List Price: $29.99You Pay Only: $18.99 You Save: $11.00 (37%)Prices subject to change.
Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours
Aspect Ratio: 1.78:1
Audience Rating: R (Restricted)
Binding: DVD
Brand: GONZO (DVD MOVIE)
EAN: 0876964001441
Format: Closed-captioned, Dolby, DVD-Video, NTSC, Subtitled, Widescreen
Label: Magnolia Home Entertainment
Manufacturer: Magnolia Home Entertainment
Number Of Items: 1
Publisher: Magnolia Home Entertainment
Region Code: 1
Release Date: November 18, 2008
Running Time: 120 minutes
Sales Rank: 541
Studio: Magnolia Home Entertainment
Theatrical Release Date: 2007
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Editorial Review:
Product Description:
Oscar® winning director Alex Gibney presents a probing look into the uncanny life of Dr. Hunter S. Thompson inventor of gonzo journalism and author of the landmark Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas. Accompanied by an iconic soundtrack, this fast moving, wildly entertaining film addresses the major touchstones in Thompson s life from his intense and ill fated relationship with the Hell s Angels to his deep involvement in Senator George McGovern s 1972 presidential election.
Amazon.com:
After Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room and Taxi to the Dark Side, Hunter S. Thompson seems like an odd subject for Alex Gibney to take on. Unlike the Enron executives or Baghram guards, the gonzo journalist didn't bilk old ladies out of their savings or torture Iraqi citizens. Nonetheless, the director's follow-up to the Oscar-winning Taxi shares an interest in the uses and abuses of power. Gibney recounts the major biographical details, from birth to suicide, but his film really comes alive when he gets to the late-1960s. Though Thompson remains best known for Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, Gonzo concentrates on his coverage of the 1968 and '72 presidential elections. The author was particularly excited about George McGovern, and chose advocacy over non-partisan reporting. McGovern, Pat Buchanan, Ralph Steadman, Rolling Stone editor Jann Wenner, and others testify to Thompson's enthusiasm for the South Dakota senator--and hatred for Nixon. Gibney argues that the fire started to die after Hunter witnessed the brutal treatment of protesters at Chicago’s Democratic Convention. Disillusionment led to an erosion of his talent and an escalation of his self-destructive tendencies. As Johnny Depp, who played him in Fear and Loathing, reads passages from his work, the doctor's friends and family provide a glimpse of the insecure man behind the brash image. Gibney's evenhanded depiction may disappoint true believers hoping for a glorified puff piece, but Thompson's ability to speak truth to power with wit and passion comes through loud and clear. --Kathleen C. Fennessy
Customer Reviews
Average Rating: 
Rating:  - Less Substance Than I Expected
I've been intrigued by HST ever since I was a kid growing up in Evergreen, Colorado in the late 1960's and early 1970's. Word of the "Freak Ticket" and its mighty and outrageous leader made its way over the mountains from Aspen and astonished all of us. His audacity echoed in those mountains (and still does to this day). I also recall perusing those famous issues of Rolling Stone at the Walgreen's magazine counter where HST told-tale of all his intrepid investigations, and where sinister evil seemed to lurk around every dark corner. And my appreciation for his unique approach to things has grown as I've matured. I see him as a patriot, and as a courageous one at that. It takes courage to tell the truth about things--or something close to the truth, but conveyed in a very interesting way--especially when there are lots of powerful forces out there praying for your demise, and maybe even plotting it.
I haven't read everything HST wrote, but I've read most of it, and I've read a biography or two as well. I was delighted when I heard about this documentary, and I rented it off of Netflix the moment it was listed. And, yes, I'll probably end up buying it for my library of 1960's retrospectives. I'm absolutely fascinated by everything that happened in the US--and the world as well--between 1965 and 1975. It was an amazingly vital and dynamic period of our history, and will probably never again be matched during my life or the life of my children. HST was a major player in several of ... Read More
Rating: - A Restrained View of Thompson, but a Good Introduction with a Diverse Cast.
