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IMDb > Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas (1998)
Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas
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Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas (1998) More at IMDbPro »

Photos (see all 40 | slideshow) Videos (see all 8)
Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas (1998) -- An oddball journalist and his psychopathic lawyer travel to Las Vegas for a series of psychadelic escapades.
Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas (1998) -- The Duke checks into a hotel where a police convention is taking place.
Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas (1998) -- An oddball journalist and his psychopathic lawyer travel to Las Vegas for a series of psychadelic escapades.
Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas (1998) -- The Dr. has a difficult time getting off a revolving bar.
Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas (1998) -- The Duke threatens Dr. Gonzo with mace.

Overview

User Rating:
7.6/10   69,432 votes
MOVIEmeter: ?
Up 15% in popularity this week. See rank & trends on IMDbPro.
Director:
Terry Gilliam
Writers (WGA):
Hunter S. Thompson (book)
Terry Gilliam (screenplay) ...
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Contact:
View company contact information for Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas on IMDbPro.
Release Date:
22 toukokuu 1998 (USA) more
Genre:
Comedy | Drama | Fantasy more
Tagline:
Give us your brain for two hours and you will never be the same again.....(Icelandic) more
Plot:
An oddball journalist and his psychopathic lawyer travel to Las Vegas for a series of psychadelic escapades. full summary | full synopsis
Awards:
1 win & 1 nomination more
User Comments:
Visual masterpiece with Thompson's message intact and strong as ever. more

Cast

  (Cast overview, first billed only)

Johnny Depp ... Raoul Duke

Benicio Del Toro ... Dr. Gonzo / Oscar Z. Acosta

Tobey Maguire ... Hitchhiker

Ellen Barkin ... Waitress at North Star Cafe

Gary Busey ... Highway Patrolman

Christina Ricci ... Lucy

Mark Harmon ... Magazine Reporter at Mint 400

Cameron Diaz ... Blonde TV Reporter

Katherine Helmond ... Desk Clerk at Mint Hotel

Michael Jeter ... L. Ron Bumquist

Penn Jillette ... Carnie Talker

Craig Bierko ... Lacerda

Lyle Lovett ... Road Person
Flea ... Musician

Laraine Newman ... Frog-Eyed Woman
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Create a character page for: ?

Additional Details

Also Known As:
Pelkoa ja inhoa Las Vegasissa (Finland) [fi]
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MPAA:
Rated R for pervasive extreme drug use and related bizarre behavior, strong language, and brief nudity.
Runtime:
118 min
Country:
USA
Language:
English
Color:
Color (Rankcolor)
Aspect Ratio:
2.35 : 1 more
Sound Mix:
DTS | Dolby Digital | SDDS

Fun Stuff

Trivia:
Laraine Newman (the Frog-Eyed Woman) and Harry Dean Stanton (the Judge) both appeared on the 1996 Spoken Word Adaptation CD of Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas. Stanton was the narrator while Newman played several small roles. more
Goofs:
Continuity: When Dr.Gonzo hits reverse to pick up the hitchhiker, Duke is thrown backwards. more
Quotes:
[first lines]
Raoul Duke: [narrating] We were somewhere around Barstow, on the edge of the desert, when the drugs began to take hold. I remember saying something like:
Raoul Duke: I feel a bit lightheaded. Maybe you should drive.
Raoul Duke: [narrating] Suddenly, there was a terrible roar all around us, and the sky was full of what looked like huge bats, all swooping and screeching and diving around the car, and a voice was screaming:
Raoul Duke: Holy Jesus. What are these goddamn animals?
[swatting the air]
Raoul Duke: Huh! Huh! Huh! Fucking pigs.
Dr. Gonzo: Did you say something?
Raoul Duke: Hm? Never mind. It's your turn to drive.
Raoul Duke: [narrating] No point in mentioning these bats, I thought. Poor bastard will see them soon enough.
more
Movie Connections:
Features Sekai daisenso (1961) more
Soundtrack:
I Can't Turn You Loose more

FAQ

This FAQ is empty. Add the first question.
28 out of 30 people found the following comment useful:-
Visual masterpiece with Thompson's message intact and strong as ever., 5 September 2002
10/10
Author: jduke from Atlanta, USA

I have read countless reviews of this movie that have derided it for everything from glorifying drugs to being unchristian to being boring. Maybe my mind works very much like director Terry Gilliam's (I loved 'Brazil' and '12 Monkeys'), but the last thing I would do to this movie is deride it. It is a brilliant adaptation of Hunter S. Thompson's generation-defining book of the same name - it stays very faithful to the events in the book.

First of all, this movie literally glows with Gilliam's eye for detail that he has consistently displayed throughout his career. The sets are so elaborate, one could never take in all the scenery from any number of viewings without slowing it down and watching very closely. The bombardment of the bright, flashing lights of Las Vegas and the bizarre camera angles, as well as surreal sets make for an interesting and entertaining presentation regardless of a lack of coherency and taste. What we have here is a movie riddled with black humor and a horrifying satire of the American dream. I'll admit it takes a very `unchristian' viewpoint to laugh at the `straight economics' of allowing policemen to gang-f**k a girl for $30 a head. Therefore, people bound by a constricting sense of morality should never have watched this movie in the first place. It is for people like me who enjoy living a very un-stoic life (at least vicariously through movies) by having radical ideas and perspectives forced upon them. Fear and Loathing is the embodiment of such a perspective - it is a gruesomely accurate depiction of the bi-product of the often-glorified 60's drug culture. And one thing that countless critics seem to carelessly omit in their analyses is the constant references to the `American Dream.' Johnny Depp (Raoul Duke/Hunter Thompson), in his verbose verbal narrations, makes quite a few references to a desparate hunt for reason behind the madness of not only this `American Dream', but the drug culture as well - "He who makes a beast of himself gets rid of the pain of being a man." - Dr. Johnson (displayed before the opening scene). The problem with the waning popularity of this movie is simply that its design was not meant to appeal to the buttoned-down mainstream. People that want to laugh and cry in a movie theater and then get the hell on aren't the type of people that would enjoy seeing an unjustified drug-induced frenzy on Las Vegas. This movie has everything a critic should be looking for in a masterpiece - magnificent cinematography, lovely acting, shock value, provocation of thought, and a meaning behind it all. To freaks like me it also has immense entertainment value as well. This work will be one of my favorite movies of all time.

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What exactly did Gonzo do with Lucy on the airplane? spacezero
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Script Analysis: Gillliam/Grisoni vs. Cox/Davies versions morgands1
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