Friday, September 25, 2009

You'd better take care of me lord, because if you don't, you're gonna have me on your hands

Raul Duke, played by Hunter S. Thomson, played by Johnny Depp

The good: he can do enough drugs to drop a rhino and still lucidly recall his actions.
The bad: he’s fun to watch, but I wouldn't want to be with him.
The ugly: terrorizing the waitress and chamber maid was going a little too far.
Best line: “I was right in the middle of a fucking reptile zoo, and somebody was giving booze to these goddamn things.”
Runner-up: pretty much every single thing he utters is quotable.

Who else but Raul Duke, Hunter S. Thomson’s wilder alter-ego (which is like calling a group the militant offshoot of Al-Qaeda), could be sent to Las Vegas to cover an obscure off-road race and instead:
1) trashed two hotel rooms to a degree that hotel management probably wished they had booked a convention of death metal bands instead.
2) destroyed two luxury rental cars and an airport fence.
3) missed the race but entered a convention of law enforcement officers with cocaine on his nose while carrying a suitcase full of drugs and a loaded gun.
4) did it all while drinking and ingesting one to three types of drugs simultaneously. (“The ether was wearing off. The acid, long gone. But the mescaline was running strong.”)
5) still managed to get a book out of the experience.

None of that would have been possible if he wasn’t the right man in the right place at the right time. I admire his ability to maintain. Death before unconsciousness!

12 comments:

Monogram Queen said...

Whoah I don't think I even heard of Hunter S. Thompson before he died .. never knew he was such a wild child!

Dr.Alistair said...

kieth moon and john bonham reborn...

NYD said...

Grantalmighty on a popsicle stick! I feel as if I have just been defrosted from carbonite, except you ain't Princess Leia.

Bill Murray did it better than Mr. Depp.

Jay said...

I love HST.

"Just another freak in the Freak Kingdom"

Unknown said...

Haven't seen this one either you would think we lived in different continents or something!

Captain Dumbass said...

I never saw the movie. Did they do the bit on taking human adrenaline? That was insane.

Avitable said...

Ooh, good one. I may have to revise my list. That was an amazing movie, and Raoul Duke has been a favorite since he appeared in Doonesbury for so many panels.

Kira said...

Why aren't you posting this weekend? Sheesh. Lazy ;)

Grant said...

Monogram Queen - he was a legend in the free press and hippie communities.

dr.alistair - but with much more style.

NYD - living in Lilliput has addled your mind. The Bill Murray version was incomprehensible to people unfamiliar with HST, and an insult to the rest of us.

Jay - "I'm a reasonable man. A multiple felon, perhaps, but certainly not dangerous."

SJ - it's well known in America that we are the only ones free enough to blog, plus no other country has electricity (except Canada, who stole it by running an extension cord into New York), so that can't be.

Captain Dumbass - they did and it was.

Avitable - I first discovered him in Doonesbury as well, and he quickly became my favorite character. I had an action figure of him with a T-shirt that read "Death before Unconsciousness".

Kira - I was captured by a crazy redhead and was forced to be her anal sex slave, but managed to escape her claws and those of her attack animals with my virtue intact.

Hit 40 said...

I need to try your movies over Thanksgiving break!!

Grant said...

Hit 40 - that would be the best use of family time that I could think of. Especially for Audition.

McPorkshanks said...

Yes, I'll comment a two year old entry if I feel like it.
I'd like to quote the man himself:
"When the going gets weird, the weird turn pro."
Thompson was a pro all his life. Check out his book on the Hells Angels and Fear and Loathing on the Campaing trail, if you can stomach politics.
He wrote tons of stuff, most of it is hilarious.
From his eulogy over Richard Nixon;
"He was a swine of a man and a jabbering dupe of a president. Nixon was so crooked that he needed servants to help him screw his pants on every morning."
Now that is quality writing!