| Gonzo: The Life and Work of Dr. Hunter S. Thompson | |
|---|---|
 Theatrical release poster | |
| Directed by | Alex Gibney |
| Narrated by | Johnny Depp |
Production company | |
| Distributed by | Magnolia Pictures |
Release date |
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Running time | 118 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
Gonzo: The Life and Work of Dr. Hunter S. Thompson is a 2008documentary film directed byAlex Gibney. It detailsHunter S. Thompson's landmark writings on music and politics. Friends and family (includingTom Wolfe andRalph Steadman) provide interviews to help describe themythos of Hunter and his life.
The film premiered on January 20 in the Documentary Competition at the2008 Sundance Film Festival;[1] it was released in US theaters on July 4, 2008, and released onDVD on November 18, 2008.[2]
The film was released in theaters in the US on July 4, 2008, and in the UK later that year. The DVD was released in November 2008. The film was premiered in January 2008 at the Sundance Film Festival.
The film was nominated for the Grand Jury prize in the documentary genre at the Sundance Film Festival, and for the Best Documentary Screenplay at the Writers' Guild of America awards in 2009.[3] In 2009 TheGonzo album notes, co-authored byJohnny Depp andDouglas Brinkley, were nominated for a Grammy award.[4]
The film received generally positive reviews,The Hollywood Reporter opining that "a biographical documentary doesn't get any better than this".[5]New York magazine called the release "A tender, even-tempered elegy to a writer who at his peak could ingest staggering (literally) amounts of drugs and alcohol and transform, like Popeye after a can of spinach, into a superhuman version of himself—more trenchant, more cutting, more hilarious than any political journalist before or since."[6]
The film received positive reviews fromEntertainment Weekly,The New York Times and theChicago Sun-Times, amongst others. Rotten Tomatoes lists a rating with 86% of critics recommending the film.[7]