Thompson Commentary on Fear and Loathing: WTF?!!

[Riedenschneider]

Holy shitcake, what was that?!

Is it Fear or Loathing? You decide...

0:01:59
0:05:32
0:08:32
0:25:14
1:00:02
1:21:27
1:21:58
1:23:53
1:57:11
1:58:00


-Can you talk about your involvement on the film, how did you see your role?
-My role? My role is to whip these fuckers into line...

[UserNameUndecided]

Oh man I cannot wait to pick this DVD up!
I started reading the novel on Monday, and after finishing half of it I went down to Best Buy to see if they had this set. They were out, but should be getting 2 more (2!) on Thursday.

I saw Thompson on Conan O'Brien a month or so ago. I can't wait to hear/see more of him on this DVD.

[martini]

I haven't listened to his commentary yet, but I watched the "documentary" of when he visited the set and laughed my ass off when they are driving him to the hotel and another driver lays on the horn and he picks his head up from his notebook, without missing a beat, and yells "AWWWWWWW, FUCK YOU!!"
Totally stupid, I know. But hilarious.

[lopper]

Originally posted by martini
I haven't listened to his commentary yet, but I watched the "documentary" of when he visited the set and laughed my ass off when they are driving him to the hotel and another driver lays on the horn and he picks his head up from his notebook, without missing a beat, and yells "AWWWWWWW, FUCK YOU!!"
Totally stupid, I know. But hilarious.

Ha! That's the part that sticks out most in my mind as well! Fucking hilarious!!

I've listened to the other two commentaries (Gilliam on one and Depp, DelToro and the producer on another) and I can't wait to listen to the Thompson one, but I just haven't had the time.

[Eric]

I've been kind of saving this one. I listened to the other two commentaries already, but I'm fairly sure this is going to be a treat, and I don't want to listen to it piecemeal' I want to wait until I can sit down and hear the whole thing in one sitting. I'll probably get to it this weekend.

[UserNameUndecided]

I went back to Best Buy today -- still didn't have them. The blue shirt guy told me "You can call back tomorrow morning to check if we got them yet. If not, we're bound to get them in at some point."
So after he told me that, I just went to the neighboring shopping center and picked it up at Barnes and Nobles.

Hopefully I'll watch the movie for a second time tonight (stupid homeworks) -- and the commentaries through the following days.

[orf]

I'm ashamed to say I haven't seen this yet. I finished reading the book last week, and I really enjoyed the book (and writing a paper on it, too). I guess I'll buy it sometime.

[wahlers]

I've been tempted to buy this, but what I'm wondering is this:

I'm a big fan of Terry Gilliam's work and enjoy all of his other movies, but have been avoiding this one because I have a very low opinion of extreme and/or chronic drug use/addition and the people involved. I don't find their behaviour and actions funny or amusing.

So, you can see why, based on the trailers and promotional material of this movie, I have been avoiding this movie.

Would I enjoy it based on what I've told you, or should I just keep skipping this one?

P.S. I don't rent movies. It's stupid I know, but I just don't, so don't recommend that, please...

[Musashi74]

Originally posted by wahlers
I've been tempted to buy this, but what I'm wondering is this:

I'm a big fan of Terry Gilliam's work and enjoy all of his other movies, but have been avoiding this one because I have a very low opinion of extreme and/or chronic drug use/addition and the people involved. I don't find their behaviour and actions funny or amusing.

As your attourney, I advise that you avoid this film at all costs

Sorry...I guess that doesn't make much sense unless you've seen the film or read the book.

Here's an excerpt from the book, which is quoted verbatim (and quite brilliantly) at the film's beginning...

“We had two bags of grass, seventy-five pellets of mescaline, five sheets of high-powered blotter acid, a salt shaker half-full of cocaine and a whole galaxy of multicolored uppers, downers, screamers, laughers.....Also a quart of tequila, a quart of rum, a case of Budweiser, a pint of raw ether, and two dozen amyls.....But the only thing that worried be was the ether. There is nothing in the world more helpless and irresponsible than a man in the depths of an ether binge.....”

I think that should answer your question.

[DrDetroit]

Originally posted by wahlers
I'm a big fan of Terry Gilliam's work and enjoy all of his other movies, but have been avoiding this one because I have a very low opinion of extreme and/or chronic drug use/addition and the people involved. I don't find their behaviour and actions funny or amusing.

It's not a straight comedy. I think that it was promoted, much to Gilliam's dismay which he explains on the set, as a crazy drug-fuelled road trip. It is that, but it's hard to pigeon-hole Gilliam's work. It's less about drugs than it is the excess of the 70s, and what Thompson feels is the failure of the 60s generation of carrying over their reactionary ideals and creativity into the next decade. And Las Vegas, especially in that time frame, is just the focal point of all this terrible energy. It's less about drugs than it is about trying to escape the American experience.

I was put off by this movie when I saw it, but this just seems entirely poignant to me now. All I think I"m trying to say is that it isn't a cautionary tale of the drug lifestyle, or even putting it in a favourable light. It's an honest appraisal that has a lot of things to say, despite it's irrational and drug-fuelled exterior.

Maybe you should just rent it.