Gonzo: The Life and Work of Dr. Hunter S. Thompson
Encyclopedia
Gonzo: The Life and Work of Dr. Hunter S. Thompson is a 2008 documentary film
directed by Alex Gibney
. It details Hunter S. Thompson
's landmark writings on music and politics. Friends and family (including Tom Wolfe
and Ralph Steadman
) provide interviews to help describe the mythos of Hunter and his life.
The film premiered on January 20 in the Documentary Competition at the 2008 Sundance Film Festival
,, released in theaters in the U.S. on July 4, 2008, and on DVD
on November 18, 2008.
and Douglas Brinkley
, were nominated for a Grammy award.
opining that "a biographical documentary doesn't get any better than this." The New York
magazine called the release "A tender, even-tempered elegy to a writer who at his peak could ingest staggering (literally) amounts of drugs and alcohol and transform, like Popeye after a can of spinach, into a superhuman version of himself-- more trenchant, more cutting, more hilarious than any political journalist before or since."
Variety
also praised the film, saying "subject's career being inextricably tied to two extremely entertaining U.S. decades, Gonzo has a wealth of delightful archival footage to draw on, both directly involving Thompson and evoking the cultural landscape around him.", and the film received positive reviews from Entertainment Weekly
, the New York Times and the Chicago Sun-Times
, amongst others. Rotten Tomatoes currently lists a 'Certified Fresh' rating with 86% of critics recommending the film.
Documentary film
Documentary films constitute a broad category of nonfictional motion pictures intended to document some aspect of reality, primarily for the purposes of instruction or maintaining a historical record...
directed by Alex Gibney
Alex Gibney
Alex Gibney is an American documentary film director and producer. In 2010, Esquire magazine said Gibney "is becoming the most important documentarian of our time."...
. It details Hunter S. Thompson
Hunter S. Thompson
Hunter Stockton Thompson was an American journalist and author who wrote The Rum Diary , Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas and Fear and Loathing on the Campaign Trail '72 .He is credited as the creator of Gonzo journalism, a style of reporting where reporters involve themselves in the action to...
's landmark writings on music and politics. Friends and family (including Tom Wolfe
Tom Wolfe
Thomas Kennerly "Tom" Wolfe, Jr. is a best-selling American author and journalist. He is one of the founders of the New Journalism movement of the 1960s and 1970s.-Early life and education:...
and Ralph Steadman
Ralph Steadman
Ralph Steadman is a British cartoonist and caricaturist who is perhaps best known for his work with American author Hunter S. Thompson.-Personal life:Steadman was born in Wallasey, Cheshire, and brought up in Towyn, North Wales...
) provide interviews to help describe the mythos of Hunter and his life.
The film premiered on January 20 in the Documentary Competition at the 2008 Sundance Film Festival
2008 Sundance Film Festival
The 2008 Sundance Film Festival ran from January 17, 2008 to January 27 in Park City, Utah. It was the 24th iteration of the Sundance Film Festival. The opening night film was In Bruges and the closing night film was CSNY Déjà Vu.-Films:...
,, released in theaters in the U.S. on July 4, 2008, and on DVD
DVD
A DVD is an optical disc storage media format, invented and developed by Philips, Sony, Toshiba, and Panasonic in 1995. DVDs offer higher storage capacity than Compact Discs while having the same dimensions....
on November 18, 2008.
Release
The film was released in theaters in the US on the 4th of July 2008, and in the UK later that year. The DVD was released in November 2008. The film was premiered in January 2008 at the Sundance Film Festival.Awards
The film was nominated for the Grand Jury prize in the documentary genre at the Sundance Film Festival, and for the Best Documentary Screenplay at the Writers' Guild of America awards in 2009. In 2009 The Gonzo album notes, co-authored by Johnny DeppJohnny Depp
John Christopher "Johnny" Depp II is an American actor, producer and musician. He has won the Golden Globe Award and Screen Actors Guild award for Best Actor. Depp rose to prominence on the 1980s television series 21 Jump Street, becoming a teen idol...
and Douglas Brinkley
Douglas Brinkley
Douglas Brinkley is an American author, professor of history at Rice University and a fellow at the James Baker Institute for Public Policy. Brinkley is the history commentator for CBS News and a contributing editor to the magazine Vanity Fair...
, were nominated for a Grammy award.
Reception
The film received generally positive reviews, The Hollywood ReporterThe Hollywood Reporter
Formerly a daily trade magazine, The Hollywood Reporter re-launched in late 2010 as a unique hybrid publication serving the entertainment industry and a consumer audience...
opining that "a biographical documentary doesn't get any better than this." The New York
New York (magazine)
New York is a weekly magazine principally concerned with the life, culture, politics, and style of New York City. Founded by Milton Glaser and Clay Felker in 1968 as a competitor to The New Yorker, it was brasher and less polite than that magazine, and established itself as a cradle of New...
magazine called the release "A tender, even-tempered elegy to a writer who at his peak could ingest staggering (literally) amounts of drugs and alcohol and transform, like Popeye after a can of spinach, into a superhuman version of himself-- more trenchant, more cutting, more hilarious than any political journalist before or since."
Variety
Variety (magazine)
Variety is an American weekly entertainment-trade magazine founded in New York City, New York, in 1905 by Sime Silverman. With the rise of the importance of the motion-picture industry, Daily Variety, a daily edition based in Los Angeles, California, was founded by Silverman in 1933. In 1998, the...
also praised the film, saying "subject's career being inextricably tied to two extremely entertaining U.S. decades, Gonzo has a wealth of delightful archival footage to draw on, both directly involving Thompson and evoking the cultural landscape around him.", and the film received positive reviews from Entertainment Weekly
Entertainment Weekly
Entertainment Weekly is an American magazine, published by the Time division of Time Warner, that covers film, television, music, broadway theatre, books and popular culture...
, the New York Times and the Chicago Sun-Times
Chicago Sun-Times
The Chicago Sun-Times is an American daily newspaper published in Chicago, Illinois. It is the flagship paper of the Sun-Times Media Group.-History:The Chicago Sun-Times is the oldest continuously published daily newspaper in the city...
, amongst others. Rotten Tomatoes currently lists a 'Certified Fresh' rating with 86% of critics recommending the film.