''Fear and Loathing on the Road to Hollywood'', also known as ''Fear and Loathing in Gonzovision'', is a documentary film produced by BBC '' Omnibus'' in 1978 on the subject of Hunter S. Thompson, directed by Nigel Finch. The film pairs Thompson with illustrator Ralph Steadman, as they travel to Hollywood via

Death Valley Death Valley is a desert valley in Eastern California, in the northern Mojave Desert, bordering the Great Basin Desert. It is thought to be the Highest temperature recorded on Earth, hottest place on Earth during summer. Death Valley's Badwat ...

and Barstow from

Las Vegas Las Vegas, colloquially referred to as Vegas, is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Nevada and the county seat of Clark County. The Las Vegas Valley metropolitan area is the largest within the greater Mojave Desert, and second-l ...

.''The Joke's Over'', R.Steadman, London : 2006, Heinemann It also includes scenes of Thompson's home, Owl Farm in

Aspen Aspen is a common name for certain tree species in the Populus sect. Populus, of the ''Populus'' (poplar) genus. Species These species are called aspens: * ''Populus adenopoda'' – Chinese aspen (China, south of ''P. tremula'') * ''Populus da ...

Colorado Colorado is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States. It is one of the Mountain states, sharing the Four Corners region with Arizona, New Mexico, and Utah. It is also bordered by Wyoming to the north, Nebraska to the northeast, Kansas ...

, and contains interviews with Thompson and Steadman, as well as some short excerpts from Thompson's writings and displays some of Steadman's artwork.

Factual inaccuracies

The film's narrator states that Thompson was a former member of the Hells Angels motorcycle club. Thompson was never a patched member of—nor was he prospected for membership in—the Hells Angels. At best, Thompson was an authorized observer and allowed intimate access to the Hells Angels' lifestyle and activities while writing '' Hell's Angels: The Strange and Terrible Saga of the Outlaw Motorcycle Gangs''. The narrator also states that Thompson ran for sheriff in his hometown of Aspen, Colorado. Thompson's hometown was Louisville,

Kentucky Kentucky (, ), officially the Commonwealth of Kentucky, is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio to the north, West Virginia to the ...

—not Aspen. According to Thompson's son Juan, the Thompson family had been in Kentucky for generations.

Availability

The film is featured in

The Criterion Collection The Criterion Collection, Inc. (or simply Criterion) is an American home video, home-video distribution company that focuses on licensing, restoring and distributing "important classic and contemporary films". A "sister company" of art film, arth ...

edition of '' Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas''.

Notes and references

* ''Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas: Criterion Collection'', disc 2 * 1978 films Works about Hunter S. Thompson British short documentary films Documentary films about writers BBC television documentaries 1970s English-language films 1970s British films English-language short documentary films {{bio-documentary-film-stub