"Gonzo: The Life and Work of Dr. Hunter S. Thompson" is an overview of the life and passions of Hunter S. Thompson, inventor of "gonzo" journalism and iconic hero of liberalism -at least for those liberals who didn't mind all the guns. Through interviews with an impressive variety of Thompson's friends and associates, narration by Johnny Depp, and archival footage of Thompson himself, director Alex Gibney takes us through Thompson's life, concentrating on his career and image. The story starts in earnest in 1965, when Thompson was "imbedded" with the Hell's Angels for over a year, his first exercise in participatory journalism and the subject of his first book, "Hell's Angels: The Strange and Terrible Saga of the Outlaw Motorcycle Gangs" (1966).
That's followed by Thompson's experience of the 1968 Democratic Convention, his bid for Sheriff of Aspen on a pro-marijuana platform in 1970, the story behind "Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas", and his work for "Rolling Stone" magazine, including his coverage of the McGovern-Nixon presidential campaign, which became "Fear and Loathing on the Campaign Trail `72", and finally his suicide in 2005. The film doesn't attempt to be a comprehensive biography. Thompson's years in the Air Force are not even mentioned, for example. I was pleasantly surprised by the array of people who consented to be interviewed: his first wife Sondi Wright (Sandy Thompson at the time), Tom Wolfe, former President Jimmy Carter, George McGovern and Pat Buchanan, "Rolling ... Read More
Rating:  - A wonderful documentary:
If you are a fan of Hunter S. Thompson you will love this movie.
The archival footage is extraordinary,and the interviews are great. Johnny Depp does top notch narration as Hunter.
By the end of this movie, you really get a feel for the man that was Hunter S. Thompson. This was a very deep and moving experience.
Even the soundtrack is flawless!(CCR, Lou Reed, Bob Dylan, Rolling Stones, etc...)
The special features are also superb, with commentary, a music video,audio excerpts,extended interviews,deleted scenes, all the "gonzo" art,and even a photo gallery, plus more.
If you like Hunter, then this is a no-brainer purchase.
I plan to also buy the soundtrack,audio tapes,and books.
Happy "Gonzo" watching.
Rating: - THE DOCTOR IS IN
On February 20, 2005, the end of an era was blown out not with a whisper but with a bang. Dr. Hunter S. Thompson chose that day to end his own life by committing suicide with one of the many guns he owned. It was a loss for a generation that grew up reading him in Rolling Stone Magazine, a loss for fans and a loss for journalism.
While two films (WHERE THE BUFFALO ROAM and FEAR AND LOATHING IN LAS VEGAS) were made about his life, it is only now that Hunter reaches the screen in his own words, in his own actions via the newly released documentary GONZO: THE LIFE AND WORK OF DR. HUNTER S. THOMPSON. And what a treat it is to see and hear him speak for himself.
The film looks back at the entire life of this maverick that changed the face of journalism by making it not just about looking at issues from the outside in, but from the inside out. Gonzo journalism often placed the writer into the scene of what was being written about since that writer was actually there. Gonzo journalists write as participants as opposed to voyeurs. And Hunter was a definite participant.
The film begins with his youth covering the usual biopic necessities of what possibly made him choose the direction he did. But it moves forward to his youth when he chose to be a writer and pursue that dream. Not only did he pursue it, he got involved in it.
The first break Hunter found was when he commingled with the motorcycle gang the Hells Angels to find out just what they were all about. ... Read More
Rating: - A decent, fitfully funny, occasionally moving overview
This is a little like a better than average "A&E Biography" episode, and it hits most of the important notes, but "Gonzo: The Life and Work of Dr. Hunter S. Thompson" never really ignites or explodes in the unique ways that a great or even excellent documentary should.
We get talking head interviews. We get scads of photographs and old footage. There are re-enactments which are occasionally clever. Johnny Depp reads the writings (and while it struck me as redundant that the man who played Thompson onscreen is back to basically do it again, he knows the music well enough). The old friends weigh in and seem glad to be part of the club.
And above all the director works a little of the way into the obvious but overwhelmingly valid notion that the persona that made Thompson eventually melted him down. The movie does its job. Fair enough.
But the only real charge I got out of "Gonzo" was seeing the rare clips of Thompson appearing on a 1960's public debate program as well as the old game show "To Tell The Truth." The author, caught before the genius or the fermentation started and looking like a mere kid, seems shy but sly and I'll enjoy seeing the entire broadcasts if they're included on the DVD.
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