Author Hunter S. Thompson Commits Suicide

[polyb]

ASPEN, Colo. - Hunter S. Thompson, the acerbic counter-culture author of books such as "Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas," fatally shot himself Sunday night at his Aspen-area home, his son said. He was 67.

"Hunter prized his privacy and we ask that his friends and admirers respect that privacy as well as that of his family," Juan Thompson said in a statement released to the Aspen Daily News.

Pitkin County Sheriff Bob Braudis, a personal friend of Thompson, confirmed the death to the News. Sheriff's officials did not return calls to The Associated Press late Sunday.

http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/20050221/ap_en_ot/obit_thompson_4

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/obit_thompson

"He who makes a beast of himself
Gets rid of the pain
Of being a man."
Dr. Johnson

So long you wondorous FREAK of nature! Those damn bastards finally got to ya!

 

[Astronuc]

I just heard -

Very sad.

 

[Greg Bernhardt]

Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas was an awesome book and movie!

 

[Astronuc]

It brings a whole new meaning to "White Rabbit" -

http://www.awesomefilm.com/script/fearandloathing.html (movie script)

A tribute to H. S. (Duke) Thompson.

A "YOU ARE LEAVING LAS VEGAS" sign flashes past.

Bob Dylan plays: "Memphis Blues Again -- "Aaww, Mama, can
this really by the end...?"

A sign: LOS ANGELES -- 400 miles.

DUKE (V/O)
Jesus, bad waves of paranoia,
madness, fear and loathing --
intolerable vibrations in this
place. Get out! The weasels were
closing in. I could smell the ugly
brutes. Flee!

DUKE drives fast.

DUKE
Do me one last favor Lord: just
give me five more high-speed hours
before you bring the hammer down;
just let me get rid of this goddamn
car and off of this horrible desert.

A sign flashes "YOU CAN RUN BUT YOU CAN'T HIDE."

A patrol car pulls out behind him, lights flashing.

DUKE (CONT'D)
You evil bastard! This is your
work! You'd better take care of
me, Lord... because if you don't
you're going to have me on your
hands.

The patrol car screams after the RED SHARK.

DUKE (V/O)
Few people understand the psychology
of dealing with a Highway Traffic
Cop. Your normal speeder will
panic and immediately pull over to
the side. This is wrong.

DUKE floors the gas pedal.

DUKE (V/O)
It arouses contempt in the cop heart.

THE SPEEDOMETER CLIMBS STEADILY.

58.


DUKE (V/O)
Make the bastard chase you. He
will follow. But he won't know
what to make of your blinker signal
that says you're about to turn right.

DUKE signals right. The RED SHARK screams at 120 mph.

DUKE (V/O)
This is to let him know you're
looking for a proper place to pull
off and talk.

AN EXIT OFF RAMP: MAX SPEED 25.

DUKE hits the brakes. The COP brakes.

DUKE (V/O)
It will take him a moment to
realize that he is about to make
180 degree turn at speed... but you
will be ready for it, braced for
the G's and the fast heel toe work.

The patrol car spins and fishtails crazily out of control.

EXT. SCENIC PICNIC AREA - DAY

The patrol car comes skidding around the corner. DUKE
stands beside the RED SHARK, completely relaxed and smiling.

The HIGHWAY PATROLMAN gets out of the car, screaming.

HIGHWAY PATROLMAN
Just what the F@#& did you think
you were doing?!

DUKE smiles.

HIGHWAY PATROLMAN
May I see your license.

DUKE
Of course, officer.

DUKE reaches for it. And BOTH MEN look down at a beer
can -- which DUKE had, somehow, forgotten was in his hand.

DUKE (V/O)
I knew I was f#&*%d.

The COP relaxes -- actually smiles... He reaches out for
DUKE's wallet, then holds out his other hand for the beer.

59.


HIGHWAY PATROLMAN
Could I have that, please?

DUKE
Why not? It was getting warm anyway.

The HIGHWAY PATROLMAN takes it, pours out the beer --
glances in the back seat of the RED SHARK. Amongst the bars
of soap... A case of warm beer. DUKE smiles back at him.

