All language subtitles for Gonzo.2008.1080p.BluRay.x264.AAC5.1-[YTS.MX]

...handoff
on the left side.

...first down, hunter's out at
the 20-yard line and a big...

Sondi Wright: He'd
known for a long time

that he was no longer
a really good writer.

He had spurts.

Douglas Brinkley:
He lost that Gonzo edge.

Tom wolfe: I wonder what's
happening to old hunter.

He's kind of losing it.

Charles Perry: Creatively,
he had written all his great stuff.

He hadn't been really productive
for five or six years.

I think he just had
run out of juice.

Brinkley:
In hunter's last years...

In order to really get the
juices stirred up in him...

In what we call
quintessential hunter...

It took something like...

It had to almost a feel
like a kick in the groin.

Johnny Depp: "It was just after
dawn in Woody creek, Colorado",

when the first plane hit
the world trade center

in New York City
on Tuesday morning.

And as usual I was
writing about sports,

but not for long.

Football suddenly
seemed irrelevant

compared to the scenes of
destruction and utter devastation

"coming out
of New York on TV."

"The towers are gone now,
reduced to bloody rubble,"

along with all hopes
for peace in our time...

"In the United States
or any other country."

"Make no mistake about it:
We are at war now."

# "there must be
some way out of here" #

# Said the joker
to the thief... #

Depp: "It will be a religious
war... a sort of Christian jihad"

fueled by religious hatred

and led by merciless
fanatics on both sides...

Guerrilla warfare
on a global scale

"with no front lines
and no identifiable enemy."

# all along the watchtower #

# Princes kept the view #

# While all the women
came and went... #

Depp: "We're gonna punish
somebody for this attack",

but just who or what will be blown
to smithereens is hard to say...

"Maybe Afghanistan,
maybe Pakistan or Iraq."

# two riders were approaching #

# The wind began
to howl. #

"This is going to be
a very expensive war,"

and victory is not
guaranteed for anyone...

And certainly not for anyone
as baffled as George w bush.

He will declare
a national security emergency

and clamp down hard on everybody,
no matter where they live or why.

Winston Churchill once said,

'the first casualty of war
is always the truth.'

the lid is on.
Loose lips sink ships.

"Don't say anything that
might give aid to the enemy."

TV anchor: A giant of the
written word has died.

Hunter s Thompson
was a lot of things...

A journalist,
an author, a patriot,

a professional troublemaker,

a complex walking
monument to misbehavior

who apparently took his own
life with a gun last night.

Depp: "It was always at
night, like a werewolf",

that I would take the thing out

for an honest run
down the coast.

I would start
in golden gate park,

"thinking only to run a few
long curves to clear my head."

"The momentary freedom of the park
was like the one unlucky drink"

that shoves a wavering
alcoholic off the wagon.

But in a matter of minutes,
I'd be out at the beach

with the sound
of the engine in my ears,

the surf booming up
on the sea wall

and a fine empty road stretching
all the way down to Santa Cruz.

There was no helmet
on those nights,

no speed limit and no cooling
it down around the curves.

Then into second gear,
forgetting the cars

and letting the beast
wind out... 35, 45.

Then into third,
not worried about green or red signals

but only some other
werewolf loony.

Now there is no sound
except wind.

The needle leans down on 100,

and wind-burned eyeballs strain
to see down the centerline...

No room at all for mistakes.

"That's when
the strange music starts."

# in the night #

# Though we're apart... #

Depp: "The edge... there is
no honest way to explain it"

because the only people
who really know where it is

are the ones who have gone over.

The others... the living...

Are those who pushed their control as
far as they felt they could handle it,

and then pulled back,
or slowed down.

"But the edge...
Is still out there."

Man: What is your name, please?

My name is hunter Thompson.

My name is hunter Thompson.

My name is hunter Thompson.

Sonny barger:
I met hunter in the '60s

a short time before
he wrote the book on us.

And he went on to become

probably one
of the greatest writers

that America will ever have.

Doesn't mean he isn't
a jerk in my eyes,

but he's a very good writer.

Wolfe: Hunter reminds me
so much of Mark twain.

He was a reporter... twain
started out as a reporter...

With a wild imagination

and he's not trying to fool you.

You know immediately that
he is filtering reality

through what hunter
called Gonzo.

Man: Will the real hunter
Thompson please stand up?

Wright: Will the real
hunter Thompson stand up?

That was before I understood
what all that was going to mean.

Oops, are we marking?

Oh, no! God!
Help us, Jesus!

I know it.
It's in my interest...

Maybe in the interest
of greatest good...

For me to smoke
a joint and calm down.

Jimmy Carter: He was not
afraid to rock the boat,

to challenge the establishment

and express himself in unique and
radical, sometimes shocking, ways.

Pat Buchanan: He described me
as a half-crazed Davy Crockett

running around the parapets
of Nixon's alamo.

We were all amused by him.

He was an interesting guy
to be around.

He asked you
unexpected questions.

Most people were surprised
that I walk on two legs.

I think people think
I'm... very much...

Maybe a violent version
of that comic strip.

This is the last drawing
I did of him so far.

"My god! I musta missed...
It's hell down here!!"

Ralph steadman: He's pushing the
boundaries as much as he could.

Life to him was the challenge.

He was gonna be dead
at 30, anyway,

so now he was living
on borrowed time.

"Dear hunter, it is over a year"

since you set the scene for
your strangely-planned suicide.

The messages that I have
received from you

up to the bush/kerry
election of 2004

were infected
by a dismal undertone.

'If bush wins, ' you said,
'the planet is doomed.'

when you pulled
the trigger on your Magnum .44,

my first reaction was to
say, 'about bloody time.

He's been threatening
to do that for years.'

you were never
reasonable, and you knew,

in spite of your wayward spirit,

you were not invincible.

Those who grew to be a
threat to your America

continue to burgeon.

For you, it was
victory or game over.

I just wanted you to hang
around and nail the beauty

of that image of absolute evil.

But you leave us with a
blueprint, old sport.

Take it up with the gods.

"Send word.
Ralph."

Wright:
I think he was important

in a literary way

and also in a political way.

And I think that
his story is tragic.

He was loving.

He was generous.

On the other end
of the spectrum,

the boy in the man

was absolutely vicious.

God damn, you dumb-ass!
Reach under there

- and get some goddamned medicine!
- Man: Over here?

To the right.

Anita Thompson: Hunter
had two extremes in him

that he lived with constantly...

The generous, beautiful hunter

and the scary,
mean, cruel hunter.

And he was aware of both.

I don't know if he was in
control of both all the time,

but he was certainly
aware of both.

And they became
present in his life

when he was very young...
Both sides.

Brinkley: You've gotta go
back to louisville, Kentucky,

to understand him.
His father died when he was young.

So you had a mother
raising three boys

on a librarian salary.

He lived... it wasn't
even middle class,

it was a lower-
middle-class existence.

His friends were the rich
kids of louisville,

the ones that
had all the privilege.

So he was on the other side
of the railroad tracks.

Yet, hunter was very smart,
naturally intelligent,

and he always felt
a bit like the outsider.

He was a real hellion
on vandalism.

The seminal experience was
when he and a group of buddies

were partying
and smoking cigarettes

and drinking beer.
They were all arrested.

The rich kids who knew
the judges got out.

Hunter never got to walk
for graduation.

He was in jail.

Depp: "I could see the
moon hung high in the sky"

with a mocking grin on his face.

I seized the bars,
and shrieked and wailed

"like a soul
who's lost in hell."

Wright:
Essentially, inside...

Hunter was an agonized
human being.

But he also felt

like he had the potential

of being a really great writer.

Brinkley: "The great gatsby"
is how hunter learned to write.

He would type "the great
gatsby" over and over again

just to learn
the music of Fitzgerald.

"The great gatsby"
was filled with anger

that the whole deal
in American life was rigged.

Hunter identified with Fitzgerald
I'd say more than any other writer.

The difference is Fitzgerald would
look in on the candy store window,

look in on the storefronts
of the rich.

Hunter wanted
to smash the windows.

Wright: Hunter was
extremely seductive.

I was very attracted to hunter.

His energy was just phenomenal.

He wrote every day.

He was getting paid $100
for an article or something,

but we were very poor.

When I was pregnant with my son,

hunter shot elk
and I ate elk liver,

milk and salad, period.
That's all I ate.

Brinkley: Here was
a guy struggling.

He had his wife sondi with him.

He was living on a freelancer,

check to check,
barely able to pay rent.

So when he got the assignment

from Carey mcwilliams
of "the nation"

to write about this
phenomenon... hell's angels...

It was a big deal.

Man: "I, hunter
Thompson, am a writer."

Recently, I spent
over a year living

in close contact
with a notorious

California motorcycle gang
which is the basis

"of my new book,
'hell's angels.'"

signed
"hunter Thompson."

Uh, number two, approximately how many
members do the hell's angels have?

It varies.
Anywhere from...

I'd say 100 to 200.

Brinkley: Hunter
infiltrated the story.

He considered himself
a photojournalist.

In his early
applications for jobs,

he was always looking
to be a photographer.

Depp: "The sight of a photographer
invariably whips the angels"

into a kissing frenzy.
This is a guaranteed square-jolter,

and the angels are gleefully
aware of the reaction it gets.

'They can't stand it, '
says Terry.

'It blows their minds
every time...

"Especially
the tongue bit.'"

wolfe: It is one of the bravura
pieces of reporting of all time.

He actually, as they say,
ran with the angels for...

He was embedded, you know?

He was embedded in the
hell's angels battalion.

Depp:
"The menace is loose again."

The hell's angels,
the 100-carat headline,

running fast and loud
on the early-morning freeway

like genghis Khan
on an iron horse...

A monstrous steed
with a fiery anus,

flat out through the eye of a beer
can and up your daughter's leg

"with no quarter asked
and none given."

Brinkley: It was the
beginning of hunter

developing his style.

It is not Gonzo,
it's not surreal.

It is straight journalism,
but it's participatory.

Depp: "Weird as it seems,
as this gang of costumed hoodlums"

converged on monterey
that morning

they were on the verge
of 'making it big, '

as the showbiz people say,

and they would owe most of their
success to a curious rape mania

that rides on the shoulder
of American journalism

like some jeering,
masturbating raven.

Nothing grabs an editor's
eye like a good rape.

To them, the appearance
of the hell's angels

"must have seemed like a
wonderful publicity stunt."

Hell's angels accused
of rape and perversion,

theft, narcotics and violence.

And the attorney general says,

"they will no longer be
allowed to threaten the lives,"

the peace and security
of honest citizens.

Hell's angels are the biggest

"of the outlaw
motorcycle clubs."

Oh, shit!
I just can't do it.

Depp: "In a nation of
frightened dullards"

there's always a sorry
shortage of outlaws,

and those few who make the
grade are always welcome.

The hell's angels pose
for television cameramen

and answered questions
on radio call-in shows.

