Buy the Ticket, Take the Ride (2006)

Written by Tom Marksbury
Directed by Tom Thurman

It is no accident or coincidence that the title of this documentary is also one of Hunter S. Thompson's favorite and most oft-quoted sayings. It is also the code or credo by which he lived his tumultuous and rabble-rousing life, and one which was lived on his own terms and conditions, reckless as they might have been all the way up to his self-inflicted death.

This film is different from Breakfast with Hunter in the sense that it doesn't so much explore Hunter's life, instead it memorializes it. Instead of examining, it merely remembers, although with a very sympathetic heart as evidenced through the interviews with such a vast array of characters such as journalists Ed Bradley, William F. Buckley, writers Nick Tosches and Tom Wolfe, and actors Gary Busey, Johnny Depp, Bill Murray, John Cusack, Sean Penn, Benicio Del Toro, Harry Dean Stanton, to artist Ralph Steadman, the local country Sheriff Bob Braudis, and even Governor (and former Presidential candidate) George McGovern. With such an interesting array of friends, you'll be sure that there was a very interesting and diverse man behind this collection of memories.

Most of the film spends time with the people who knew him telling stories from his life, Johnny Depp telling about his months of living in Hunter's basement in preparation of Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, the same for Bill Murray, but also discussions of their political history together, along with such noted authors as Tom Wolfe explaining why he was in fact the most important comedic American writer probably of the entire 20th century.

The knowledge gained from watching this documentary may not be as enlightening as other Hunter S. Thompson documentaries, but that is not the intent of this film. It's merely a memorial, a tribute to the man, myth, and legend that is Hunter Thompson.

Some of the stories will have you cracking up, such as George McGovern recalling the 1972 presidential campaign and Thompson's passionate hate for Richard Nixon, to the creation of his Gonzo Fisted Memorial Cannon, for which Johnny Depp paid $3 million or so. Such is the man in question though, whose presence is so sorely missed, yet at the same time understood by his friends and colleagues.

Football Season Is Over

"No More Games. No More Bombs. No More Walking. No More Fun. No More Swimming. 67. That is 17 years past 50. 17 more than I needed or wanted. Boring. I am always bitchy. No Fun — for anybody. 67. You are getting Greedy. Act your old age. Relax — This won't hurt".

And so goes Thompson's final journal entry in life, left on his typewriter for all to see. A fitting and ultimately expected end, as he used to tell his friend Ralph Steadman "I'd feel trapped in this life if I didn't know that at any moment I could commit suicide."

8.6/10