HIGHWAY PATROLMAN
You realize...

DUKE
Yeah. I know. I'm guilty. I
understand that. I knew it was a
crime but I did it anyway. S#!t,
why argue? I'm a f@#$%&* criminal.

HIGHWAY PATROLMAN
That's a strange attitude.

He looks at DUKE thoughtfully.

HIGHWAY PATROLMAN
You know -- I get the feeling you
could use a nap. There's a rest
area up ahead. Why don't you pull
over and sleep a few hours?

DUKE
A nap won't help. I've been awake
for too long -- three or four
nights. I can't even remember. If
I go to sleep now, I'm dead for
twenty hours.

The HIGHWAY PATROLMAN smiles.

HIGHWAY PATROLMAN
Okay. Here's how it is. What goes
into my book, as of noon, is that I
apprehended you... for driving too
fast, and advised you to proceed no
further than the next rest area...
your stated destination, right?
Where you plan to take a long nap.
Do I make myself clear?

DUKE
How far is Baker? I was hoping to
stop there for lunch.

60.


HIGHWAY PATROLMAN
Not my jurisdiction. The city
limits are two point two miles
beyond the rest area. Can you make
it that far?

DUKE
I'll try. I've been wanting to go
to Baker for a long time. I've
heard a lot about it.

The PATROLMAN holds the door for DUKE who gets in.

HIGHWAY PATROLMAN
Excellent seafood. With a mind
like yours, you'll probably want to
try the land-crab. Try the Majestic
Diner.

The PATROLMAN slams the door shut.

EXT. DESERT ROAD - DAY

 

[Chronos]

Alas, I named automobiles after fish in honor of Hunter... great white, brown trout, blue marlin, black bass and my current ride - the grass carp.

 

[loseyourname]

I can't say I'm surprised. Given his paranoia about police states and fascism, the recent election might have been the last straw for him. Besides, I don't know how much of a brain he still had left. I don't know if any of you had seen him recently (he was featured on a couple of TV special in recent years), but he may have been one of the least coherent human beings to ever grace the public stage.

 

[Moonbear]

Well, at least now I know why I saw this as a headline yesterday. I never heard of him or the book you've mentioned, so I didn't know why it was national news that he committed suicide.

 

[polyb]

I highly recommend any book he has written. Consider it an expose' of a savage journey into the heart of the American nightmare!

Movies:
'Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas'

'Where the Buffalo Roam'

Both are a wonderful waste of time!

 

[Astronuc]

FROM THE PUBLISHER

First published in Rolling Stone magazine in 1971, Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas is Hunter S. Thompson's savagely comic account of what happened to this country in the 1960s. It is told through this writer's account of an assignment he undertook with his attorney to visit las Vegas and "check it out." The book stands as the final word on the highs and lows of that decade, one of the defining works of our time, and a stylistic and journalistic tour de force.

Crawford Woods

"We were around Barstow on the edge of the desert when the drugs began to take hold." The hold deepens for two days, and the language keeps pace for 200 pages, in what is by far the best book yet written on the decade of dope gone by...It is, as well, a custom-crafted study of paranoia, a spew from the 1960s and -in all its hysteria, insolence, insult and rot- a desperate and important book, a wired nightmare, the funniest piece of American prose since Naked Lunch. Books of the Century, The New York Times,July, 1972

Another good book is Tom Wolfe's "The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test".

Those were interesting times.

 

[DeadWolfe]

Hunter was entirely coherent.

Strange, but he came off as intelligent to me.

 

[the number 42]

I can't say I'm surprised. Given his paranoia about police states and fascism, the recent election might have been the last straw for him. Besides, I don't know how much of a brain he still had left. I don't know if any of you had seen him recently (he was featured on a couple of TV special in recent years), but he may have been one of the least coherent human beings to ever grace the public stage.

