Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas (1998) - The Criterion Collection

Synopsis

“We were somewhere around Barstow when the drugs began to take hold.” It is 1971, and journalist Raoul Duke barrels towards Las Vegas to cover a motorcycle race, accompanied by a trunkful of contraband and his slightly unhinged Samoan attorney, Dr. Gonzo. But what is ostensibly a cut-and-dried journalistic endeavor quickly descends into a feverish psychedelic odyssey and an excoriating dissection of the American way of life. Director Terry Gilliam and an all-star cast (headlined by Johnny Depp and Benicio Del Toro) show no mercy in bringing Dr. Hunter S. Thompson’s legendary Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas to the screen, creating a film both hilarious and savage.

Cast

Raoul Duke	Johnny Depp
Dr. Gonzo	Benicio Del Toro
Lucy	Christina Ricci
Hitchhiker	Tobey Maguire
Blonde TV reporter	Cameron Diaz
Magazine reporter	Mark Harmon
Road person	Lyle Lovett
The North Star waitress	Ellen Barkin
Lacerda	Craig Bierko
Reservations clerk	Katherine Helmond
Musician	Flea
Judge	Harry Dean Stanton
L. Ron Bumquist	Michael Jeter
Clerk at Flamingo Hotel	Chris Meloni

Credits

Director	Terry Gilliam
Screenplay	Alex Cox, Tony Grisoni, Tod Davies and Terry Gilliam
Producer	Patrick Cassavetti, Laila Nabulsi and Stephen Nemeth
Cinematography	Nicola Pecorini
Based on the book by	Hunter S. Thompson
Executive producers	Harold Bronson and Richard Foos
Production Design	Alex McDowell
Editing	Lesley Walker
Costume design	Julie Weiss
Co-producer	Elliot Lewis Rosenblatt
Casting	Margery Simkin
Lounge Lizards designed by	Rob Bottin

Disc Features

SPECIAL EDITION DOUBLE-DISC SET:

Digital transfer, approved by director Terry Gilliam and enhanced for 16×9 televisions
New Dolby Digital and DTS 5.1 sound mixes
Three audio commentary tracks: director Terry Gilliam; stars Johnny Depp and Benicio Del Toro, and producer Laila Nabulsi; and author Hunter S. Thompson
Deleted scenes, with commentary by Terry Gilliam
Collection of storyboards and production designs
Stills gallery
A selection of Hunter S. Thompson correspondence, read on-camera by Johnny Depp
Hunter Goes to Hollywood, a short documentary video by filmmaker Wayne Ewing
A look at the controversy over the screenwriting credit
Original trailer and TV spots
Rare materials on Oscar Zeta Acosta, the inspiration for Dr. Gonzo
Collection of original artwork by illustrator Ralph Steadman
Excerpt from 1996 Fear and Loathing audio CD with Maury Chaykin, Jim Jarmusch, and Harry Dean Stanton
Fear and Loathing on the Road to Hollywood: A 1978 BBC feature documentary with Thompson and Steadman
English subtitles for the deaf and hearing impaired

From the Current

A Pig in the Wilderness: My Night
with Hunter S. Thompson

Feb 19, 2010

The following transmission is an e-mail from September 2002, which I sent back to Criterion headquarters after spending a night at Hunter S. Thompson’s . . .

Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas:
A Pint of Raw Ether and Three Reels of Film

by J. Hoberman Feb 17, 2003

Hunter S. Thompson’s journalistic prose-poem Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas used a lost weekend in Las Vegas as a metaphor for America’s season in hell. Dispatched by a national magazine to cover a cross-country motorcycle race, Thompson filed a postmortem . . .

Jacket Copy for Fear and Loathing
in Las Vegas: A Savage Journey to the
Heart of the American Dream

by Hunter S. Thompson Feb 17, 2003

The book began as a 250-word caption for Sports Illustrated. I was down in LA, working on a very tense and depressing investigation of the allegedly accidental killing of a journalist named Ruben Salazar by the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Dept—and after a week or so on the story . . .

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