They were sought out
by mystics and poets,

cheered on by student rebels

"and invited to parties given
by liberals and intellectuals."

Number two, who is the author

that sort of leads the
kind of LSD sect out there

in los... San Francisco?

Ken kesey.

Number two,
the merry pranksters gave a party

for the hell's angels...
Were you there?

- ...That lasted two days?
- Yes.

We're going out on an
outing... on a sunday outing.

Oh, this is lovely.
You know, our little family.

And so we ended up...
Hunter said,

"oh, you know,
something's happening over...

Let's go just kind
of check it out."

The big banners out there saying

"the merry pranksters
welcome the hell's angels."

I thought I was
having a lot of fun.

Juan was in the car asleep.
Everybody was on acid.

I wasn't. Hunter wasn't.
He hadn't taken acid yet.

And everybody is
pretty happy and dancing

and then watching
this five-hour film

or something
kesey had put together.

And when we left...

Hunter said, "did you know
what was happening in there?"

And I said,
"what do you mean?"

And he said, "well,
there was a gangbang going on."

Hunter: I'm watching it as
I was about six feet away.

See from the door,
the lights were on,

there was a kind of a filmy
curtain over the door.

You could see shadows moving around on
the side. If you knew what was happening...

You could interpret the movements
of all these shadowy figures

behind this curtain...
silhouettes is what they were.

You could see people getting down on
her, other people holding her legs,

and really...

Surrealistically horrifying.

Brinkley: The tape recorder
for hunter was essential.

He always brought
a tape recorder...

Like those famous... now... tapes
of the hell's angels party.

Brinkley: Those tapes became a big
part of the book "hell's angels,"

but he also loaned
those tapes to Tom wolfe.

Wolfe used those tapes

and extracted things from them for
"the electric kool-aid acid test."

Wolfe: I had a hard
time with the tape

about the rape scene
at the hell's angels party.

It was dynamite,
from a reporting point of view,

but the thing was,
I knew who the key figures in that were.

One was the ex-wife...

Of Neal cassady.

And she quite willingly...

Invited the...

The entire corps

of hell's angels
to have a go at her.

Wright: It wasn't the kesey people
who were doing the gangbang.

They were about love
and happiness...

And togetherness
and community...

And love and light.
They were, the angels weren't.

Depp:
"It was about this time"

that my long-standing rapport with
the angels began to deteriorate.

For nearly a year I had lived in
a world that seemed, at first,

like something original.

It was obvious
from the beginning

that the menace bore little
resemblance to its publicized image.

Later, as they attracted
more and more attention,

the mystique
was stretched so thin

that it finally
became transparent.

The honeymoon came to a
jangled end on October 16th,

when the hell's angels attacked a
get out of Vietnam demonstration

"at the Oakland-Berkeley
border."

Man on TV: The bike rider
is Clifford workman,

treasurer of the hell's angels.

He's here to challenge
his biographer,

a tense young literary
journalist named hunter Thompson.

What did you think of the book?

Well, I'll tell you, al

and hunter,
everybody in this room,

That that book
is 60% cheap trash.

This is what happened: Junkie
George was beating his own lady.

- Al: Junkie George?
-

Clifford: Junkie George's
dog bit him, right?

- Hunter: I didn't see...
- to me, this is a personal affair.

If a guy wants to beat his
wife and his dog bites him,

that's between
the three of them.

But there was somebody
about 30' to my left

beating his wife
to a pulp on the rocks.

If he had been beating her that bad,
somebody would have stopped him.

Oh, no. Don't... don't...
You're kidding me

and you're gonna kid everybody else.
Nobody stopped him.

You know he beat his wife up.
You just said it, right?

You walked right up
to him and you said,

"only a punk beats
his wife and dog."

You finish it... - and he said,
"hunter, you want some of this?"

And you said, "no."
But you got it anyways.

And when he hit you,
three or four others hit you too.

We let them beat him up
for a minute,

then we broke it up and told
him to get out of there.

He left and got in his car.
Well, uh...

He says that he went
to the police station

all bloodied-up and they threw him
out, which is malarkey.

I mean, but it's part
of his style of writing.

Depp: "My face looked
like it had been jammed"

into the spokes
of a speeding Harley,

and the only thing
keeping me awake

was the spastic pain
of a broken rib.

It had been a bad trip...

Fast and wild in some moments,
slow and dirty in others,

but on balance
it looked like a bummer.

On my way back to San Francisco,

I tried to compose
a fitting epitaph.

I wanted something original,

but there was no escaping the
echo of mistah Kurtz's final words

from the 'heart of darkness':

'The horror!
The horror!

"Exterminate
all the brutes!'"

Brinkley: Although "hell's
angels" rocketed him

to name recognition and success,

he didn't see it himself as being
the successful book that he wanted.

It didn't sell enough for him,

even though it made
the best-seller list.

He didn't make enough money off of it.
He felt ripped off by the publisher.

He got frustrated with that.

He had thought that it
would be the home run,

but what it did do,
that book made him realize

that there was a market in
the freak circus of the '60s.

Brinkley: And it became this
thing going on out in the bay area

and hunter was
deeply part of it.

He used to drive
his bsa lightning motorbike

and go to the matrix and
befriended Jefferson airplane.

He had a huge crush
on grace slick.

# Oh!

# Is it any wonder
why I feel like #

# My whole
life is through? #

# Yeah! #

# When I stop feeling how
strong my love is for you... #

Jann wenner: The San Francisco
bay area was a hotbed

of live rock 'n' roll stuff,

drug culture,
psychedelics, kesey,

politics, campus activism.

It was more on the edge
culturally

than any other place in the country.
There's more freedom there.

"Rolling stone" began and
merged all those elements.

And we just thought there was a
time for a new kind of politics

and it would emerge out of the
rock 'n' roll consciousness

and that rock 'n' roll
ethos and that idea.

# Today I feel like
pleasing you #

# More than before... #

Wright: The energy
was just phenomenal.

It was like losing your identity

and being just kind of sucked...

Into whatever, you know?

Whatever... whatever this was,

it was some kind of
magical something or other.

# ...All I want to do #

# To be loving you #

# It'll all be there when
my dreams come true... #

Tim crouse: Hunter was a romantic.
Hunter's utopia,

which he had experienced
before I met him,

was San Francisco
in the early '60s.

But there was always
two great moral pressures...

The war and civil rights.

# Today you'll
make me say... #

Buchanan: There's bitterness
and nastiness to politics today,

but I don't sense
the same anger and rage

that we had in the 1960s...

Anti-war demonstrations, riots,

disorders of racial conflict,
the generational conflict.

And hunter was right
in the middle of that.

# ...Any more
than all I am #

# Would be a lie... #

Brinkley: The last period
where there was an optimism

in hunter about America
were the Kennedys,

with John Kennedy
and Bobby Kennedy.

Hunter liked that they
had such hubris.

They could be good politicians
but play hard at midnight.

That meant a lot.
Those were his guys.

I want the politics of hope,

because I think that we can
do better in this country.

And I don't think
that we can say

that we are joyous
or that we are happy

if 590 Americans are killed
in Vietnam last week

and if we have rioting
in our nation's capital.

I think that we can do better.

# ...All for you. #

Depp: "The day after
Robert Kennedy died"

I received a notice from the
local railway express office

saying my walther p-38
automatic pistol had arrived.

We shot it one afternoon, agreeing
that it had a very smooth action...

And then I sent it back.

Returning the p-38
solved nothing.

It only postponed the necessity

"of coming to grips
with my gun problem."

# hey, Joe... #

# Where you goin'
with that gun in your hand? #

Brinkley: Hunter saw guns as
one of the great things in life.

He loved shooting them and
firing them whenever he could.

# Where you goin'
with that gun in your hand? #

When he's at big sur,
he would go

wild-boar, wild-pig hunting
with a submachine gun.

Juan Thompson: I had a bb gun
when I was like seven, probably.

Those are some of my best
memories from that time,

because it was something
we both enjoyed doing,

but it was also because
it was time

we were building
our relationship

as a father and son,
and not just as kind of roommates.

Wenner: The guns... they
weren't just for amusement.

He liked the noise,
the violence and the destruction of it.

And he had that
in his personal life too.

We had a real violent streak.

Wright: The first time he took
acid, hunter says,

"sondi, get me the gun." I
said, "I can't get you the gun.

I'm terrified something
is gonna happen to Juan."

And... and hunter says,

"you get me that gun

or I'm throwing this boot
through the window."

He throws the boot
through the window.

Depp: "Had my brain turned
into jelly from too much acid?"

What was I doing
with all these guns?

My angst began to fester

as the gun-control argument
raged closer to home.

More and more people
began telling each other

that the gun was the ultimate
cure for what ails us...

"The American way."

Brinkley: By 1968,
hunter takes on this idea

that he's gonna be able to write
on the death of the American dream.

And hunter thought
that covering politics...

'68 was gonna be the book.

Depp: "I went to
Chicago as a journalist."

My candidate had been
murdered in Los Angeles

"two months earlier."

# come on, come on, come on #

# Come on #

# Didn't I make
you feel... #

Crouse: Hunter was in Chicago
right in the midst of the gas

and the beatings
and everything else.

And I think that
that was a milestone event

for hunter
that he never got over.

And he never forgave Humphrey
who was the candidate,

and he never forgave muskie who
was the vice-presidential candidate

for supporting mayor daley
and his Chicago police.

# Take it, take another little
piece of my heart now, baby... #

Depp: "I witnessed at least
10 beatings in Chicago"

that were worse than anything I
ever saw the hell's angels do.

I left in a state
of hysterical angst,

convinced by what I had seen

"that the American dream was
clubbing itself to death."

# if it makes you
feel good... #

Wright: There were only tears twice that
I remember ever in our 19 years together.

I remember one, when he came back
from the Democratic convention.

And he was telling me
the stories

about the people being beaten

and he... you know,
the tears just...

And that was very... you know.

It was... hunter was a
man that didn't cry.

# And baby, deep down
in your heart... #

Wright: And he cared so much.
Hunter was a patriot.

He knew the constitution,
he cared about it,

and then there he was in Chicago
and it's all being destroyed.

# Take it, take
another little piece... #

Wright: I think Chicago
inspired him to do...

To do more,
to get more involved.

# Take another little
piece of my heart #

# Now, darling,
yeah yeah yeah # - # oh, have a... #

Wenner: Right away,
riots started... Chicago, '68 took place.

Then that was kind of a
radicalizing, galvanizing event.

We were already eschewing
mainstream nostalgia in politics

saying, "look, the system is too rigged.
Politics is..."

Fine, but in
some other venue."

I got a letter from hunter
out of the blue,

complimenting me on "rolling
stone," how much he liked it.

So I wrote him back and said,
"what are you doing these days?"

I'd love to have you
in the magazine."

Then he mentioned
he was running for sheriff.

So I said, "how about that?
Sounds great."

It's the kind of thing
we would run today,

you know, somebody running for sheriff
in Aspen, trying to take over the town.

