July 22, 2008
"No-helmet motorcycle blitz through the life and times of Hunter S. Thompson"
I once read that the late, great Hunter S. Thompson was so enamored with F. Scott Fitzgerald that he handcopied all 120-odd pages of The Great Gatsby just to get a sense of Fitzgerald's syntax.
But Thompson, who developed a style far zanier and more crazed than Fitzgerald's, is a writer worth emulating in his own right.
In the documentary "Gonzo: The Life and Work of Dr. Hunter S. Thompson," director Alex Gibney explores the ups and downs of Thompson's career, a career as chaotic as his writing. Often seen slouching around in his trademark Bermuda hat, cigarette and holder dangling precariously from the corner of his mouth, Thompson was a cartoonish champion of the counterculture about which he wrote. Narrated by Johnny Depp, who portrayed Thompson in the 1998 big screen adaptation of "Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas," and including interviews with Tom Wolfe, Jimmy Carter and Jimmy Buffett, the documentary plays July 11 through July 25 at the Tivoli. To buy tickets and see a list of showtimes, visit http://www.landmarktheatres.com/Market/St.Louis/St.Louis_Frameset.htm.