"Gonzo": a fitting tribute to Hunter S. Thompson

To a generation that did not grow up reading the late Dr. Hunter S. Thompson's trenchant political diatribes in Rolling Stone, the image of Johnny Depp, playing a Thompson-like journalist in Terry Gilliam's "Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas," may have made the stronger impression.

Or maybe not. Gilliam's 1998 movie, which tanked at the box office, was released five years before the "Pirates of the Caribbean" franchise gave Depp anything like commercial clout. Still, the DVD/cable market has provided "Fear and Loathing" with a second life, and Depp, who became Thompson's friend, now seems to speak for him.

Certainly the connection is vital in Alex Gibney's documentary "Gonzo: The Life and Work of Dr. Hunter S. Thompson," which derives some of its energy and much of its inspiration from the spectacular Colorado funeral that Depp financed after Thompson shot himself three years ago.

The movie includes footage of the funeral, where Thompson's ashes were launched into the sky from a cannon. On the soundtrack, Depp shifts into his husky, deadpan "Fear and Loathing" voice to read from Thompson's work.

Rarely has an impersonation seemed so heartfelt, yet there's nothing sentimental in Depp's approach to suggesting the nature of Thompson's appeal. Indeed, his voice and Thompson's words capture the hard-to-define notion of "gonzo journalism" better than most shorthand explanations.

As Gibney demonstrates, especially in interviews with George McGovern, Gary Hart and Jimmy Carter, the drug-fueled Thompson never let a little thing like journalistic objectivity get in his way. Truth was sometimes convenient, and when it wasn't, Thompson improvised. Deadlines were not to be taken seriously, and style was often allowed to triumph over substance.

The result, at certain exceptionally creative points in Thompson's career, could be a revelation. Talking to Thompson's wives and Rolling Stone's co-founder, Jann Wenner, Gibney catches invaluable glimpses into the working habits of a man whose love of great writing (especially "The Great Gatsby") went hand-in-hand with the Wild West patriotism that once compelled him to run for county sheriff in Colorado.

It all comes together in the movie's most fascinating sequence: the McGovern presidential campaign of 1972, which more or less ended when McGovern's running mate, Thomas Eagleton, admitted to having undergone psychiatric treatment.

Thompson was crushed by this development; there's a weariness about much of the writing that came after 1975. His bitter, prophetic reaction to the Sept. 11 attacks, which he felt proved that "all hope was gone for peace in our time," is the response of someone who has given up on the human race.

Hardly anyone was surprised when the gun-obsessed Thompson used a shotgun to end his life at 67. Hadn't he more or less written his own obituary on a couple of occasions?

But even his most pessimistic writings reflect a vibrant and original response to American life on the road. By celebrating his triumphs and not backing away from the darker moments in Thompson's career, "Gonzo" honors that tradition.

John Hartl: johnhartl@yahoo.com