace Slick	...	Herself (archive footage)
Ralph Steadman	...	Himself (also archive footage)
George Stranahan	...	Himself
Anita Thompson	...	Herself
Juan Thompson	...	Himself (also archive footage)
George Wallace	...	Himself - Assassination Attempt (archive footage)
Jann Wenner	...	Himself (also archive footage)
Tom Wolfe	...	Himself
Sondi Wright	...	Herself

MPAA:

Rated R for drug and sexual content, language and some nudity.

Runtime:

120 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Colour:

Colour

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Certification:

USA:R | Australia:M | Canada:14A (Ontario) | Canada:14A (British Columbia) | UK:15 | Ireland:15A | Argentina:16 | Netherlands:12

Company:

BBC Storyville

Goofs:

Factual errors: When the film mentions that Hunter Thompson had a crush on Jefferson Airplane singer Grace Slick, archival footage instead shows the Airplane's first female singer, Signe Anderson.

Movie Connections:

Features Where the Buffalo Roam (1980)

The Good Doctor

This is an absorbing doc not only of the good doc but the whole counterculture that he championed in many ways. For all his excessive lifestyle that became almost a parody of the drug culture, he remained a true intellectual and anti-corruption/hypocrisy crusader. He embraced the vision of a new world not ruled by greed and war-mongering, and as early as 1971 proclaimed his great sadness that the movement and the moment of flower power had passed and with it the chance for sane politics. This moment was captured well in "Where the Buffalo Roam" starring Bill Murray as HST, which is given kind of short shrift in this documentary in favor of scenes from "Fear and Loathing Las Vegas" with Johnny Depp as HST. Considering that Depp produced and narrates the film as well as financed the grandiose send-off that Thompson envisioned for himself, it's not strange that Murray's portrayal would be downplayed, as excellent as it was (and Peter Boyle's as the Samoan lawyer.)

All in all, it is a well-balanced account of Thompson's life and work, with many pertinent interviewees like his two wives and son, Jann Wenner of Rolling Stone, Sonny Barger of the Hell's Angels, Jimmy Buffett, George McGovern, Jimmy Carter, Pat Buchanan, Tom Wolfe, and various Aspenites. His passion and wit were undeniable, and his addiction to guns, booze and dope were in many ways forgivable. But his absence in today's disastrous political scene, his voice against war and corruption is sorely missed, and lamented by several of the interviewees. The parallels between Nixon and Bush are easily drawn, and "Gonzo" does this without hammering the point home except to exhort the audience to take up the fight that the Good Doctor waged in a seemingly crazy, but noble and honorable way for most of his life.