Gonzo: The Life and Work of Dr. Hunter S. Thompson (Arthouse Films) (2008)

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General		Extras
Category	Documentary	Audio Commentary Audio Bites Deleted Scenes Interviews-Cast Music Video-Wayward and Weary by Tift Merritt Gallery-Poster Gallery-Photo Trailer-Other Madman Films
Rating
Year Of Production	2008
Running Time	119:50
RSDL / Flipper	RSDL (84:57)	Cast & Crew
Start Up	Menu
Region Coding	4	Directed By	Alex Gibney
Studio Distributor	Magnolia Pictures Madman Entertainment	Starring	Hunter S. Thompson
Case	Custom Packaging
RPI	?	Music	David Schwartz

Video		Audio
Pan & Scan/Full Frame	None	English Dolby Digital 5.1 (448Kb/s) English Dolby Digital 2.0 (224Kb/s) English Audio Commentary Dolby Digital 2.0 (224Kb/s)
Widescreen Aspect Ratio	1.78:1
16x9 Enhancement
Video Format	576i (PAL)
Original Aspect Ratio	1.78:1	Miscellaneous
Jacket Pictures	Yes
Subtitles	None	Smoking	Yes, If you can think of it, he probably smoked it
		Annoying Product Placement	No
		Action In or After Credits	No

    Hunter S. Thompson lived and died as one of the world's most progressive journalists. At least until his fame (or infamy) prevented him from really telling things as they were. He pioneered Gonzo journalism, even coining the term, and proudly offered a string of cynical opinions in place of traditional objectivity. His penchant for drugs, booze and guns were legendary, inspiring the dubiously autobiographical Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas (based on his own novel and starring Johnny Depp, who provides occasional narration to this film) and numerous essays in Rolling Stone (who bankrolled the majority of his existence). When he felt he was no longer relevant, he left the world "on his own terms" care of a combination of those vices.

    Composed primarily of recent interviews with his family and many celebrity friends (movie stars, journalists, politicians), as well as archival footage and audio of Hunter himself, Gonzo: The Life and Work of Dr. Hunter S. Thompson examines exactly what the title suggests. Admittedly "examines" is a bit misleading. Gonzo is primarily a celebration of the man. Many key points of Thompson's life and key works are touched upon. Specifically featured are Hell's Angels: A Strange and Terrible Saga (the exposé that put him on the map), Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas (his infamous drug-fuelled trip to Las Vegas), Fear and Loathing on the Campaign Trail '72 (a collection of essays on the 1972 US presidential race) and the time he ran for Sheriff.

    On the surface, examining the life and works one of the twentieth century's more entertaining and influential drug addicts seems like an odd choice for director Alex Gibney and his Australia producer Eva Orner. Their last documentary, the Oscar winning Taxi To The Dark Side, focused on the extreme torture practices carried out by US forces in recent years. Before that, Gibney made his name with the scathing corporate exposé Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room. True to the roots of its makers, Gonzo has a particular focus on Thompson's political and social influence rather than a more intimate exploration of the man. The film provides an engaging, though lengthy, primer on Hunter S. Thompson but the film omits some noteworthy works, such as The Rum Diary and The Curse of Lono, and brushes aside large portions of his life. These omissions certainly don't stop Gonzo from being worth watching, however they do prevent this from being a definitive documentary on the man and many fans will see it as little more than a tribute.

    Clocking in at pretty much spot on 120 minutes, Gonzo feels very long. Although it remains interesting throughout and maintains a reasonably fluid narrative, many of its points are laboured and frequently it seems as though the interviewees are repeating one another or the narration. The material on offer could have undoubtedly been more tightly edited, which may have even left room to cover some of the forgotten chapters of Hunter S. Thompson's life.

    Gonzo: The Life and Work of Dr. Hunter S. Thompson is an interesting introduction to Hunter S. Thompson that will leave many wishing it had been a little more.

Video

The film is presented in a 1.78:1 aspect ratio and is 16x9 enhanced. The image presented appears to be the the full frame of the original digital HD-shot image (the film was cropped to 1.85:1 theatrically).

The image is clear and as sharp as could be expected. Some of the archival footage is, understandably, of lower quality. The recent interview footage features eye-popping bold colour, whilst the colour of the archival footage looks true to its original source.

There is no sign of digital artefacts in the video. The level of grain and film artefacts in archival footage is mixed, but never unreasonable, and it certainly adds to its authenticity.

This is a RSDL disc. The layer change appears quite noticeably at 84:57.

Video Ratings Summary

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Audio

The film features an English Dolby Digital 5.1 (448Kbps) audio track and an English English Dolby Digital 2.0 (224Kbps) audio track. The difference between the two is barely noticeable.

The dialogue is clear and easy to understand throughout. Some of the archival audio, particularly Thompson's old taped notes, is noticeably crackly and aged, but is still well and truly clear enough to readily understand.

There is no noteworthy suround usage, though the innocuous background music does push to the surrounds. Likewise for the subwoofer.

Audio Ratings Summary

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Audio Commentary with Director Alex Gibney

Director Alex Gibney provides an interesting commentary in which he pretty much outlines his own personal feeling about Hunter S. Thompson, which he managed to subdue to a limited extent in the film itself, as well as providing further context to the feature. Well worth a listen and more or less makes up for a lack of "making of" material.

"The Gonzo Tapes" Audio Excerpts

Two segments from "The Gonzo Tapes", Hunter S. Thompson's personal recorded notes for Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas. The tapes are available in their entirety in a seperate 5 CD set. This provides a good taste for their content (much like this documentary provides a taste of Thompson rather than the whole picture).

Deleted Scenes (20:11)

A bit of a mixed bag of archical footage that didn't make it into the movie. No real context information is provided save for some basic titling. Of particular note is a 12-odd minute interview from 1973 for a Colorado community TV station and an oddly hilarious advertisement for the San Fransisco Chronicle newspaper featuring Hunter S. Thompson.

Extended Interviews (13:59)

Extra interview footage covering a range of topics. The most interesting being a segment on the memorable art of Ralph Steadman, whose unique drawings illustrated and accompanied the bulk of Hunter S. Thompson's work. Also of particular note is an extended segment about the bizarre memorial held for Thompson, of his own design, in which his ashes were blown from a giant fist shaped cannon.

Wayward and Weary by Tift Merritt - Music Video (4:03)

An utterly unnecessary music video for a song about Hunter S. Thompson by country musician Tift Merritt. Not really a bad song, but it really doesn't add anything to the package.

Photo and Art Galleries

Possibly the highlight of the lot, which is highly unusual for this kind of extra. Numerous galleries are featured, including a collection of more than 70 of Ralph Steadman's iconic Thompson-inspired art, shots of Thompson memorabilia, notes, Thompson with his guns and Thompson through the various eras covered in the film.

Madman Trailers

Trailers for 4 unrelated other Madman releases.

Magnolia have released the film in Region 1 featuring a near-identical set of extras. The Region 1 edition misses out on trailers for 4 unrelated other Madman releases but is otherwise identical save for PAL/NTSC formatting.

An interesting introduction to Hunter S. Thompson that will leave many wishing it had been a little more.

The disc features excellent video and audio, along with an decent number of quality extras.

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Audio
Extras
Plot
Overall