When the Going Gets Weird, the Weird Turn to Dr Gonzo

Jacked up on cocaine, pot, tequila and a carnival of other goodies was perhaps the best way to talk politics for Hunter Thompson, the "Gonzo" king of over-the-top, free-freaking, pull-out-their-eyes and march-on-their-bones journalism.

"I hate to advocate drugs, alcohol, violence, or insanity to anyone," Thompson, once said, "but they've always worked for me."

The Rolling Stone reporter left behind a deliciously perverse legacy, and the great documentarian Alex Gibney (Taxi to the Dark Side, Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room) pulled together a wild assortment of his friends and admirers, including Johnny Depp, Jimmy Carter and Patrick Buchanan, for a fantastic portrait of the artist as a young unchained freak.

Gonzo: The Life and World of Dr. Hunter S. Thompson is out on DVD this week. Here's my take on the film . . . and the man who once observed, "When the going gets weird, the weird turn pro."

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