James salter:
Hunter Thompson is a moralist

posing as an immoralist.

Nixon is an immoralist
disguised as a moralist.

This is James salter.

There'll be thieves and auto wrecks
in Aspen whoever gets elected,

but hunter represents
something wholly alien

to the other candidates
for sheriff...

Ideas, and the sympathy

towards the young, generous,
grass-orientated society,

which is making
the only serious effort

to face the technological
nightmare we have created.

The only thing against him is

he is a visionary who
wants to cure the world.

George stranahan: First of all,
he drove everybody batshit nuts.

Hunter was my friend
and neighbor,

the man who never paid his
rent, broke up my marriage

and taught my children
to smoke dope.

Now hunter was outrageous,

but there was
such a sort of movement

that this guy may be crazy,

but better that than whitmire.

Announcer: The American sheriff's job
was carved out of the rugged west.

It was a desperately-
needed position

of few words, much action,
and little praise or glory.

Today the sheriff has
reams of responsibility.

But still... as in the past...
The number-one responsibility

is to protect his people
and enforce their laws.

Vote for and elect

Carrol whitmire for our sheriff.

I think a lot of places are
beyond this kind of politics.

We seemed to be running an
experiment that people were watching.

Stranahan: Hunter came to Aspen,
he had moved into our farm.

Hunter liked to talk politics.

I was just at that age
of war protest... 1968.

I was becoming political...

And so hunter and I had a
lot in common to talk about.

Bob braudis: Aspen then was
a magnet for intellectuals

who wanted to drop out.

And hunter convinced us

that we didn't have much
effect on what happened

in Washington day to day

and what happened in Washington from day
to day didn't have much effect on us.

But what happened in pitkin
county had a visceral,

daily, hourly effect on
the way we lived here.

People didn't understand that
Aspen was a battleground.

Aspen was more of a Disneyland.

Hunter was a visionary.
He understood more about land use

and development
than any of us did.

Nobody at the time was
standing up to the bulldozers.

"Tentative platform,
Thompson for sheriff,"

Aspen, Colorado, 1970:

1... rip up all city streets
with jackhammers

and sod the streets at once.

2... change the name 'Aspen'
to 'fat city.'

this would prevent
greedheads, land-rapers

and other human jackals from
capitalizing on the name 'Aspen.'

these swines should be
fucked, broken,

and driven across the land.

3... it will be
the general philosophy

of the sheriff's office
that no drug worth taking

should be sold for money.

My first act as sheriff

will be to install on the
courthouse lawn a set of stocks

in order to punish
dishonest dope dealers

"in a proper
public fashion."

Juan: I was only
about six at the time,

but legend has it that
my father shaved his head

so he could say, "unlike my long-haired
opponent, sheriff whitmire."

I just wish I could
have been old enough

to really understand
people's reaction

about this crazy,
bald, freak drug-fiend

who was about to take over
the whole political mechanism.

# Holly came
from Miami, f.L.A... #

Hunter Thompson is the only
candidate who has the imagination

and intelligence to be
a law-enforcement executive.

Elect hunter Thompson sheriff.

You haven't been listening!

Why doesn't anybody
listen to me anymore?!

This is for your own good!

# Hey, honey, take
a walk on the wild side... #

Braudis: At the start,
I think it was more to get a message out

knowing that defeat was certain.

The serious component of
hunter's campaign snowballed

and, as the movement
gained momentum,

I think hunter actually
believed that he had a chance.

And a lot of us that were supporting
hunter shared that belief.

We're trying to get together
a list of endorsements

for hunter Thompson for sheriff.

Braudis:
We were all freaks...

The people who came together
in support of hunter...

But I think our biggest issue
at the time was the environment,

and a secondary issue

was the illegal status of drugs.

What is that you're smoking?

This is what I believe
to be marijuana.

You mean you can't tell?

An awful lot of us
were smoking dope

because the government said,
"thou shalt not."

We said, "we shall."

Marijuana laws are
one of the reasons

that has engendered
this lack of respect

that cops complain about
all over the country.

When you get a whole
generation that grows up

as felons, they know
the law is ridiculous

and they're told us
all this gibberish about it...

"it drives you crazy and makes your
brain soft, and your feet fall off."

Even the police know
it's a silly law.

It's time that we
either bridge that chasm

with some kind of realistic
law enforcement or else...

I don't think it's gonna be bridged in
this country. We're going to revolution.

Wright: I think that
was one of hunter's

greatest times, myself.

He had the passion
to move people,

change people's thinking,

make them act

and bring them out...
Not just defy authority

and take as many drugs
as you want,

but to make a real difference
trying to change the system,

make the system work

and make the system good.

He had that in him.

Whitmire: If he was elected
sheriff, I can foresee

that you would have an influx
of what we call the hippies.

And I think if this happened,

it would actually destroy Aspen.

Man: When you publicly
come out with statements

of mescaline, marijuana...

My good god!

This isn't the way
of American life.

# You walk into the room #

# With your pencil
in your hand #

# You see somebody naked #

# And you say,
"who is that, man?" #

They are raping our forests.
Some of them are living like animals.

# Because something
is happening here #

# But you don't know
what it is #

# Do you,
Mr. Jones? #

Hunter Thompson...

Has no grip on reality.
I think he's psychotic.

I think if there was ever
gonna be any excesses

within the sheriff's department,

I'd look for more out of hunter
Thompson than Carrol whitmire.

# And you go watch
the geek... #

Braudis: He was a
redneck and very popular

with the people who
controlled this valley then.

They didn't want
a smart sheriff.

They wanted people
who would do their bidding.

# Be such a freak... #

I'm not at all embarrassed at
the use of the word "freak."

I think the way things are
going, in this country today

it's a very honorable designation.
I'm proud of it.

# And something
is happening here... #

Hunter: We have a situation
here, an isolated town,

with a very unusual
kind of population.

We do have a freak power base.
It's undeniable.

We have about 1,000
votes that wouldn't...

If I went out there and walked through the
streets naked with a bomb in each hand,

They would still vote for me.

Braudis: One of hunter's
"freak power" tools

was to register people
who had never voted before.

Okay, where's this voting place?

Hunter, 182;
Whitmire, 137.

- Ricks, 10.
- Yeah! Right!

Woman: One could do
it, one could do it.

The suburbs...
The silent majority.

- Okay, here's the totals.
- Man: He's not available right at this second.

Whitmire, 204;

Hunter, 173.

Okay, uh...

Unfortunately,
it proved what I set out to prove...

And it was more a political
point than a local election...

that the American dream
really is...

Very hard to have
a baldheaded lunatic...

I'll do that for the cameras.
Hey, you fellows.

Man:
All right!

And we made a mistake
in thinking...

That the town was ready for
an honest political campaign.

Depp: "We frighten
the bastards so badly"

that on election day they
rolled people in wheelchairs...

Even on stretchers... into the
polling places to vote against us.

And when I lost,
they instantly got down to making sure

"that nobody like me could
ever run for office again."

We ran that story,

had the infamous poster
of a two-thumbed hand

holding a peyote button.

He came in and talked to an
editor named John lombardi.

Afterwards, lombardi,
who was from Philadelphia

and was not quite used
to the west coast crazy...

He said, "you know,
that hunter Thompson is weird."

He's really weird.

He came in with a box
full of wigs and hats.

He was taking them off
and putting them on

"in the middle
of the conversation."

# please allow me
to introduce myself #

# I'm a man of wealth
and taste... #

Wenner: Ralph is crazier
than hunter ever was.

Whereas hunter could always
pull back from the edge,

Ralph was a true believer.
And if it was time

to take the fucking thing
down, Ralph was prepared

to go in like guy Fawkes
and blow up parliament.

And so we had
this purity of vision,

and hunter saw that.

I know you from somewhere.
I wonder where.

# Pleased
to meet you... #

Have I seen you
somewhere before?

Are you listening to me?
Are you listening?

Please!

Stewardess: On behalf of rocky
mountain airways and your flight crew,

we'd like to thank you
for flying with us today.

Have a pleasant stay in Aspen

or wherever your final
destination might be.

Steadman: I think what
he saw in this connection

was somebody that somehow
saw the thing in pictures

as he saw it in words.
And that seemed to me

to be part of the whole
chemistry, of our chemistry,

that made Gonzo possible.

Here I go.

Perry: I've seen the
illustrations steadman was doing

before he worked with hunter.

He was much more conventional
before hunter got a hold of him.

Hunter told me
he liked steadman's stuff,

so he asked him to help him
cover the Kentucky derby

for a magazine
called "scanlan's."

And Ralph told me as soon
as he got off the airplane,

hunter gave him some psilocybin
and his life changed.

- Come on, buddy.
- Come on, hey! Hunter!

# When after all
it was you and me... #

So nice to see you.

Wright: Ralph...
When he first met hunter,

he'd never done any drugs.

He drank, but he'd never
done anything hallucinogenic.

And so here comes hunter,
he gives him mescaline

and he loses it.

You know, Ralph loses it.

Steadman:
I was a choirboy...

You know, decent,
innocent abroad.

You know how things are.

And so I guess
it was attractive,

that kind of raciness.

# Oh, yeah #

# Get down, baby... #

Steadman: I think the
birth of Gonzo happened

when the evil came out
of me in the drawings.

Depp: "Unlike most of the
others in the press box",

we didn't give a hoot in hell
what was happening on the track.

We had come to watch
the real beasts perform.

When the crowd stood
to face the flag

and sing
'my old Kentucky home, '

steadman faced the crowd
and sketched frantically.

Thousands of raving,
stumbling drunks

"getting angrier and angrier as
they lose more and more money."

Wolfe: In that story,
you get all of the attitudes

to the derby,
and you never get to the derby.

You're there to...
He said to come to the derby,

and you get all
the drunk southerners,

you get all
the weird socialites,

the weird bookies,
the hangers-on.

Depp: "It was a face I'd
seen a thousand times"

at every derby I'd been to.

I saw it in my head as the
mask of the whiskey gentry...

"The inevitable result
of too much inbreeding."

Hunter: First, I'd realized I
was doing something different.

A friend of mine,
he wrote me a note saying

"that derby piece
was pure Gonzo."

And I thought, "well,
if that's what it was..."

I thought
it was a brutal failure.

I'd botched my assignment,
you know?

It was one of my worst failures

and I got this onslaught
of mail... mail, calls...

Saying I made a great
breakthrough in journalism.

Well, Christ, if I made it...

As a breakthrough,
we've gotta call it something.

So I liked the word "Gonzo," and
it seemed to me what I was doing...

Kind of nice and crazy,
like zen. Gonzo.

# Hope you guess
my name... #

- I'm Edward.
- Steadman: He has a bird called Edward.

He's such a marvelous character.

I think hunter tormented it,
but it was kind of a two-way affection.

Hunter would use it,
I think, to bounce off,

to bring into the story

how he was feeling about
it, who was the bird.

