BUY THE TICKET, TAKE THE RIDE: HUNTER S. THOMPSON ON FILM (2006)

BUY THE TICKET, TAKE THE RIDE: HUNTER S. THOMPSON ON FILM
***
Rating: Not Rated
Length: 73 minutes
Director: Tom Thurman (Sam Peckinpah’s West: Legacy of a Hollywood Renegade; Immaculate Funk)
Writer: Tom Marksbury (Sam Peckinpah’s West: Legacy of a Hollywood Renegade; Bullets Over Hollywood)
Starring: Bill Murray, Johnny Depp, John Cusack, Sean Penn, Nick Nolte, Benicio Del Toro, Gary Busey, Harry Dean Stanton, Tom Wolfe, Leonard Maltin, George McGovern, Ed Bradley, William F. Buckley, Anita Thompson, Ralph Steadman, Jann Wenner

I’ve been wanting to see the Hunter S. Thompson documentary, “Breakfast with Hunter”, for quite some time and am currently waiting for it to arrive to me. I did stumble across this nugget in the meantime. “Buy the Ticket, Take the Ride: Hunter S. Thompson On Film” is a loving, tribute to the legendary journalist. It follows the standard documentary format- photos and interview excerpts of Thompson and clips from the two films “based” on his life, 1980’s “Where the Buffalo Roam” (where he was played by Bill Murray) and 1998’s “Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas” (played by Johnny Depp). We also get a plethora of interviews, ranging from celebrities (including Murray and Depp), to politicians (George McGovern), his family, and other literary legends (Tom Wolfe). It all adds up to paint Thompson as larger than life, but with also with a certain sadness to him as the film leads up to it’s eventual conclusion with his suicide. Though, his death is handled with a certain grandiose and humor- as it was in reality- as we get to see Thompson planning the extravagant event almost twenty years prior with his good friend (and famed illustrator of his work) Ralph Steadman. Depp, who funded the funeral, is teary eyed just explaining the loss. I hear “Breakfast” is a bit more full and telling and I am greatly looking forward to finally watching it, as Thompson was a personal hero of mine (long before the Gilliam picture). “Buy the Ticket”, however, was well worth the watch. If “Breakfast” doesn’t live up to expectations than at least I’ll have seen this. The Gary Busey interview here is worth it’s weight in gold alone.

Download Interview:
Hunter S. Thompson- Lecture at Boulder City University (1977) (Courtesy of Eggcityradio.com)

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