Movie Review: Gonzo - The Life and Work of Hunter S. Thompson

Hunter S. Thompson lived life with his foot firmly planted on the gas pedal. Taking time to smell the roses was laughable, spending a day completely sober, non-existent. Thompson's comfort zone was on the edge; anything else seemed to feel strange to him. Alex Gibney attempts to chronicle the life of this American writer with his own special place in the literary lexicon with the recently released Gonzo: The Life and Work of Hunter S. Thompson.

Many moviegoers would already know who the film was about even if the film was not subtitled The Life and Work of Hunter S. Thompson because the phrase was first used to describe Thompson's writing style — journalism written subjectively, that often includes the journalist as part of the story via a first person narrative.

"We were somewhere around Barstow on the edge of the desert when the drugs began to take hold," is the opening line of one of Hunter S. Thompson's greatest books. Published in November 1971, Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas was the result of Thompson's failed attempt to cover a motor race in "Sin City." His 60 pages of drug-addled prose was angrily rejected by Sports Illustrated, but became a novel published in two parts on the pages of Rolling Stone. Rolling Stone welcomed Thompson's offbeat style and worked with him for years, no matter how exasperating he could be.

Thompson's third book, Fear and Loathing: On the Campaign Trail ´72, is a collection of the gonzo journalist's articles written for Rolling Stone while covering the 1972 presidential race. A self-described political junkie, Thompson decided early that his candidate of choice was South Dakota Senator George McGovern. Hunter dismissed 1968 Democratic nominee Hubert Humphrey as a "hopeless old hack" and presumed nominee Senator Edmund Muskie of Maine, whose campaign he said exuded a "stench of death."

Alex Gibney´s (Taxi to the Dark Side, Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room) Gonzo: The Life and Times of Hunter S. Thompson, deals largely with the period of time Thompson spent writing those three books. During that period, Hunter was at his literary best, before his excessive use of drugs and alcohol interfered with his ability to write effectively.

Article Author: Rebecca Wright

Rebecca is a freelance writer, concentrating in the areas of film, television and music criticism. Her B.A. is in the Humanities with an emphasis in film and writing.She holds an M.A. in American and British literature with an emphasis in dystopian …

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