I suppose that at some point
I, in a way, became the bird.

Speak up, Edward. Speak up!
Speak up! Talk to me!

He banged the cage...
Bang bang bang bang!

"Edward.
It's me, Edward.

I'm coming
to get you, Edward."

He'd open the cage, and he'd say,
"Edward, there is no bird god"

that's gonna help you
now, Edward."

And this bird's going...

Steadman: I feel like
Edward sometimes...

Now, we're going
to talk, Edward.

Steadman:
...Holding me like a bird,

and I'm trying to bite
my way out of it.

I never felt fear

when he was at the wheel.

There's no holes over here.

- Ooh!
- This is a big box.

No wonder why I don't buy
American cars. God damn it.

Move over, I'm gonna kill somebody!
You're too small!

I want to kill somebody
a lot bigger than you!

- What's the speed limit?
- 70. Oh my god, it's 75.

Holy shit.
No wonder he's going...

Duke's voice: We were
somewhere around barstow,

on the edge of the desert,
when the drugs began to take hold.

Suddenly, there was a
terrible roar all around us

and the sky was full of
what looked like huge bats,

all swooping and screeching
and diving around the car.

And a voice was screaming, "holy Jesus,
what are these goddamn animals?!"

Did you say
something? Huh?

Never mind.

- It's your turn to drive.
- # everybody's dancing... #

Duke's voice: "No point in
mentioning these bats," I thought.

"The poor bastard
will see them soon enough."

Wenner: "Fear and loathing in Las
Vegas"... it starts off like a rocket.

"We were somewhere
on the edge of barstow

when the drugs began
to take hold."

Well, that just grabs you...
Damn... right there,

the description of the trunk
what was in the trunk...

All the drugs, the salt shakers

full of mescaline, cocaine...
On and on and on.

It was mad genius stuff.

Duke's voice:
We had two bags of grass,

75 pellets of mescaline,

five sheets of high-powered
blotter acid,

a salt shaker
half-full of cocaine...

...a pint of raw ether,
and two dozen amyls.

Not that we needed
all that for the trip,

but once you get locked into
a serious drug collection,

the tendency is to push it
as far as you can.

# Don't matter
where you come from... #

Radio host:
A house subcommittee report

says illegal drugs killed
160 American gis last year,

40 of them
in Vietnam. Drugs...

# one toke over the line, sweet Jesus...
# - One toke, man!

# One toke over the line

# sittin' downtown
in a railway station #

# One toke
over the line... #

Wenner: Through all this time,
he's traveling with Oscar acosta.

They went there and had
this drug rampage.

- I found some good grass for $12 a lid.
- Hunter: Good.

- I just ordered two lids. I'll get it tomorrow.
- God bless you.

Wenner: Hunter's raoul Duke...
the author of the book...

We published whatever was
published in "rolling stone."

It was published
as "by raoul Duke."

Oscar transmogrifies
from Oscar zeta acosta,

crusading chicano attorney,
into Dr. Gonzo.

# I felt the joy and I
learned about the pain #

# Then my mama said... #

Laila nabulsi:
Raoul Duke and Dr. Gonzo

were hunter Thompson
and Oscar acosta.

He just used that as a cover.

You have these
sort of antiheroes.

It's "butch Cassidy
and the Sundance kid."

It's just the next
version in a way.

They're outlaws.
These guys were fighting

and they really
were in real life.

Oscar acosta was using the law

and the brown power movement

and hunter was fighting with
the pen and using journalism.

So they really were warriors
of their generation.

# ...In a railway station,
one toke over the line #

# One toke, one toke
over the line. #

Brinkley: When hunter
went to Las Vegas,

he was on an assignment
for "sports illustrated"

to write about
this motorcycle race.

They only wanted a very brief,
almost like a little box about the race.

He delivered this screed that
went on for about 60 pages

detailing the desert
and everything that happened.

And it had in it
a little bit of that

wild, druggy...

Feel that the final "fear and
loathing in Las Vegas" had.

Duke's voice: Ignore this terrible drug.
Pretend it's not happening.

Uh... hi there!

My name...

Uh...

- Raoul Duke.
- Your suite isn't ready yet, but...

Someone was looking for you.

No! We haven't done
anything yet. Move!

I can handle this.

At that point there was still

kind of that Timothy leary
approach to psychedelics

going around,
where it's this very pious thing.

You sat on a persian rug
and listened to Indian music.

There had been
very little in the way

of actually dealing with the fact that
when you're stoned on psychedelics,

you're often just
way out of control

and you don't know how
you're gonna handle things.

And hunter made that
his real topic.

Depp: "What leary
took down with him"

was the central illusion
of a whole lifestyle

that he helped create...

A generation
of permanent cripples,

failed seekers,
who never understood

the essential old-mystic
fallacy of the acid culture:

The desperate assumption that
somebody or at least some force

"is tending the light
at the end of the tunnel."

Woman: I don't know about you,
but I'm starting to feel that drink.

- Peanuts, man.
- Oh, god! Oh, god.

Two Cuba libres with beer
and mescal on the side.

Duke's voice: Terrible things
were happening all around us.

It's impossible to walk in
this muck... no footing at all.

Perry: At last there was a vocabulary
for talking about psychedelics,

and it was also an early
clue to the new direction...

More and more craziness from hunter.
Of course, he was high anyway.

I never saw the guy
without either a can of bud

or a bottle of wild
Turkey in his hand.

He drank a bottle
of bourbon a day,

and that was on top of all
the pills he was taking,

so he was just constantly pushing
the limit of consciousness.

Duke's voice: I was right in the
middle of a fucking reptile zoo

and somebody was giving booze
to these goddamn things.

It won't be long now before
they tear us to shreds!

Please!

Tell me about
the fucking golf shoes!

All: Huh?

The rejection by "sports
illustrated" infuriated him.

And it was only at that point
that he started realizing,

like, "Eureka!
Chicago may not be"

where the death
of the American dream is.

"It's Las Vegas."

# ooh yes! #

# Ooh yes! #

# These long strange nights #

# These long
strange nights... #

Wenner: Hunter had rented a Cadillac
and wanted me to pay for it.

I said, "no," you know? "I'm not
paying for the rent of a Cadillac."

And he was like, "well,
I can't cover the goddamn American dream"

in a Volkswagen.
What the fuck is wrong with you?"

And um...

You know, of course
that's quite true.

# Drive your stake #

# Through a darkened heart #

# In a red
Mercedes benz... #

Depp: "Breakdown
on paradise blvd."

"At this point
in the chronology,."

Dr. Duke appears to have
broken down completely.

The original manuscript
is so splintered

that we were forced to seek
out the original tape recording

"and transcribe it
verbatim."

Hunter:
Testing... one, two.

Closing.
Okay, it is now 11:30 A.M.

Depp: "The transcription
begins somewhere"

on the northeast outskirts
of Las Vegas...

"Zooming along paradise road
in the white whale."

- Hello.
- May I help you?

- Yeah. You have tacos here?
- Mm-hmm.

But they're five for a dollar?

I'll take five of them.

Do you want anything to drink?

Beer. No, I have
beer in the car...

Tons of it... the whole
back seat's loaded with it.

We're looking
for the American dream.

We were told that it was
somewhere in this area, but...

- The American dream?
- Yeah, the American dream.

- I'll tell you something... go to paradise.
- Is that it?

We're here looking for it
because they sent us out here,

all the way from San
Francisco, to look for it.

That's why they gave us
that white Cadillac.

They figured that we could
catch up with it in that.

Hey, Luke, do you know
where the American dream is?

Acosta:
She's asking him.

- What is it?
- That's what we don't know.

We were sent out here from San Francisco
to look for the American dream.

Now are you guys serious?!
Because...

Acosta: No, look at the car.
I mean, do I look like...

Could that be the old psychiatrists' club?
It was a discotheque place.

All we were told was,
"go till you find the American dream."

Take this white Cadillac

and go find the American dream.

"It's somewhere
in the Las Vegas area."

Are you taking
pictures of it or...

- no no no, pictures, just...
- somebody just sent you on a goose chase.

It's sort of a wild goose
chase more or less, yeah.

Woman: It has to be
the old psychiatrists'.

But the only people
who hang out there

is a bunch of pushers, peddlers,

- uppers-and-downers and all that stuff.
- Maybe that's it.

- Dopers.
- Could be it.

I think this place,
the way you're describing it...

I think... you know,
maybe that's it.

Wenner: Hunter said, you
know, Vegas is the city

that was the death
of what he thought

was the American dream.
In that famous scene,

he sees that opportunity and possibility
that was represented by the '60s.

"The wave rolls back

and, " he said, " once for
a beautiful moment there,

"- we thought we had it." - #
it feels the way we die... #

Duke's voice: San Francisco
in the middle of the '60s

was a very special time
and place to be a part of,

but no explanation,

no mix of words
or music or memories

can touch that sense of
knowing that you were there

and alive in that corner
of time in the world,

whatever it meant.

# And you may not
know why... #

Duke's voice: There was madness
in any direction, at any hour.

You could strike
sparks anywhere.

There was a fantastic
universal sense

that whatever
we were doing was right,

that we were winning.

And that, I think,
was the handle...

I have seen...
The promised land.

Duke's voice: ...That
sense of inevitable victory

over the forces of old and evil.

Not in any mean
or military sense;

We didn't need that.

Our energy would simply prevail.

We had all the momentum.

We were riding the crest of
a high and beautiful wave.

I may not get there with you,

but I want you to know tonight

that we as a people will
get to the promised land!

Duke's voice: So now,
less than five years later,

you can go up on a steep hill

in Las Vegas and look west

and with the right kind of eyes

you can almost see
the high-water Mark,

that place where
the wave finally broke...

And rolled back.

Martin Luther King was shot
and was killed tonight.

Nabulsi: It's amazing
to think that in 1971

he already saw that final nail
in the coffin of the '60s,

which is really bittersweet.

And I think for hunter
it was bittersweet,

so I think speech
sort of encapsulates that.

I haven't read anything else
on that generation,

that subject
that moves me as much.

I felt it was so important.

To me, it was the driving thing

that made me wanna do the movie.

Well, I don't like
the idea of it...

That isn't one of the best
fucking things I've ever written...

To turn it into some kind of
a stupid cartoon show...

Woman: It's one of the best things
that anybody's ever written.

I just happen to have
a very high affection

for that one piece
and so do other people.

Nabulsi: Before Terry Gilliam
was hired to direct the film,

there was another director,
but things didn't work out

when he wanted to put
this animated sequence

in the wave speech of this
little hunter on a wave of bones.

You can see that I might
be a little bit edgy

when you talk about putting
it in a cartoon form

with me on
some kind of tidal wave

across some imaginary
Mickey mouse desert.

Man: You've been put in
a cartoon form already.

The problem is that you've
published a novel with cartoons.

- I hired Ralph to do some drawings.
- And they're great.

- No no no no.
- You're really getting me angry.

