Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas (1998)

An oddball journalist and his psychopathic lawyer travel to Las Vegas for a series of psychedelic escapades.

Director:

Terry Gilliam

Writers:

Hunter S. Thompson (book), Terry Gilliam (screenplay),

Stars:

Johnny Depp, Benicio Del Toro, Tobey Maguire

1 win & 1 nomination.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Johnny Depp	...	Raoul Duke
Benicio Del Toro	...	Dr Gonzo
Tobey Maguire	...	Hitchhiker
Ellen Barkin	...	Waitress at North Star Cafe
Gary Busey	...	Highway Patrolman
Katherine Helmond	...	Desk Clerk at Mint Hotel
Michael Jeter	...	L. Ron Bumquist
Mark Harmon	...	Magazine Reporter
Penn Jillette	...	Carnie Talker
Craig Bierko	...	Lacerda
Lyle Lovett	...	Road Person
Flea	...	Musician
Laraine Newman	...	Frog-Eyed Woman
Harry Dean Stanton	...	Judge
Tim Thomerson	...	Hoodlum

Storyline

The big-screen version of Hunter S. Thompson's seminal psychedelic classic about his road trip across Western America as he and his large Samoan lawyer searched desperately for the "American dream"... they were helped in large part by the huge amount of drugs and alcohol kept in their convertible, The Red Shark.

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Plot Keywords:

american dream | drugs | lawyer | journalist | convertible | 

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Taglines:

If there was a trip to be taken, they were there (Australian)

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Genres:

Adventure | Comedy

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for pervasive extreme drug use and related bizarre behavior, strong language, and brief nudity

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

22 May 1998 (USA)

Also Known As:

Angst und Schrecken in Las Vegas

Filming Locations:

Ambassador Hotel - 3400 Wilshire Boulevard, Los Angeles, California, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$18,500,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend:

£206,498 (UK) (13 November 1998)

Gross:

£206,498 (UK) (13 November 1998)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Fear and Loathing LLC, Rhino Films, Shark Productions

Technical Specs

Runtime:

118 min

Sound Mix:

DTS Dolby Digital SDDS

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

In the trailer for the movie, when Gonzo fires the gun in the car, it actually goes off instead of just clicking.

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Goofs

Duke turns on his turn signal twice during the police chase.

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Quotes

[first lines]
Raoul Duke: [narrating] We were somewhere around Barstow, on the edge of the desert, when the drugs began to take hold. I remember saying something like:
Raoul Duke: I feel a bit lightheaded. Maybe you should drive.
Raoul Duke: [narrating] Suddenly, there was a terrible roar all around us, and the sky was full of what looked like huge bats, all swooping and screeching and diving around the car, and a voice was screaming:
Raoul Duke: Holy Jesus. What are these goddamn animals?
[swatting the air]
Raoul Duke: Huh! Huh! Huh! Fucking pigs.
Dr. Gonzo: Did you ...
[...]

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Crazy Credits

The credits literally scroll down the freeway.

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Connections

Referenced in Slackers (2002)

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Soundtracks

"Lady"
Written by Jeff Beck, Tim Bogart, Carmine Appice and Diane Kitchings
Performed by Beck, Bogart, Appice
Published by EMI Music Publishing Ltd. and B. Feldman & Co Ltd.
Courtesy of Epic Records
by arrangement with Sony Music Licensing

User Reviews

Visual masterpiece with Thompson's message intact and strong as ever.

I have read countless reviews of this movie that have derided it for everything from glorifying drugs to being unchristian to being boring. Maybe my mind works very much like director Terry Gilliam's (I loved 'Brazil' and '12 Monkeys'), but the last thing I would do to this movie is deride it. It is a brilliant adaptation of Hunter S. Thompson's generation-defining book of the same name - it stays very faithful to the events in the book.

First of all, this movie literally glows with Gilliam's eye for detail that he has consistently displayed throughout his career. The sets are so elaborate, one could never take in all the scenery from any number of viewings without slowing it down and watching very closely. The bombardment of the bright, flashing lights of Las Vegas and the bizarre camera angles, as well as surreal sets make for an interesting and entertaining presentation regardless of a lack of coherency and taste. What we have here is a movie riddled with black humor and a horrifying satire of the American dream. I'll admit it takes a very `unchristian' viewpoint to laugh at the `straight economics' of allowing policemen to gang-f**k a girl for $30 a head. Therefore, people bound by a constricting sense of morality should never have watched this movie in the first place. It is for people like me who enjoy living a very un-stoic life (at least vicariously through movies) by having radical ideas and perspectives forced upon them. Fear and Loathing is the embodiment of such a perspective - it is a gruesomely accurate depiction of the bi-product of the often-glorified 60's drug culture. And one thing that countless critics seem to carelessly omit in their analyses is the constant references to the `American Dream.' Johnny Depp (Raoul Duke/Hunter Thompson), in his verbose verbal narrations, makes quite a few references to a desparate hunt for reason behind the madness of not only this `American Dream', but the drug culture as well - "He who makes a beast of himself gets rid of the pain of being a man." - Dr. Johnson (displayed before the opening scene). The problem with the waning popularity of this movie is simply that its design was not meant to appeal to the buttoned-down mainstream. People that want to laugh and cry in a movie theater and then get the hell on aren't the type of people that would enjoy seeing an unjustified drug-induced frenzy on Las Vegas. This movie has everything a critic should be looking for in a masterpiece - magnificent cinematography, lovely acting, shock value, provocation of thought, and a meaning behind it all. To freaks like me it also has immense entertainment value as well. This work will be one of my favorite movies of all time.