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

User Rating:

7.8/10   

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

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Certification:

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

Company:

BBC Storyville

Goofs:

Factual errors: On the on-screen display caption for Jimmy Carter it states that he was US President from 1976 to 1980. Carter was actually President from January 20 1977 to January 20 1981.

Movie Connections:

Features "To Tell the Truth" (1956)

pouring wine in a vase

I saw this inserted in a festival. Festivals are great occasions. There is a mood in the air, which invites us to see new things, ambitious ones. Most of the time, it must be said, i see failures, some glorious, others pure crap. But the possibility to see new surprise life altering creations compensates for all the eventually boring proofs we might have to endure. This little documentary is something of an exception in these types i described.

As a film in itself it has little value. It's a collection of photographs, testimonies, old videos and testimonies made for the documentary, with a plus, Johnny Depp narrating Thompson. It is tailored like the serial documentaries the Discovery or History channel usually makes. But i actually enjoyed it. For one reason, i was ignorant about many of the aspects in his life, namely the politic involvements, which is a contradiction, among others, in the life of a counter-culture icon.

Anyway, it's the very facts of Thompson's life that move the whole thing, and sparks the whole interest this may have. Because there was something that displeased me, a kind of formal contradiction which nevertheless is fun to find: H.Thompson was important as a writer, fundamentally because he broke forms, and in the process created a genre on its own. His kind of writing is essentially visual, which means it's also potentially cinematic - Gillian understood this, but in 'Fear and Loathing...' he was either to literal in his interpretation, or to attached to his own vision, so though he made a good piece, he was not fully faithful to Thompson. The visual quality of his writings can be tested in this documentary, whenever Depp reads. It's powerful, and probably more effective than any of the footage used. There lies the contradiction. The documentary is vulgar, it uses a worn out formula for serial documentaries, equivalents to the kind of dull journalistic writing Thompson wanted to evade. See my point?

So, probably, Hunter will last for what he wrote, not for what he 'was'. After all, it's not uncommon or specially thrilling the kind of things he effectively did. Though that provided most of the juice and energy he puts in his writings, it's not the orgies, or the guns, or the acids that make his life worth knowing.

Nevertheless, Thompson would perfectly incarnate the mood of a film festival. That's a complement.

My opinion: 3/5

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