Nabulsi: I know
hunter well enough

that even if he was mad,
I'm not terrified

and I know how
to get through it,

but I was just sort of shocked

that it had gone so awry.

Hunter on TV: Just don't fucking
go and make it a cartoon!

All right, we're having
a little problem here

with your goddamn stupid
fucking cartoons in this thing.

If you think you're in
charge of this movie,

we're gonna have
a real problem right now.

If you want war...
Here we go, baby...

There's gonna be
a nasty fucking war.

Yeah, but I don't like you
turning on me at the end.

I must say I don't
like that at all.

Hunter:
What should I have said?

"No, I've known Laila
for many years...

...And she would
never say that."

- Man #2: Fuck.
- He had a kind of over-the-top

dramatic way of being.

Yeah, I'll talk to hunter now.
Yeah, okay.

Hunter, how are ya?

Wenner: Hunter always had
to have a running crisis.

Going on of some type of other...

To animate him,
to get him going.

What disease? I mean, do you... is
it a potentially serious thing?

Brain... brain damage.

I see.

Jimmy buffet: Hunter did
everything for effect.

He was not ever happy,
I don't believe,

when things were
stable and tranquil.

Crouse: Hunter was
a force of nature.

Hunter would sit

very still and very straight

with his arms up
like this, waiting.

And all of a sudden,
he would get a jolt and he would type.

He also had deadlines,

and hunter never met a deadline.

He was completely
behind deadline.

He hadn't written a word and
jann was calling and screaming.

Hunter was, at that time,
carrying around the mojo wire...

Announcer:
Just insert the document...

...which was a suitcase-sized
portable transmission machine.

Announcer: In just
six minutes or less,

an exact copy of the document

can be received anywhere
in the country.

He said, "I've gotta do the story." I
said, "you haven't written the story."

"It doesn't matter.
Just... when I tell you to,"

just take the plug
and unplug it...

"In and out...
On the machine."

He called up
"rolling stone" offices,

"well, it doesn't seem
to be working."

The entire place is shut down

because everything has been
done except these four pages

- you've been holding for hunter.
- I was usually the guy,

at 2:00 or 3:00
in the morning,

who had to be there to get
the feed from hunter.

He took the fax machine,
held the phone like this and destroyed it.

And then he went into this rave

about some editor
on the other end,

then hung the phone up
and went to the bar.

Perry: Jann was generally so
happy with the kind of stuff

that hunter was turning in
that it didn't matter.

It was just merely
a damn inconvenience for us.

Young wenner:
The editor's note says

"after long, heavy and
occasionally brutal negotiations,."

Dr. Thompson is
back on the payroll.

His gibberish will
appear regularly

in an unpredictable length on a
wide variety of subject matter.

"We have total confidence
in him, for good or ill."

Wenner: After
"Vegas," it was clear

what an enormous talent
hunter was,

and, with the energy
and the reporting level,

he was going to be better than
anybody else at "rolling stone."

Would you have any other
place to publish your stuff

if it wasn't
for "rolling stone"?

Wenner: So it was always
looking for what would be next.

What would be
the next assignment?

What's the biggest thing
we could think of?

I came up with the idea that
he should move to Washington,

become the full-time
correspondent

for the mcgovern campaign.

Two of the classical works
of American politics

came out of that campaign and out of
that assignment for "rolling stone."

One is "fear and loathing: On
the campaign trail" by hunter;

And "boys on the bus"
by Tim crouse,

who was one
of our little junior stars.

But he wanted to be up there
and cover the campaign,

so I said, "sure. Go right ahead.
You can help hunter while you're at it."

Part of the reason I was there

was to take care of him.

And what I felt from him

from the very beginning was
a sense of protection.

And we became
a very good team that way.

Young wenner: If you were really
interested in what was happening

on the mcgovern campaign,
the election,

you would've also... although
it was not as widely known...

Turned to "rolling stone" to find
out really what was going on.

Hunter's coverage
and record of it...

His coverage was just brilliant.

Pat caddell: When he showed up at
the campaign, no one knew who he was.

But I'm still in college,
so I read "rolling stone,"

so I knew who he was.
Nobody else knew.

That was his great advantage...

Nobody was paying
attention to him...

Until he started publishing,

then all hell broke loose.

Depp: "So this is more of
a jangled campaign diary"

than a record
or reasoned analysis

of the '72 presidential campaign

from December '71 to January '73

in airport bars,
all-night coffee shops

and dreary hotel rooms
all over the country.

There is hardly
a paragraph in this saga

that wasn't produced in a
last-minute teeth-grinding frenzy.

Every deadline was a crisis

when I was cranking it
out of the typewriter

one page at a time
and feeding it

into the plastic maw
of that goddamn mojo wire...

...to some hash-addled freak
of an editor

"at the 'rolling stone'
news desk in San Francisco."

There. Chew on that gibberish for a
while, you heartless scum.

You pushed me too far.

Mcgovern: I couldn't read that
book, "fear and loathing,"

without being in a place
where I could laugh out loud

from time to time.

It was a hilarious book.

I have been quoted many times
and I'll say it again...

It was the most accurate and least
factual account of that campaign.

Mcgovern:
I'll say one other thing:

That book was written
for "rolling stone"

as the campaign progressed.

It wasn't something written
from the hindsight

of the campaign.
Those chapters rolled off

of his typewriter
as the campaign moved along.

Perry:
It was a journalistic risk.

He had covered
political campaigns before

he was just sick
of the conventions,

sitting around
and reporting the speeches.

And the speeches were all written
for reporters to write about.

Depp:
"As far as I was concerned,"

there was no such thing
as 'off the record.'

unlike most other correspondents

I could afford to burn
all my Bridges behind me,

'cause I was only there
for a year.

And the last thing I cared about

"was establishing long-term
connections on capitol hill."

He wanted to stir things up.

Buchanan: There was no
one quite like hunter.

He was on the edge
and beyond the edge,

and it was very funny.

I remember he wrote
that Hubert Humphrey,

the great father
of the civil rights movement...

He said, "they ought to stuff
Hubert in a goddamn bottle"

and send him out
with the Japanese current."

Depp: "There is no way to grasp
what a shallow, contemptible"

and hopelessly dishonest old
hack Hubert Humphrey really is

until you've followed him around
for a while on the campaign trail.

Hubert Humphrey is
a treacherous,

"gutless old ward-heeler."

Buchanan: He had a view of the
ridiculousness of it all...

Thank you.
Shalom shalom.

...and hunter did some of his
best work on the liberals.

Mcgovern: He was particularly
hostile to Hubert,

but he certainly
loathed Richard Nixon.

Depp: "Our Barbie doll president
with his Barbie doll wife"

and his boxful
of Barbie doll children

is also America's answer
to the monstrous Mr. Hyde.

He speaks to the werewolf in us

"on nights when the moon
comes too close."

Nixon represents everything
that's wrong with this country...

Down the line.

Buchanan: Well,
he first came into our consciousness

in the beginning of 1968.
He was writing for "pageant" magazine.

He came up to cover us. I was with
Nixon in the New Hampshire primary

and hunter would importune me to
get some time with the candidate.

So we got hunter...
As I recall it...

We put him in the car with Nixon

in the back seat of the limo

when Nixon was going
to Manchester airport.

Man: Wasn't it in 1968
you tried to interview Nixon?

Hunter: No, I did it.
I had a wonderful talk with him.

What did you talk about?

Football. I was the only
person in the press corps

who could talk about football.

Is this a need that
occurs to him during...

Oh, yeah.
He's a complete football freak.

And I said, "no, of course.
I'm a freak. I know all about it."

He said, "but you...
You're the one who wants"

to talk about Vietnam
and that kind of thing."

I said, "no, I'll talk about football.
Don't worry."

He said, "okay, if you
promise, then you can ride"

in the car with him
back to the airport."

It's about an hour
and a half ride,

just me a Nixon
in the back seat.

Was he an amiable fellow?

Oh, absolutely. Yeah.
It was kind of pleasant. It was weird.

Four more years,
four more years...

Tonight I again proudly
accept that nomination

for president
of the United States.

Hunter: Richard Nixon
represents everything that I...

Not only have contempt for but dislike
and think should be stomped out.

Depp: "He was a cheap crook
and a merciless war criminal"

who bombed more people
to death in Laos and Cambodia

than the U.S. army lost
in all of world war ii.

When students
at Kent state university

in Ohio protested the bombing,

he connived to have them
attacked and slain

"- by troops from
the national guard."

"Some people will say that
words like 'scum' and 'rotten'"

are wrong
for objective journalism,

which is true.
But they miss the point.

It was the built-in blind spots

of the objective rules and dogma

that allowed Nixon to slither

into the white house
in the first place.

"He seemed
so all-American."

# and the skies are
not cloudy all day. #

Depp: "You had to get
subjective to see Nixon clearly."

He was so crooked
that he needed servants

"to help him screw
on his pants every morning."

I am filling with hate and rage
right now just thinking about it.

Gary hart: I had never tried
to psychoanalyze hunter

in mood swings and so on,

but I think in his bad
moments or worse moments

he thought it was
all fear and loathing.

Crouse: "Fear and
loathing in Las Vegas"

is ostensibly
about a man in search

of the American dream.

And "fear and loathing:
On the campaign trail"

is about a man in search
of an honest politician.

And the only one in sight
who even vaguely qualified

- was George mcgovern.
- When you support George mcgovern...

At the position
I am in the polls,

that's an act of courage.

Depp: "George mcgovern...
the only candidate"

in either party worth voting for

is hung in a frustrated limbo

created mainly
by the gross cynicism

of the Washington press corps.

'He'd be a fine president, '
they say,

'but of course
he can't possibly win.'

- "why not?"
- I just wanted to say hello.

I'm senator mcgovern, folks.
Nice to see you.

Yes, you too.

You fellas know
I'm running for president?

I hope you'll help me out.

Crouse:
Mcgovern's program was

immediate withdrawal
from Vietnam...

Mcgovern:
Even if we stayed there

and bombed
for the next five years

and Americans continue to
die, five years from now

we're going to be right
where we are now.

So let's recognize
that we made a mistake.

Let's bring this war to an end.

...amnesty for draft Dodgers
and deserters,

equal rights for women

and... and a cut
in the defense budget.

Well, good luck.

Mcgovern: The transcendent
issue of '72 was Vietnam,

and I desperately wanted
to win that election

to put an end
to that senseless war.

I'm sick and tired
of old men sitting around

in air-conditioned rooms
here in Washington

dreaming up wars
for young men to die in.

Mcgovern: It is a tide
that would sweep away

the barbarism of war

and end the folly
of Vietnam once and for all.

Depp: "Mcgovern is the
only major candidate"

who lines out the painful truth,

and his reward has been
just about the same

as that of any other politician
who insists on telling the truth:

He is mocked, vilified,

"ignored and abandoned
as a hopeless loser."

The president is attacking...

