SPOILERS! You've been warned.
Rated 18a
Last seen: June 2005
Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas
Johnny Depp, Benicio Del Toro, Craig Bierko
Directed by: Terry Gilliam
Original novel by: Hunter S. Thompson
ASTRID'S STONER LIST
DIRECTORIAL GENIUS
CHARACTERS
Raoul Duke - This is, in fact, Hunter S. Thompson. Dope fiend extraodinaire. Walks around most of the time with a half lit cigarette. Journalist.
Dr. Gonzo - Duke's attorney. He's a bit psychotic and Samoan. Based on Thompson's friend Oscar Z. Acosta.
Hitchhiker - Some random kid the two happen to pick up. Scar him for life.
Lucy - A girl who likes to paint portraits of Barbra Streisand. Dr. Gonzo gives her LSD, before he realizes she's never even had a drink.
Waitress at North Star Cafe - The two have an encounter with her.
Highway Patrolman - Catches Duke speeding.
L. Ron Bunquist - Anti-drug crusader.
PLOT
Seeing as how the movie is so topsy-turvy and out of this world, I may have a little difficulty in trying to explain the plot. Well, what plot really? Let me rephrase, I may have difficulty putting the events of this movie in chronological order and I may leave things out. Cut me some slack.
In the beginning, Raoul Duke and Dr. Gonzo are driving through Barstow at top speed in a red convertible. Duke starts feeling the drugs and seeing bats everywhere. When he pulls over to let Dr. Gonzo drive, we are shown Duke's vast drug collection. Along the way, Dr. Gonzo spots a hitchiker. Thinking of the fun it will bring, he pulls over to give the kid a ride. They succed in scaring him to death. We get the story of how Duke and Dr. Gonzo came to be on this trip. While they were at the Polo Lounge, Duke received a call to cover the Mint 400 race in Las Vegas. Naturally, his attorney would have to go with him. They get ahold of all of the essentials, but the car dealership is another thing. The last we see of the hitchiker is him running off into the distance after Dr. Gonzo starts waving an unloaded gun around.
The acid hits Duke and he freaks out in the hotel lobby. The floors and people's faces are all creeping. The effect is greater at the bar, where everybody starts turning into reptiles. Duke and Dr. Gonzo are finally given their room where they meet their photographer. Scaring him off, they procced to go to a Debbie Reynolds concert and get kicked out of there. Now, I don't remember what part happens next, so bear with me.
They take the raw ether that they have and go to Bazooka's Circus. They whole thing is a complete mind-fuck of extraordinary proportions. They manage to get off of the turny bar thing before the cops are called. The next day is the Mint 400 race. After all the cars start going off, the dust becomes unbearable. Duke's photographer finds him and they begin to ride in the jeep when Duke freaks out. He wants out, so he fires his photographer. Back at the hotel, Dr. Gonzo has a awkward run-in with a blonde TV reporter where he threatens everybody in the elevator with a knife. After that, he's a pissed off dope fiend and starts waving the knife around in Duke's face. Duke wisely leaves and upon his return, he finds that Dr. Gonzo has made a complete mess of the hotel room. Not only that, but he's taken all of the acid and is having a major trip-out. After a bad experience, Duke manages to get Dr. Gonzo locked in the bathroom for a retrospective nightmare. Duke smokes some opium and the next morning has no idea how he's going to pay his hotel bill. His attorney has already returned to Los Angeles, so Duke sneaks out the apartment and heads off to L.A. as well. Along the way, he gets stopped by a highway patrolman. Despite engaging in a high-speed chase and drinking a beer, the patrolman lets him off. Duke decides against making a run for it to L.A. until he sees the hitchiker in Baker. He makes a telephone call to his attorney, who tells him that he has a new assignment of covering the National Drug Inquiry at the Flamingo.
The hotel is full of cops and Duke is carrying a breifcase full of narcotics. Nevertheless, he makes it to the hotel room and gets attacked by Lucy. Lucy is some chick that Dr. Gonzo met on the plane. She's completely tripping out of her gourd. After explaining the downside of the current situation to Dr. Gonzo, Duke succeds in getting rid of the girl by sending her to another hotel. They then head down to the Drug Inquiry, which is, of course, total bullshit.
Later, back at the hotel, Lucy gives Dr. Gonzo a ring. He pretends to get attacked by the cops to ward her off. Duke takes some of the adrenicrone in Dr. Gonzo's shaving kit and has a trip of mindfucking proportions. Later on, he's woken up with a trashed hotel room and bits and pieces of memories left over.
The end comes after a meal in the NorthStar diner, where Dr. Gonzo threatens the waitress with a knife. Duke gets him to the airport and the movie ends.
FAVORITE SCENE
1) The hitchiker
2) The National Drug Inquiry.
Back
hr>
Back
