Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas

Spectacularly psychedelic road movie adapted from Hunter S Thompson’s infamous piece of gonzo journalism. A writer and his attorney drive from LA to Las Vegas on a drugs binge., Psychedelic road movie, adapted from Hunter S Thompson’s cult novel, about a journalist and his attorney friend who drive from LA to Las Vegas on a huge drugs binge, finding paranoia and misadventure at every turn, Terry Gilliam (Brazil, Twelve Monkeys, The Fisher King) directed this colorful, stylized, pseudo-psychedelic $21-million adaptation of the 1971 Hunter S. Thompson classic, Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas: A Savage Journey into the Heart of the American Dream, about stoned sportswriter Raoul Duke, Thompson’s alter ego, on a wild drug-crazed road trip, a paranoid plummet into the belly of the beast, with his pal, lawyer Oscar Zeta Acosta. Originally serialized in Rolling Stone (November 1971), the book catapulted Thompson headfirst toward the Kerouac-Mailer-Capote pantheon and jump-started the entire movement of “gonzo journalism.” Carrying a suitcase of drugs, Raoul Duke (Johnny Depp with shaved pate) and his attorney Dr. Gonzo (Benicio Del Toro) drive a red convertible across the Mojave from L.A. to Vegas, where Duke has an assignment to cover the Mint 400 desert motorcycle race. As the drugs kick in, Duke ventures into voiceover, filling in the blank spots and narrative gaps. “This is not a good town for psychedelic drugs,” says Duke, but even so, they consume vast quantities, eventually escalating to ether. Duke notes that with ether “you can actually watch yourself behaving this terrible way, but you can’t control it.” The two trash their hotel room, and Gonzo goes back to L.A. Thinking the hotel room holocaust will lead to an arrest, Duke begins a drive back to L.A., but after an odd encounter with a highway patrolman (Gary Busey) and a telephone conversation with Gonzo, he returns to Vegas to cover the District Attorney Convention on Narcotics and Dangerous Drugs in the glitzy Flamingo Hotel. This time the drugged-out duo trash their Flamingo room. The crazed carnival atmosphere segues into a carney casino, Bazooko’s Circus, where a barker (Penn Jillette) spiels amid aerialists, clowns, and a rotating carousel bar. Gonzo worries over runaway teen Lucy (Christina Ricci), who paints portraits of Barbra Streisand. Soon the hallucinations begin: Duke sees Gonzo transmogrify into a demon with breasts on its back, and an acid vision of a Vegas bar features large legit lounge lizards (courtesy of monster makeup man Rob Bottin). Flashbacks depicting Duke’s intro to the drug scene jump back to love-Haight relationships in San Francisco’s Summer of Love. Cameos and guest stars include Mark Harmon, Cameron Diaz, Flea, Lyle Lovett, Harry Dean Stanton, Ellen Barkin, Tobey Maguire, and Hunter S. Thompson himself. The film features a Geffen Records soundtrack mixing rock of the period with Vegas lounge tunes. Over the years, various script adaptations came and went as did numerous talents; people connected with past efforts to film Thompson’s book include Martin Scorsese, Jack Nicholson, Dan Aykroyd, John Belushi, and writer-director Alex Cox. Shown in competition at the 1998 Cannes Film Festival., Based on Hunter Thompson’s classic book, Terry Gilliam’s film stars Johnny Depp as Raoul Duke (a thinly disguised Thompson) and Benicio Del Toro as his companion Dr. Gonzo en route to Las Vegas to report on a convention of district attorneys, fuelled only by a collection of almost every illegal drug going and enough booze to float a battleship., A manic journalist and his pudgy lawyer take a debauched, drug-dazed trip through the psychedelic landscape of decadent Las Vegas during the early 1970s. Director Terry Gilliam’s adaptation of the autobiographical novel by Hunter S. Thompson. Johnny Depp, Benicio Del Toro, Ellen Barkin., Psychedelic road movie, adapted from Hunter S Thompson’s cult novel, about a journalist and his attorney friend who drive from LA to Las Vegas on a huge drugs binge, finding paranoia and misadventure at every turn., Terry Gilliam directs this quirky road movie based on the novel by Hunter S Thompson. Johnny Depp stars as Raoul Duke, a sports writer who loads up his red convertible with a boot-load of mind-bending drugs and sets off for Las Vegas with his lawyer in tow., Johnny Depp stars as a writer on assignment who goes on a drug-fueled binge in Las Vegas with his lawyer, Dr Gonzo. Adapted from Hunter S. Thompson’s 1971 novel., Terry Gilliam’s film stars Johnny Depp as Raoul Duke (a thinly disguised Thompson) and Benicio Del Toro as his companion Dr. Gonzo en route to Las Vegas to report on a convention of district attorneys, fuelled only by a collection of almost every illegal drug going and enough booze to float a battleship.