Hart: Hunter never trusted
anybody who was elected.

That was the irony,

because to be estimable
in his judgment

you had to be
a loser, in effect.

A noble loser.

Brinkley: What was bold
about hunter with mcgovern

is he wasn't being objective.

He was saying "this is the guy
I want to see as president."

I'm gonna try to help
make him president."

Mcgovern: Leaving out George
Wallace, who was shot,

the two strongest
Democratic contenders

were muskie and Humphrey.

Therefore, hunter saw them

as a threat to be unmasked,

because by then I think he was
pretty strongly committed to me.

Crouse: Hunter's pieces were
a very particular hybrid

of very clear-minded,

accurate straight reportage

and then sometimes
flat-out fantasy.

It was all run together,

and some people found it hard

to tell the fantasy
from the other stuff.

It occurred to me about
halfway during the campaign

that people actually believed

a lot of the things
I was writing about...

Muskie eating
this strange Brazilian drug.

Hunter had it in for muskie

like you couldn't believe.

Hunter just could not
lay off of muskie.

What did you do to ed muskie?

Nothing.
Ed muskie did it to himself.

I just helped him along.

Depp: "Not much has been written
about the ibogaine effect"

as a serious factor
in the presidential campaign,

but toward the end
of the Wisconsin primary race,

about a week before the vote,

word leaked out that some
of muskie's top advisors

had called in a Brazilian doctor

who was said to be
treating the candidate

"with 'some kind of
strange drug.'"

What was the drug
that you said he was on?

- Ibogaine.
- Ibogaine.

Perry: First we saw his work,
then we had to look it up

and then we started wondering

whether somebody
could sue us about this.

Then we realized
how silly that would be,

so we went ahead with it.

Caddell:
"Rolling stone" reports

Democratic presidential
candidate Edmund muskie

is in fact addicted. It ended up
on the wires as a straight story.

It caused a major sensation.

It was just this magical
lyrical moment of hunter's.

Depp: "It had been common
knowledge for many weeks"

that Humphrey was using an exotic
brand of speed known as 'wallot.'

and it had long been whispered

that muskie was
into something very heavy,

but it was hard to take the talk seriously
until I heard about the appearance

"of a mysterious Brazilian doctor.
That was the key."

By attacking me, he's proved
himself to be a gutless coward.

Depp: "I immediately
recognized the ibogaine effect"

from muskie's tearful breakdown

"on the flatbed truck
in New Hampshire..."

Perry: He said,
"well, look at the way"

the guy gives his speeches.

It exactly fits the symptoms

"of somebody
who's stoned on ibogaine."

And the charge was
so bizarre, so off-the-wall,

it really brought a lot of
attention to hunter's reporting.

Do you mind if I state my view?

Depp: "...To the delusions
and altered thinking"

that characterized
his campaign in Wisconsin,

and finally the condition
of 'total rage'

"that gripped him
in Florida."

But I am speaking to these people
who are willing to listen to me!

Man: The rumor began
to spread everywhere

among all the people who
were covering the campaign

that muskie was in fact
on this bizarre drug.

- You finally said you made it all up.
- I had to.

I couldn't believe people
took this stuff seriously.

People really believed that
muskie was eating ibogaine.

I never said he was. I said there was
a rumor in Milwaukee that he was...

Which was true.
I started the rumor in Milwaukee.

Yeah, if you're really careful...

I'm a very accurate journalist.

Depp: "Muskie's
always taken pride"

in his ability
to deal with hecklers.

He's frequently challenged them,

calling them up to the stage
in front of big crowds

and the forcing the poor bastards to
debate with him in a Blaze of TV lights.

But there was none
of that in Florida.

When the boohoo began
grabbing at his legs

and screaming for more gin,

big ed went all to pieces,

which gave rise to
speculation among reporters

familiar with his campaign
style in '68 and '70

"that muskie
was not himself."

...shredded, torn,
battered and beaten

beyond all recognition.

Depp:
"In retrospect, however,"

it is easy to see
why muskie fell apart

on that caboose platform
in the Miami train station.

It is entirely conceivable,

given the known effects
of ibogaine,

that muskie's brain was
almost paralyzed

by hallucinations at the time,

that he looked out at the crowd

and saw gila monsters
instead of people.

That his mind snapped completely

when he felt something large
and apparently vicious

"clawing at his legs."

That's crazy stuff.

Nobody was writing like that.

I mean, in the serious world
of political journalism

they thought that way of hunter,

that he was
getting away with stuff

that they couldn't
in what they were doing.

And they all lived
vicariously through him.

Crouse: The social
scene of the press...

In those days it was
almost all males

and they almost
all drank pretty seriously.

And hunter, he was
kind of impervious man

when it came
to drugs and to liquor.

You saw that stuff go in

and there was
no discernable effect

in his behavior.

And that left an impression

on the people he was with.

Hunter couldn't resist, ever,

trying to shock the squares.

Hunter would turn to me and say,

"maybe at the next stop
we can shoot up,"

or "hey, if they have
a men's room",

it would be good
to eat some acid."

And hunter, in this sense,

almost had the attributes
of an action hero.

Mcgovern:
I got a call from hunter.

He invited Eleanor and me
to meet him for dinner.

When we got there,
the waitress materialized

and he said,
"bring me three margaritas

and six beers,"

and the girl laughed.

She said, "are you expecting
some other people, sir?"

He said, "no. Find out
what these two folks want",

but bring me three margaritas

"and six beers."

Hart: I don't think hunter ever
thought mcgovern was gonna win.

I think he was along
for the ride.

This thing picks up
speed fast, doesn't it?

Man: Oh yeah,
so is your campaign.

Hart:
And all of a sudden,

this thing begins to be serious.

Man: Of the six
Democratic candidates,

which one are you
supporting in the primary?

- Mcgovern?
- Why?

Because I think that he's the only
man that can unite the country.

- George mcgovern.
- Man: Why?

Because I think
he's the people's man.

Uh, what's his name?

- Man: Wallace?
- No no no. No.

- Lindsay?
- No.

- Humphrey?
- No.

- Muskie?
- No.

- Mcgovern?
- Yes, you've got it right there.

I think you're coming
on good to labor people.

- Yeah.
- Hart: I think hunter realized

that the man he was following
might actually have a chance.

Man: Muskie, Jackson,
Lindsay trail badly.

What the hell
have you been doing?

We won by a landslide.

The press coverage is
unbelievable.

He's gonna be
on the cover of "newsweek,"

probably the cover of "time,"

and they're calling him
the frontrunner

for the Democratic nomination.

Now we've got to worry.

Man:
Senator George mcgovern,

having received
the majority vote

of this convention
of certified delegates,

is hereby declared

the 1972 Democratic nominee

for president
of the United States.

Depp: "Mcgovern appeared
to have a sure lock"

on the white house
when the sun came up

on Miami beach on the morning
of Thursday, July 13th.

Since then he has
crippled himself

"with a series of almost
unbelievable blunders."

Hart: The polls going
into that weekend

showed mcgovern
with a chance to win.

Now it's very difficult
to defeat an incumbent,

particularly at war time,

so you had to have
everything go right.

You could not have
one thing go wrong.

And of course we had a huge major
thing go wrong within hours.

There was this disaster

with the choice
for the vice president...

Thomas eagleton,
senator from Missouri.

Frank mankiewicz:
He meets the main requirements

senator mcgovern set down when
he began his consideration,

which is a man
in whom he would have

absolute and complete confidence

and in whom he believes the American
people would have complete confidence

to become president of the United
States should an occasion arise.

I think it was
mankiewicz who asked him

if he had any skeletons
in his closet and he said no.

Tom said he couldn't
think of anything

and then the clock
started to tick.

Hart: The weekend after
the convention in Miami

we had gotten an anonymous
call at headquarters

saying that
senator eagleton had had...

Shock therapy,
which we had not known.

# Well, I think I'm going
out of my head #

# Yes, I think
I'm going out of my head #

# Over you... #

On three occasions in my life,

I have voluntarily gone
into hospitals

as a result of nervous
exhaustion and fatigue.

Buchanan: I'd been in St. Louis.
I'd heard about the eagleton stuff,

even before...
When they nominated him.

It would surprise me
when they nominated him.

When that hit,
that was the coup de grace.

I was in Nixon's office

and there was what I would say
was considerable merriment.

Nixon said, "well, pat told
us, didn't he, Chuck?"

Depp: "Tom eagleton was exactly
the kind of vp candidate"

that muskie or Humphrey
would have chosen...

A peace offering
to the old politics gang,

because mcgovern
thought he needed

"those bastards
to beat Nixon."

Is it your intention then
to remain on the ticket?

- Categorically, yes.
- Depp: "It's hard to see"

how George could have
done any worse,

"even with Charles manson
for a running mate."

Hart: All of a sudden,
hunter jumps on that critical bandwagon.

His whole critique of mcgovern
in the fall campaign was

"sellout, compromiser."

But you can't be serious
about American politics

and be infantile about it.

And there was an infantile...

I say this with all
respect to my late friend...

An infantile aspect to hunter.

He wanted it all to be fun,

all to be amusing,
all to be good and evil,

and "we're the good guys,
they're the bad guys"

and we're gonna crush 'em,"

and overdramatizing

what is really some
of the toughest things

human beings have to do,

and that is to try
to govern a democracy.

Mcgovern: The public debate
of senator eagleton's

past medical history

continues to divert attention

from the great national issues

that need to be discussed.

Therefore we have jointly agreed

that the best course is
for senator eagleton

to step aside.

Crouse: When mcgovern
finally had to give in,

it made mcgovern
look like a liar,

it made him look like a waffler.

It was a blow
from which the campaign

never really covered.

Wish I wore my drip-dry suit.

Mcgovern: The national press wasn't
very responsible at that time.

I don't condemn the press.

They were doing what
they thought was right,

but they spent far more ink

dwelling on my mishandling

of the vice-presidential
selection

than was ever devoted
to the Watergate break-in

on the part of the Nixon
people during the campaign.

It was hard to get
them interested in that.

Depp: "At the stroke of
midnight in Washington"

a drooling red-eyed beast
with the legs of a man

and the head of a giant hyena

crawls out of its bedroom window

in the south wing
of the white house

and leaps 50' down to the lawn,

pauses briefly to strangle
the chow watchdog,

then races off into the darkness

towards the Watergate,
snarling with lust,

loping through the alleys
behind Pennsylvania Avenue

and trying desperately
to remember

which one of those
400 identical balconies

"is the one outside
Martha Mitchell's apartment."

Depp: "Due to circumstances
beyond my control",

I would rather
not write anything

about the 1972 presidential
campaign at this time.

On Tuesday, November 7th,

I will get out
of bed long enough

to go down to the polling place

and vote for George mcgovern.

Afterwards, I will
drive back to the house,

lock the front door,
get back in bed

and watch television
as long as necessary.

It will probably be a while
before the angst lifts.

