LEGENDmag

Go Gonzo this Independence Day with Hunter S. Thompson

As the father of Gonzo journalism, Thompson immersed himself in the stories he reported. Whether the subject was national politics, as in the case of George McGovern and Richard Nixon, or the nation’s subcultures, like the Hell’s Angels and the Summer of Love, Thompson was so involved in the actions of his stories that he became a central figure in them.

An outspoken advocate of anarchism, he became famous for his support for psychedelics. Case in point, was his (almost successful) run for Pitkin County Sheriff with one of his platforms stating “All Deputies Shall Take Mescaline.” It’s ironic that his most famous work, Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, is themed on the failure of the 1960’s counterculture, that popularized psychedelics.

Watch this documentary from director Alex Gibney (Academy Award nominee and winner for Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room and Taxi to the Dark Side, watch these too!) and narrator Johnny Depp (who moved into Hunter’s Colorado basement to ’study’ Thompson’s persona before assuming his role in the ‘98 film adaptation of Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas) and get a glimpse into the life of one of the great INDIEpendents of the 20th century!