Gonzo: The Life and Work of Dr. Hunter S. Thompson
{{Use American English|date=January 2025}}
{{Infobox film
| name = Gonzo: The Life and Work of Dr. Hunter S. Thompson
| image = Gonzoposter.jpg
| caption = Theatrical release poster
| director = Alex Gibney
| producer =
| writer =
| starring =
| narrator = Johnny Depp
| cinematography =
| editing =
| studio = HDNet Films
| distributor = Magnolia Pictures
| released = {{Film date|2008|01|20|Sundance Film Festival}}
| runtime = 118 minutes
| country = United States
| language = English
| budget =
| gross =
}}
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;{{cite web|url=http://www.sundance.org/festival/press_industry/releases/pdf/2008_SFF_Announces_Films_In_Competition.pdf |title=2008 Sundance Film Festival Announces Films in Competition |date=2007-11-28 |access-date=2008-01-07 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080625173658/http://www.sundance.org/festival/press_industry/releases/pdf/2008_SFF_Announces_Films_In_Competition.pdf |archive-date=2008-06-25 }} it was released in US theaters on July 4, 2008, and released on DVD on November 18, 2008.{{cite web|url=https://www.amazon.com/dp/B001EDFSIQ |title=Gonzo: The Life and Work of Dr. Hunter S. Thompson on Amazon|website=Amazon|date=18 November 2008}}
Release
The film was released in theaters in the US on July 4, 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.{{Cite web|url=https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0479468/awards|title = Gonzo: The Life and Work of Dr. Hunter S. Thompson - IMDb|website = IMDb}} In 2009 The Gonzo album notes, co-authored by Johnny Depp and Douglas Brinkley, were nominated for a Grammy award.{{cite magazine |last1=Kreps |first1=Daniel |title=Springsteen, Depp and Hall & Oates: Charting the 2010 Grammy's Strangest and Most Intriguing Storylines |url=https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-news/springsteen-depp-and-hall-oates-charting-the-2010-grammys-strangest-and-most-intriguing-storylines-237363/ |magazine=Rolling Stone |access-date=February 29, 2020 |date=December 3, 2009}}
Reception
The film received generally positive reviews, The Hollywood Reporter opining that "a biographical documentary doesn't get any better than this".{{cite web |last1=Honeycutt |first1=Kirk |title=Gonzo: The Life and Work of Dr. Hunter S. Thompson |url=http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/review/gonzo-life-work-dr-hunter-125998 |website=The Hollywood Reporter |access-date=February 29, 2020|date=January 25, 2008}}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."{{Cite web|url=http://www.metacritic.com/video/titles/gonzo|title = Gonzo: The Life and Work of Dr. Hunter S. Thompson|website = Metacritic}}
The film received positive reviews from Entertainment Weekly, The New York Times and the Chicago Sun-Times, amongst others. Rotten Tomatoes lists a rating with 86% of critics recommending the film.{{cite web |url = http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/gonzo_the_life_and_work_of_dr_hunter_s_thompson/|title = Gonzo: The Life and Work of Hunter S. Thompson (2008)|publisher = Rotten Tomatoes|access-date = 2017-01-29}}
References
{{reflist}}
- [http://film.orange.co.uk/OrangeFilm/gonzo-the-life-and-work-of-dr-hunter-s-thompson/_entry/daa58cd2612fb5dc/jsps/fullReview Gonzo: The Life and Work of Dr. Hunter S. Thompson]{{Dead link|date=December 2022 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }} review on Orange Film
External links
- {{official website|http://www.huntersthompsonmovie.com|Gonzo: The Life and Work of Dr. Hunter S. Thompson}}
- {{IMDb title|0479468|Gonzo: The Life and Work of Dr. Hunter S. Thompson}}
{{Hunter S. Thompson}}
{{Alex Gibney}}
Category:Documentary films about writers
Category:American independent films
Category:Works about Hunter S. Thompson
Category:American documentary films
Category:2008 documentary films
Category:Films directed by Alex Gibney
Category:Films produced by Graydon Carter
Category:Magnolia Pictures films