But whenever it happens,

I will get out of bed again

and start writing the mean,
cold-blooded bummer

"that I was not
quite ready for today."

Crouse: He was the right
man in the right place

and he was equipped to capture

a certain moment in history

as nobody else was
equipped to do.

In his best pages,

I think he captured
certain truths

about human perversity

that will never lose
their sting.

And I don't think that
anybody can be too surprised

that we find ourselves in
the nightmare we're in today

because it's
essentially the same

as the nightmare
he described back then.

And I think
it will always be salubrious

and cleansing
to have someone express

the mockery and the rage

and finally the despair

that are the only reaction

of a real human
to that nightmare.

Reporter:
Massachusetts has gone

for the Democratic candidate...

The only state
going for mcgovern.

Reporter #2: We project
that president Nixon

will come out
of this the winner.

With about 60%
of the popular vote.

I've never known
a national election

when I would be able to go
to bed earlier than tonight.

# Put a candle
in the window... #

Crouse: "This may be the
year when we finally come"

face to face with ourselves,

finally just lay back and say

that we are really just a nation

of 220 million used-car salesmen

with all the money
we need to buy guns

and no qualms at all about
killing anybody else in the world

"who tries to make us
uncomfortable."

Mcgovern:
Never again will we send

the precious young blood
of this country

to die trying to prop up

a corrupt military
dictatorship abroad.

"The tragedy of all this is
that George mcgovern,"

for all his mistakes

and all his imprecise talk
about new politics

and honesty in government,

is one of the few men
who would run for president

of the United States
in this century

who really understands
what a fantastic monument

this country might have been

if we could've kept it
out of the hands

"of greedy little hustlers
like Richard Nixon."

# guess I've got
that old traveling bone #

# Gonna feel
really alone... #

...whether or not
their president is a crook.

Well, I'm not a crook.

# But I won't... I won't be
losing my way, no no... #

Crouse: "Mcgovern made
some stupid mistakes",

but, in context,
they seem almost frivolous

compared to the things
Richard Nixon does

every day of his life on purpose

as a matter of policy

and a perfect expression
of everything he stands for.

Jesus, where will it end?
How low do you have to stoop

"in this country
to be president?"

# put a candle in the window #

# Though I'm going, going #

# I'll be coming home soon #

# Long as I can see
the light... #

Whew.

Wenner: As much as he
was reviled and revulsed

by Nixon,
he identified with him.

He understood that darkness
of the American spirit.

You know, hunter was
deeply invested in America.

Whether you call it the American
dream or American politics,

all the things he wrote about

were always looking at the
dark side as well as the hope.

But during his lifetime
it kept looking like,

once again, the evil,
the darkness would triumph.

Crouse: In 1972,
he began to feel disillusioned.

And with Jimmy Carter,
he was trying

to give politics
one last chance.

Depp: "I have heard
hundreds of speeches"

by all kinds of candidates
and politicians,

but I have never heard
a sustained piece

of political oratory
that impressed me more

than the speech Jimmy
Carter made on law day

at the university of Georgia

one Saturday afternoon
in may, 1974.

It was a king hell bastard
of a speech.

"By the time it was over,
it had rung every bell in the room."

Carter: Senator Kennedy and
distinguished fellow Georgians,

friends of the law school
of Georgia and...

Hunter: I was
the only reporter there

and I was with Kennedy.

I had no interest in Carter

and no intention
of either listening to him

or reporting anything he said.

Carter: Not paying
any attention to me,

he was going outside
every now and then

to replenish his glass of
what was apparently ice tea

but was really
wild Turkey whiskey.

I started speaking from my heart

about the defects

in the American judicial system.

Depp: "But what sent me
back out to the trunk"

to get my tape recorder
instead of another drink

was the spectacle
of a Southern politician

telling a crowd
of judges and lawyers

that 'the source
of my understanding

about what's right
and wrong in this society

is from a friend of mine...

"A great poet
named Bob Dylan.'"

# I ain't gonna work on
Maggie's farm no more... #

Carter: She said...

Hunter: "At this point,
Carter was attacked"

by what was later identified
as a 48 lb slope."

Carter: I was speaking
to a bunch of lawyers

and the reaction
among them was one

of stunned silence.

"...he was greeted
with horror."

Still, once that
change was made...

A very simple,
difficult change...

No one in his right mind
would want to go back

to circumstances prior
to that juncture

"in the development
of our nation's society."

It changed my life.

Of course, hunter is the person
that found Jimmy Carter.

Hunter would go around the
country and play it for people.

Brinkley: His cover
story on "rolling stone"

that hunter wrote
endorsing Carter

helped Jimmy Carter
win that election.

He was the most popular writer
in the United States.

My next guest is one of the most
controversial writers in America

and the inventor
of Gonzo journalism.

We're delighted that
he could be with us tonight.

Welcome, please,
Dr. Hunter Thompson.

Brinkley: He had just
delivered "hell's angels".

"Vegas," "campaign trail,"

and all those great
"rolling stone" pieces.

People didn't know where this
guy was gonna stop at that point.

You didn't know whether he would have
30 years of this kind of productivity.

He was... he was so hot.

He'd give a speech at a college

and 20 women wanted to
party with him all night.

Classic rock 'n' roll attitude.

And hunter saw rock stars,

and he thought,
"why shouldn't a writer be a rock star?"

He became that rock 'n'
roll... trash the hotel room,

throw the typewriter
out the window,

let the women in,
too much drugs...

Meanwhile, there was
this other side of him.

He was the squire
of Woody creek,

who had a wife and a kid.

# Devil or angel #

# I can't make up my mind #

# Which one you are #

# I'd like to wake up and find #

# Devil or angel #

# Dear, wherever you are #

# I miss you,
I miss you... #

Wright:
Here was all this fame,

all these famous people,

all these hanger-on girls

and people coming
into my kitchen

with heels like this.

We lived out in Woody creek...

And in tight jeans and stilettos

and everything gorgeous.

And I said,
"who are these people?

And what are they doing
in my world?"

Juan: You don't think how
it should be different.

You just accept that my dad
gets up at 5:00 in the afternoon

for the 5:00 news.

He eats breakfast, I eat dinner.

It's a shame
he wasn't around more,

but that's who he was.

I met hunter in John
belushi's dressing room

at "Saturday night live."

He was the ultimate bad boy,

but we became fantastic friends.

And one night
he was talking to someone

and I guess by the way
he was talking to them...

When he hung up I said,
"oh, who was that?"

And he said,
"well, that's sondi."

I said, "well, who's sondi?"
He said, "my wife,"

and I said,
"your wife?"

Brinkley: Meanwhile,
his marriage was getting very rocky,

he was starting to drink
and do too many drugs

and fell into fame.

Caddell: What had given
him his strength...

His anonymity... was gone.

By writing and becoming
the political reporter he was,

he had lost that anonymity
that had been his cloak.

So now he was the story.

I used to be able
to stand in the back

and observe stories
and absorb them.

Now the minute
I appear at a story,

then I become part of it.

First time I went to a press
conference with Jimmy Carter

I had to sign more autographs
than Carter signed.

And the secret service had
no idea who I was.

They thought I was an astronaut.

Wenner: At that point,
you know, it was hard.

How do you find stuff
for hunter to do?

You're always looking
for a story that somehow

can top the campaign story
or Vegas,

something big enough
for his talent.

Going to Zaire seemed like a
natural assignment for hunter,

a big spectacle,
heavyweight fight;

Ali, whom he knew
or had written about before.

He went.
Steadman came down from London.

I'm gonna retire the heavyweight
champion of the world!

September the 25th,
the world will be stunned!

Brinkley: His hero, number
one, was Muhammad Ali.

He used to always say
that he was related

to Cassius Clay
in the bloodline.

I've never fully believed it...

It could be true...
But he loved to say

that he was blood-related
to Muhammad Ali.

Hah! Sucker,
you ain't nothing.

You're too ugly to represent
us colored folks.

Brinkley: And remember
again, Muhammad Ali is

this touchstone for hunter,

that the Kentucky boys
are making it big.

You out, sucker.

Wolfe: He went to Zaire to
cover the rumble in the jungle.

It was the foregone conclusion

that George foreman was going
to knock out Muhammad Ali.

There seemed to be no way

that Ali could survive
that fight.

He stops, and he looks up at
the drug dealer and he says...

You know, and it got worse
and worse and worse and worse.

This was when hunter gave
our tickets away.

I can't remember what I did.

I just think I tried to watch
it on television or something

so I would get some idea of it,

but hunter had gone
down to the pool

with a bucket of ice

and a bottle of whiskey,

drinking and smokes...
His dunhills.

And hunter decided to...

Take a dip in the pool,

float in the pool at the hotel

throughout the entire fight.

Announcer: 30 seconds
left in round eight.

As it turned out,
it was one of the...

Classic fights of all time.

Announcer:
Another sneaky right hand.

This time he worked
over his shoulder.

Unbelievable!

Referee:
Four, five, six, seven...

This was called the biggest
fucked-up journalistic story

in the history of journalism...

That we really didn't
get a story.

Wenner: Zaire was hunter's first
big failure as an assignment.

There was a big expense bill...
Which I paid for...

And didn't do the piece,

and that was disappointing
to us all.

I think hunter felt
a strong sense of failure.

That was kind of the beginning
of a period of decline there.

He, as a writer,
a journalist and a person,

ran up against some wall
there or a period there,

whether it was
coming from exhaustion

or something going on with his
marriage... somewhere he just lost it.

Wright: Hunter came
back from Africa,

he didn't wake up
for a day and a half.

And all of a sudden
he just couldn't write.

He couldn't piece it together.

His life really changed
after that

and he knew that he wasn't the
writer that he wanted to be.

# Man... #

# You know
I done enjoyed things #

# That kings and queens
will never have... #

Wenner: He stopped writing
full-time in the mid-'70s,

then he'd just do the articles.

Part of what happened
was I think

there were so many people
hanging around Woody creek,

and he was very welcoming
and enjoyed it all,

but it really made it
difficult to work.

"...safe for my young son."

"But the front doors are
a different matter."

Brinkley: I was a bit of a straight
man entering his carnival life.

He used to call himself a
drug-addled compound junkie.

# And good times, mmm #

# I have had my fun... #

Stranahan: I'd go around
to take care of hunter.

If he can toss the Heineken
bottle and catch it,

he hasn't had too much to drink.

And he began to retreat
to owl farm more and more.

Juan: Then eventually he
didn't really go out at all.

I guess people came to him.

Wenner: He was writing
occasional columns

for the "examiner"
and he did that "lono" book.

They were all right.

But he wrote three pieces,

just... they were just brilliant.

Elko, pulitzer, "Polo"...
Those are beautiful,

but his work never got
quite back to those levels.

It was all just repetitive,

not funny goofball stuff.

Hunter wanted a persona,

but he became a hostage
to that persona

as he got older and older

and he was being ridiculed
as a comic-book character.