He can't have been as incoherent as John Keel, a pioneer of LSD mind-expansion. I saw an interview he gave a few years ago. He looked about 80 years old (he may have been 70 or 90, I don't know), but he didn't say a word all through the interview. Instead he had one of his students - a guy in his mid twenties or so - do the talking on the grounds that Keel was 'too mentally advanced to reduce his ideas to normal human levels', or somesuch. This was not a good advert for LSD as a daily suppliment.

 

[the number 42]

DUKE signals right. The RED SHARK screams at 120 mph.

...

HIGHWAY PATROLMAN
May I see your license.

DUKE
Of course, officer.

DUKE reaches for it. And BOTH MEN look down at a beer
can -- which DUKE had, somehow, forgotten was in his hand.

Glamourising drunk driving? Tut tut tut. And I'd had you marked as a man of social conscience.
Anyway, I didn't know Bush Junior's nickname was Duke.

Kidding aside, Fear & Loathing is a classic of literature. Depp didn't quite do it justice, though lots of his other roles are good.

 

[Astronuc]

DUKE reaches for it. And BOTH MEN look down at a beer can -- which DUKE had, somehow, forgotten was in his hand.

It's the subtle irony and everso slight exaggeration that makes it great.

 

[the number 42]

I think my posts are great too. Thanks.

 

[spender]

Spalding Gray also commited suicide not long ago, and now Thompson

 

[juvenal]

"We were somewhere around Barstow on the edge of the desert when the drugs began to take hold."

Great book. Crappy movie. Movies just don't do a good job in general of capturing drug experiences in an entertaining or accurate way.

His articles at espn.com on football were very amusing. Unfortunately those bastards over there have now made most of them Insider, premium articles that you have to pay for.

 

[the number 42]

On a more general note: "The highest suicide rates of any age group occur among persons aged 65 years and older".
http://www.mentalhealth.org/suicideprevention/elderly.asp

 

[Echo 6 Sierra]

Kidding aside, Fear & Loathing is a classic of literature. Depp didn't quite do it justice...

I much prefer Bill Murray's portrayal of HST better in Where the Buffalo Roam. Peter Boyle as Laslo rescuing him from his self-imposed exile in the hospital and road-tripping to the super-bawl. The impromtu football game in the hotel room with the staff, trading the press passes for the jug of wine and the hat(LOL)!

I read Hell's Angels a long time ago and remember liking it. Kinda graphic in parts though.

On a different note, the original scroll of Kerouac's On The Road should be coming into town here Sept 1 - Nov 30. I would LOVE to see that.

 

[the number 42]

I much prefer Bill Murray's portrayal of HST better in Where the Buffalo Roam. Peter Boyle as Laslo rescuing him from his self-imposed exile in the hospital and road-tripping to the super-bawl. The impromtu football game in the hotel room with the staff, trading the press passes for the jug of wine and the hat(LOL)!

I read Hell's Angels a long time ago and remember liking it. Kinda graphic in parts though.

On a different note, the original scroll of Kerouac's On The Road should be coming into town here Sept 1 - Nov 30. I would LOVE to see that.

Haven't seen Where the Buffalo Roam, but I haven't seen anything with Bill Murray that I didn't like.

I haven't read Hell's Angels, but have you seen the 1967 Jack Nicholson film that it supposedly inspired? http://www.dvd.co.uk/product.asp?id=PPA1381
I saw it about 10 years ago, and it didn't make much impression on me (I can't recall much of it), but again I haven't seen a Jack Nicholson film I didn't like.

A film of On The Road? I think it would be hard to capture the spirit of the book on film. And Nicholson & Murray are too old to play any major parts in it

 

[Smurf]

The man was a real artist, he will be missed.

 

[Echo 6 Sierra]

A film of On The Road? I think it would be hard to capture the spirit of the book on film. And Nicholson & Murray are too old to play any major parts in it

Not a film, the actual typed pages that are taped end to end like a roll of paper towels.

 

[the number 42]

Not a film, the actual typed pages that are taped end to end like a roll of paper towels.

Sorry, misread your post. Wow, the orignial scroll? No wonder it took years to get a publisher to take interest.