Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas (1998) [The Criterion Collection #175] [Re-UP]

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Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas (1998) [The Criterion Collection #175] [Re-UP]

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"No point mentioning the bats, I thought. The poor bastard will see them soon enough."

"Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas" is one of the more literal film adaptations in recent memory. The film relies almost exclusively on Dr. Hunter S. Thompson's original words, both in dialogue scenes and in voice-over. Some lines are relocated from sequences in the book left out of the film, but even extended blocks of dialogue are taken almost verbatim from the source novel, one of the defining works of the 60s… though it was written in 1971.

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Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas (1998) [The Criterion Collection #175] [Re-UP]

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The look of the film, in turn, is clearly inspired by the psychedelic illustrations of Ralph Steadman which accompanied Thompson's words (first published in "Rolling Stone" then later printed as a short novel). One of the first images is an off-kilter shot through the windshield of the two main characters, a partial recreation of one of Steadman's best-known drawings from the book. Director Terry Gilliam repeatedly uses fish-eye lenses to capture the distorted perspective of Steadman's visions, and as the obvious visual expression of Thompson's drug-fueled delusions.

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Furthermore, Johnny Depp, a friend of Thompson, opted for a directly mimetic performance, aping the author's numerous twitches and spasms, and his clipped grunting diction. Some critics felt Depp went too far over the top, but a glimpse of the real Thompson (if there is such a thing) on the extras on this Criterion disc suggest that Depp was, if anything, restrained. He is certainly an ocean of calm compared to Benicio Del Toro, who plays the paranoid Samoan Dr. Gonzo, a character inspired by Thompson's companion on the original Vegas trip Oscar Zeta Acosta, a lawyer and leader of the Chicano or "Brown Pride" movement. The real Acosta died under mysterious circumstances in 1974 so we don't have a point of comparison for Del Toro's performance, but it's difficult to envision any human being, even one described by Thompson as "a high powered mutant of some kind never even considered for mass production," who could sustain the splenetic fury (sometimes smoldering, more often bubbling over) of Del Toro's force majeure Gonzo.

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Was this literal-minded approach a failure of imagination? Or perhaps a by-product of the film's harried production as Gilliam took over the reins late in the game after director Alex Cox departed over "creative differences?" I would argue that it was, quite simply, the right choice for the long-fulminating adaptation of a "difficult" book.

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Thompson's Gonzo journalism (a gimmicky label perhaps, but one that has stuck for good reason) requires full immersion and is linked indelibly to a single perspective and a single voice, that of Thompson, by way of his fictional avatar Raoul Duke. The Gonzo reporter not only becomes part of the story, he eclipses it completely in favor of more idiosyncratic pursuits. Thompson was hired by "Sports Illustrated" to cover the Mint 400 motorcycle race in Las Vegas, but he abandons it almost the instant it begins. The real story occurs in their hotel room and in their journeys through the seedier, or perhaps I should say sadder, areas of the Strip, the "vortex of the American Dream," where Debbie Reynolds, bull dykes with pasties, and ravenous chimpanzees co-exist with a natural ease not found in a fractured culture which simultaneously produced Grace Slick and Richard Nixon. What was originally meant to be a 250-word photo caption for "Sports Illustrated" became a melancholy retrospective of the dashed hopes of 60s counter-culture and an iconic novel.

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Gilliam and co-writer Tony Grisoni have made a few changes, most notably adding a layer of romanticism to the film by portraying Thompson as typing the book on the spot in his Vegas hotel room during the rare longueurs when Dr. Gonzo isn't begging to be electrocuted by a tape recorder blasting "White Rabbit." The film also amplifies the "buddy movie" aspect of the story: two guys and a classic car (or two) on the most quintessentially American of all benders ("Two good old boys in a fire-apple red convertible. Stoned. Ripped. Twisted. Good people.") Some of the biting political satire is lost with Nixon, Dr. Thompson's bête noir, reduced to a whirling disembodied head. But Gilliam's main purpose is to reproduce the immersive qualities of this Gonzo trip as best as the medium will allow and I think he succeeds quite admirably. Being a Gonzo visualist himself, Gilliam is such a natural choice it's hard to believe he wasn't on the project from the start (he was asked at one point many years ago, but declined.)

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It is, at the very least, a beautiful cinematic showcase for Thompson at the peak of his writing skills. Who could improve on the good doctor's description of an ether binge? Ether "makes you behave like the village drunkard in some early Irish novel… total loss of all basic motor skills: blurred vision, no balance, numb tongue – severance of all connection between the body and the brain." The film also feeds back into the novel. Reading "Fear and Loathing" after watching the movie, I can't help but hear the words as spat out by Depp (as Duke as Thompson) and long passages are completely transformed by the experience.

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"Fear and Loathing" was not well-received on its release and while it has achieved a minor cult status since, it hasn't invited much critical reconsideration in the interim. The film has its warts – the lounge lizard scene is too hokey and the numerous celebrity cameos grow tiresome – but I find it improves with each viewing. I've watched it five times now and haven't been bored for a minute, and I laugh harder each time. Perhaps "Fear and Loathing" shouldn't go down so smoothly. It isn't quite the "Savage Journey" of the book's subtitle, more of an "Excellent Adventure." But armed to its fangs with Thompson's hard scrabble words, it's still got plenty of firepower. Buy the ticket, take the ride.

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Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas (1998) [The Criterion Collection #175] [Re-UP]

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Special Features:
- Digital transfer, approved by director Terry Gilliam
- Three audio commentaries: one with Gilliam, one with stars Johnny Depp and Benicio Del Toro and producer Laila Nabulsi, and one with author Hunter S. Thompson
- Deleted scenes, with optional commentary by Gilliam
- Selection of Thompson correspondence, read on camera by Depp
- Hunter Goes to Hollywood, a short documentary
- A look at the controversy over the screenwriting credit
- Profile of Oscar Zeta Acosta, the inspiration for Dr. Gonzo
- Collection of artwork by illustrator Ralph Steadman
- Excerpt from the 1996 Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas recording featuring Jim Jarmusch and Maury Chaykin
- BBC documentary from 1978 with Thompson and Steadman
- Storyboards, production designs, stills, and trailer
- PLUS: A booklet featuring an essay by critic J. Hoberman and two pieces by Thompson

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