When garry trudeau
first made Duke

a character in doonesbury

it was absolutely, literally,

the raoul Duke character
that hunter invented.

It was hunter's
literary property.

So I think he should've...
He could have and...

In retrospect...
Should have stopped that.

But then he said,
"what can I do?"

I decided to own it.
They want to see uncle Duke?

"I'll give 'em uncle Duke
times five."

- Wow.
- Man: You see what I mean?

Caddell: He hated "doonesbury."
He hated being a caricature.

He also loved being a star,

but also it interfered
with him being a reporter,

which is what he wanted to be.

Hunter: If you want to be
a famous American writer,

you don't really think of...

Being in the comic strips,

you know, being...

Oh, are we doing things
like that?

Yes, in front of the camera

and it will be on film,
won't it? Mmm.

Hunter did become, in a way,
a prisoner of his own fame.

Wright: I was getting more
distraught with his fame.

It was total chaos in the house.

Just thoughts of booze, drugs,

staying up for days and parties.

And little did I know he was
having affairs all over the place.

It was unhealthy for me,
it was unhealthy for my son.

Brinkley: Eventually
sondi uncovered a tape

of a woman that he was with.

Woman: I'm gonna burn up
with unfulfilled desire

if I have to stay here
one more minute alone.

No, I don't want the delivery boy.
I want you.

Wright: So I remember
sitting on the phone,

I looked up at him and I said,

"you know I can't
do this anymore.

I'm gonna have to
have a divorce."

Well...

He just blew up
and then I got scared

and I ended up
calling the sheriff.

And a sheriff's deputy
comes out to the house.

The guys says...

"Um, does he have
any guns?"

And I said,
"'does he have any guns?'"

he has 22 guns

"and every one
is loaded."

Woman: Hey!

Brinkley: It was not an
easy divorce for hunter.

He refused to leave owl farm.

Sandy said, "the only thing
he owns is this land."

I have to have half
of what hunter owns,

'cause I'm divorcing him.

And I don't want half the land

"because I have to live
next to the son of a bitch."

So I got to buy my land back.

Well, I'd given it to hunter.

So then I ended up making payments
to sondi for the next 15 years.

Buzz off!
I'm going to Florida.

Brinkley:
He couldn't write.

He was completely shattered

and Jimmy buffet came
to his rescue

and allowed him to come down

and stay at his house
in key west free of charge.

# Wasting away again
in margaritaville... #

That's where we are.

# Searching for my
lost sugar and salt... #

Hunter: You have never seen
people drive so fucking slowly.

It's incredible.
You dirty sons of bitches.

Move over. Go get in the fast
Lane, you cocksuckers.

Buffet:
The first thing I see is.

"Gonzo journalist
comes to key west,"

front page,
fucking "Miami herald."

Hunter's stretched out
in my apartment.

And then all of a sudden,
I got a call from my accountant.

He said, "what's this"

$9,000 telephone bill?"
And I went...

"Oh my god, hunter's down
there and I left the phone on."

And like always...

Then he got a boat
and I thought, "oh, Jesus."

You know, I expected to read
the obituary during those days.

# If I had a boat,
I'd go out on the ocean #

# And if I had a pony #

# I'd ride him on my boat #

# And we could all together #

# Go out on the ocean #

# I said me upon my pony
on my boat #

# I said me upon my pony #

# On my boat. #

Anita on tape: Say hello to the dolphins.
Well, hello.

Okay.

Anita: Well,
the first time I met hunter,

it was just kind of a... big
writer that I was curious about.

When we got married,
he promised me 10 years.

I just figured he was
such a powerful force

that he would know.

If he said 10 years,
that meant 10 years.

He had talked about suicide
a lot since I've known him,

and now I know,
talking to his former wife

and other girlfriends,
that he had talked about it all the time.

Depp:
"Trouble can come at you"

from any direction these days,

like being chased through
a crowded parking lot

by a pack of vicious stray dogs.

The world's situation has
become so nervous and wrong

that disasters that
would've been inconceivable

"two years ago are
almost commonplace today."

Anita: I did start
to worry about him

right after the bush election.

That I think was the trigger.

He didn't get angry,
he just got depressed.

You know, I could handle
when he was angry,

feisty or sulky...

Anything but depressed
or something I wasn't used to.

# Goodbye,
Norma Jean... #

There are certain moments that
I'm really glad I had the camera.

There's a moment
I walk out onto the balcony...

He had been listening to "candle in
the wind" over and over and over.

There was a look of a grin,

like a roguish eye in his eye

when he was
about to have some fun.

Whoo-hoo-hoo.

Anita: Seeing him
look at the keys...

Especially to music...
When he was having fun,

you could see it in his
face and also on the page.

# I would have liked
to have known you #

# Oh, but I was just a kid #

# Your candle burned out
long before... #

- # Your legend ever did. #
- I feel wet.

Anita on tape:
Uh-oh. Good.

When he did die, his words
took on a new sparkle,

maybe because
they are finite now.

We have a finite amount.

And just the fact that we have
the words is a lucky thing.

I mean, imagine in
a twisted universe

when he died if somehow he took

his words with him, his work.

Anita: Oh, come on, hunter.

- That was not cool at all.
- I was tossing it to you.

- No, you weren't.
- What are you talking about?

- I didn't hit him in the head like that.
- Anita: That's enough.

Wolfe: To feel compelled
to be Gonzo all the time

must have been a burden
on his poor mind.

He was so identified
with the life he's described,

it was hard for him
not to be in costume,

not to be the actor
that was required.

Hunter must have felt
trapped... trapped in Gonzo.

Hunter: So,
I'm really in the way as a person.

The myth has taken over

and I find myself,
you know, an appendage.

I'm...

I'm no longer necessary.
I'm in the way.

It'd be much better if I died,

then people could take
the myth and make films.

Like, when I go out to...

When I got invited to speak
at, say, universities,

I'm not sure if you're
inviting Duke or Thompson.

So I'm not sure who to be...

So I'm not sure who to be.

I suppose that my plans are to
figure out some new identity.

You know, I have to kill off
one life and start another one...

Kill off one life
and start another one.

# Hey, Mr. Tambourine man,
play a song for me #

# I'm not sleepy... #

# And there is
no place I'm going to... #

Juan:
It was no secret that

that's the way he would die.

He'd made that clear
many years before,

that when the time came,
he was gonna...

He was gonna take himself out

and it would be with a gun.

So that... that was no surprise.

But it's one thing
to know that at some point,

you know,
he was gonna kill himself

and it's another
when it actually happens.

It was important to him

that we were there.

It was a sunny afternoon
in the winter

and it was just
a very peaceful time.

His family was there
and he decided

"all right, this is
a good time to go out."

It sounds kind of sappy,

but it was a warm family moment.

# I'm ready to go anywhere #

# I'm ready for to fade... #

Steadman: When he did it,
Juan was in the next room

and he said, "when it happened"

I thought
I heard a book drop."

It went like that.

Juan went outside with a gun

and shot three times
into the air.

Steadman: It was a
kind of salute to him

as much as anything... or shock.

Wright: Hunter was very much
about preserving a legacy,

and this was perfect.

This was romantic.

And in a lot of people's minds,

it was a very strong act.
It was a noble act.

"Go out when you're on
top." He wasn't on top.

He was nowhere near on top.

But some people thought that,

and some people thought
it was a very courageous act.

I think just the opposite.

I think this is a time

when a together hunter Thompson

could make a difference
in this country.

# I wouldn't pay it any mind #

# It's just a shadow
you're seeing #

# That he's chasing... #

Buffet: It's a tragic mistake.
I wish he was still here.

I wish there was still
a hunter around to talk to.

It's an amazing thing.
You think on one side

it's fun to reminisce,
but its sad that he's gone.

We could have used
a few more years of hunter.

He could wield
a pretty effective sword

against what's
going on right now.

# I'll come
followin' you... #

You know, just all of it.

Just all of it.

Hunter, no!
You bastard!

Fuckhead!

- Oh shit.
- Hunter: You're okay.

I can't talk about it.

Buchanan:
He flamed out too quickly,

because of the way
he lived his life

and chose to live his life.

So in my view it was...
It was self-indulgent.

Maybe that's what
he wanted to do,

but he had so much more
he could give his readers

and his people...
And himself.

That's fitting.
That's fitting.

- Man: That's fitting for hunter.
- A motorcycle...

...Roars off.

Okay.

Steadman: It seems we're
here today to discuss

some kind idea for a monument.

If I show you this...
This is the basic idea,

but actually,
hunter hasn't approved it yet.

It's just a thought, yeah.

He lives in Aspen

- in Colorado.
- Man: That is different.

Is this something
that you would want to do

- in the near future?
- Hunter: He's written...

- I'm not sure.
- I mean you're talking about something

that maybe you want
to do after you die.

Oh, yeah, it's in the will.
It's all described.

It's gonna be a little hard to
do, particularly with me gone.

This rim of mountains is a
giant valley 20 miles across.

- Is this property that you own now?
- Hunter: Yeah.

The property goes back
over the cliffs,

so I can do whatever...
If I wanted to build a...

McDonald's,
I could do it back there.

Hunter: It's gonna be a pile
of rocks about 100' tall.

# When I die
and they lay me to rest... #

A giant cone... conical.

Going around and
tapering down to the top.

About every two years,
the doctor tells me I'm gonna die.

For all I know,
somehow I might live for 10 more years.

Well, that's something... none of
us know how long we're gonna live.

On top of the big arm,

a double... a fist with
double thumbs... the symbol.

I've told you
1,000 times for 10 years...

You've got to put
two thumbs on the fist.

Steadman: It's better than no
thumb, which is what you had.

# So you know
that when you die #

# He's gonna recommend you #

# To the spirit in the sky #

# Gonna recommend you
to the spirit in the sky #

# That's where you're
gonna go when you die #

# When you die and they
lay you to rest... #

Hunter: After the cremation,
they put the ashes in a canister

and shoot it out of the top
of the fist over the valley.

Say 500' up, it explodes

and the ashes drift out
all over there.

That I do know about.
We place ashes in different areas.

I'm a firm believer in "ashes to
ashes, and dust to dust."

And that's it.
That's my funeral.

Man:
One, two, three, four!

# I went home
with the waitress #

# The way I always do #

# How was I to know #

# She was
with the Russians too? #

# I was gambling in Havana #

# I took a little risk #

# Send lawyers, guns and money #

# Dad, get me out of this #

# Hah! #

# I'm the innocent bystander #

# Somehow I got stuck #

# Between the rock
and the hard place #

# And I'm down on my luck #

# Yes, I'm down on my luck #

# Well, I'm down on my luck #

# And I'm hiding in Honduras #

# I'm a desperate man #

# Send lawyers, guns and money #

# The shit has hit the fan #

# Oh, hey, send lawyers,
guns and money #

# Huh! #

# Send lawyers, guns and money #

# Send lawyers, guns and money #

# Hit it! #

# Send lawyers, guns and money #

# Oh! #