80% of reviews or ratings I've read have given this film horrible ratings. I've been wanting to see it for several months. I got the Criterion DVD and watched it yesterday. What are everyone else's thoughts? I heard "Where the Buffalo Roam" was horrible although I'm a little interested in seeing it. *Expects Ferro to go insane.

We were somewhere around Barstow, on the edge of the desert, when the drugs began to take hold.

Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas - (Gilliam;1998;USA) - ****
Hunter S. Thompson under the alias Raoul Duke travels to Las Vegas with his lawyer to cover a motorcycle race while on heavy drugs.
I can only imagine how surreal Brazil is. This was an amazing movie. Although I really wanted to see it I assumed it was gonna be a *** film. I was especially skeptical to see several negative reviews, including Ebert giving it one star. Gilliam's direction is excellent, and I pretty much can't say a bad thing about it. This may very well be Depp's best performance. Del Toro was very good, but has done better. I can see how some may have low first impressions of this but to me it all worked out. The soundtrack is another great thing; this has to be one of the few movies I've seen in which I loved all the songs. An excellent example of the culture of the time period.
#6

Superb review man....keep up the high-quality of work!

I would hardly call that a review, but thanks anyway.

Any opinions on the film?

I also recently bought the criterion edition. Watched it about 12 times since then, and bought the book.

I didn't get past the first 15 minutes of the film!! I suppose I should try it again and try to persevere!!!

I've seen this film sober and I've seen this film off my face. Either way it's a damn good film.

The film is both hilarious and great whether you are on drugs or not; I've never touched a thing in my life, and Fear and Loathing is deffinatly up there in my top ten, if not five.

I've read Hells Angels by Dr. Thompson, which was excellent, and plan to move on to Fear and Loathing in it's written form very soon.

DV, check out IMDB's trivia. Some of it is pretty interesting, and they point out a few bizzarre occurances that you completely look beyond when viewing the film. (I.E. in the opening scene in Barstow, there is a dead body being stowed into an ambulance via stretcher, way off in the background.)

Sorry, I've been home for Easter and have not been able to respond since.

Fear and Loathing, as you all know, is my top movie. I adore this film and everything about it. I own the regular edition and bought the criterion edition as soon as it came out. I've watched the film at least 150 times and it gets better everytime. I notice new things everytime I watch. Depp does a superb job as Thompson.

I also have to recommend Where The Buffalo Roam. Though the plot is different, it involves more of Thompson's work surrounding the Campaign Trail of 72' for Rolling Stone(his Book), and his other adventures. There is a breathtakingly powerful scene in a public restroom where he encounters Nixon (Thompson's foil enemey). It's altogehter a watered down version of FALILV. People who work with Thompson become entranced by him. Murray was doing Saturday Night Live at the time of the shooting for WTBR and he was reportedly unable to remove himself from the Thompson character. He was seen for months with the aviators on screaming and shouting at people, this ultimately led to his leaving the show.

I also strongly recommend the DVD, Breakfast With Hunter. Its a documentary on the last 10-15 years of Thompson's life. Wayne Ewing has been following him for years and compiled it for this documentary. It has many guest stars (Thompson's friends) such as Del Toro, Depp, Warren Zevon, John Cusak, Ralph Steadman, P. J. O'Rourke, and many others. It's a great look into the life of America's Greatest Eccentric.(my caps) He's an amazing guy to watch.

Read the issue of rolling stone that just came out about his death to learn more about him. Thompson has been, and always will be, my hero. I'm driving out to Owl Farm, in Aspen view his ashes being blasted out of a cannon early this summer. I own all of Thompson's books and I can easily say his early work is his best, but his late work is not without its valor. I hope you all can enjoy Thompson like I do.

Thompson had 2 other novels to be made into films. One, The Rum Diary, has been in production for over 2 years and has not even begun shooting. Del Toro was set to direct but dropped out. The film now has a diector but might not be made due to writing, and creative differences. (The thing that almost killed FALILV). Another film, The Curse of Lono, an out of print book that has been sought after by collectors (including myself) for years can be found on ebay for anywhere from 100-1000 dollars, depending on condition and if it's a signed copy. Sean Penn hold the rights to this film and was a very close friend of Hunter's. He helped him out of many jams and was close with him to the end. The film though, does not look like it will happen due to Hunter never truely expressing his wishes for it to be made and a friend like Penn would not do it without the Prince of Gonzo's blessing, and niether would Depp.

I learned something interesting anbout Hunter's death. A month before his death he went to a big celebreation, now Thompson has been in a wheelchair for some time now, and he has always hated it with a passion. Well, at this party, he was told the bar was on the upper floor. He tried to climb up the regular flight of stairs and was unable to. He sat downstairs until Douglas Brinkley, a friend and editor, came up to him and Thompson said one thing to him, "Dougie, it's time for me to die".

