Fear and loathing at the movie theater
May 28, 2008 12:57 pm comedy
There’s weird, and then there’s Hunter S. Thompson weird.
Thompson, the godfather of gonzo journalism, left behind a legacy of brilliant, drug-addled literature when he went to that big freakout in the sky a couple years ago.
His essays about American culture and politics are so strange and insightful, so twisted and utterly true that they’re a big challenge to portray on the silver screen.* You’d have to be crazy to even attempt such a feat. In fact, you’d have to be Terry Gilliam.
Perhaps that’s what gave Gilliam — the former Monty Python member behind such quirky gems as “Brazil,” “Time Bandits” and “The Adventures of Baron Munchausen” — the courage to make “Fear and Loathing.”
“Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas” follows Thompson’s alter-ego Raoul Duke (Johnny Depp) and his lawyer/sidekick (Benicio del Toro) as they travel from Los Angeles to Las Vegas hopped up on every drug known to mankind.
Their journey leads them through a bizarre chain of adult playgrounds, as the fearsome duo examines the dark, psychedelic side of the American dream. It’s a journey well worth taking.**
“Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas” plays at 7 and 9:15 p.m. tonight at The Palm Theatre, 817 Palm St. in San Luis Obispo.
Tickets are $7.50.
***
* Many have tried including Martin Scorsese and Oliver Stone. As rumor has it, Jack Nicholson and Marlon Brando once signed on as Raoul Duke and Dr. Gonzo. Dan Aykroyd and John Belushi considered the project at another point.
** Another screen adaptation of Thompson’s work worth seeing is “Where the Buffalo Roam,” starring Bill Murray as the cigarette-smoking, sunglass-sporting journalist.
Check it out and compare his Thompson to Depp’s version.
Photo above courtesy of MovieWeb.
The Man from Moqui :
Date: May 29, 2008 @ 4:26 pm
And then there was weird. Dr. Thompson was a monster reincarnation of Horatio Alger … a man on the move. And just sick enough to be TOTALLY confident.
The good doctor certainly stomped on the terra in his day! (Imagine what he would write about that running-dog jackal in the Oval Office today if he were still alive!)
These movies help fill the void he left and lift the spirit.
In the 1970s I moved to Moqui when the boat got too crowded. Then I learned that President Nixon had been eaten by white cannibals on an island near Tijuana — for no good reason at all.
Savage times, indeed!
Dr. Gonzo and Tricky Dick are both gone now, but I don’t think I’m going to believe that until I can gnaw on both of their skulls with my very own teeth. If they’re out there, I’m going to find them, and I’m going to gnaw on their skulls. Because it still hasn’t gotten weird enough for me.