Those of you who have seen the film and know of Thompson's lifestyle know that he could not live like this any longer. Thus, the suicide. He did leave one bit of info for us. He left no suicide note, but when he died at his typewriter (where he always was) he only wrote one thing in the middle of the paper down the center, dated Feb. 22, 2005. (he died on the 20th) It said, "counselor". that was it, I'm sure we will probably never know what it is and it will go on to be his "rosebud" for many years.

Well, thats my Thompson speal for today. i'm glad you enjoyed the film Vercetti. If you ever have any questions on or about Thompson, I will be more than glad to talk with you about him or any of his films or works. Or ANYBODY on the board for that matter. Thanks for reading and enjoy the King of Fun.

The Doc

I haven't read the book, but I think Terry Gilliam also deserves some praise for being able to translate the supposedly confusing book to the screen.

I can't wait to see Brazil, which will probably be far from now since the Criterion DVD is $60.

Yeah, the book used to be called "unmakable" when it was referred to being transformed into film. Gilliam did an amazing job, but Hunter had some disagrements with with him. Listen to the commentary by Hunter on the Criterion Edition for more info on this.

The Doc

Can anyone tell me the name of the song that plays when the hippie sniffs the LSD off of Duke's arm?

It's not a real song I think. I believe it is a studio-made song. It only lasts about 25 seconds. The song immediately following it is called "Lets Get Together" by the Youngbloods during the "Wave Scene".

It's not listed at all on the music used in the film page on IMDB. It's not a real song. Sorry man. It is cool though. Try downloading "Expecting to Fly" by Buffalo Springfield, written by Neil Young. It's good.

The Doc

That, along with "Jumpin' Jack Flash", is my favorite song in the movie.
You mentioned you heard Hunter's commentary:
What's with all the high pitch squealing throughout? What was he taking?
It was a hilarious commentary, but I'm afraid it didn't offer the insight I had expected. He was certainly one of a kind.

On a side note:
As much as I loved the novel, I really want to recommend "The Rum Diary" to everyone here. It's Hunter's first, and I dare say it is the most entertaining book I have ever read.

He was probably smoking weed. He rarely did other drugs, or in current times I should say, in front of people. He does that just because thats how he is. He gets waves of "bad craziness" and starts screaming. It helps relax him. I loved his part talking about the Book of Revelations and God. it was fascinating to hear him speak so candidly.

By the way, The Rum Diary is not his first book. The still unpublished, Prince Jellyfish, was his first. Written while he was living around America after he just got out of the army. No clear plot line has been given but it involes him, I'm sure. Hunter always said he could never write fiction. The Rum Diary is fiction, but based on his experiences with friends in Puerto Rico. Hopefull this, and many of his other unpublished works will now be released. His legal rep said that one of his wishes was for his entire catalog to be sold to a worthy university. And his memoirs and unpublished works were to be released too. I CAN'T WAIT!! There might even be a movie based on The Rum Diary, but much of it is, and has been for a while, in Limbo,(as was Fear and Loathing when it was concieved) I'm glad you enjoyed it.

The Doc

Interesting Hunter Fact: To practice writing, when he was young, Hunter used to copy famous works. He even sat down one time and wrote out the entire "The Great Gatsby" by F. Scott Fitzgerald. One of his favorite writers.(He named his son Juan Fitzgerald Thompson) He did it to get a feel of writing a masterpiece. Food for thought.

My favorite musical moment was "She's a Lady" by Tom Jones playing when he enters Vegas. I also liked "Magic Moments" from Perry Como.

"One toke man, one toke over the line. One toke over the liiiinnnneeeeeee."
~Dr. Gonzo (Benicio Del Toro) While listening to "One Toke Over The Line".

Awesome scene.

One toke you fool? :p

Hahhaha.

I love the scene,

"Did you see what GOOOODD just did to us man!?"

"God didn't do that, you did. You're a fucking narcotics agent!"

Hahahah. What a film!

The Doc

They are filming the rum diary right now with Benicio and Johnny. BTW, is that song actually about toking weed because it sounds a little too religious for that?

I heard they are filming it too. But they can't be filming right now. Fact-of-the-matter is that Johnny is still filming Pirates 2 and begining production for Pirates 3. They found a director, (not a very good one I might add), but Johnny's commitments are making it hard to get the project done. They have both (Depp and Del Toro) expressed their dislike of the current script and have been noted saying things like, "We want the script to be perfect and the time is not right now. It will get done though." So though this film has been "in production" for well over a year now, it still seems we will have to wait a while to see another Thompson film.

For all those sick of waiting, check out "Where the Buffalo Roam" with Murray as Thompson. Especially you, Vercetti. I want to know what you think of it having just seen FALILV.

The Doc

I still have to watch this one. Theres still that poor DVD version here in Germany with no extras...Gotta wait for the criterion edition to be released, only GOD knows when...
I watched BLOW today and LOVED it...