# How much truth to Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [November 29, 2002, 3:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-truth-to-fear-and-loathing-in-las-vegas/139437 "2002-11-29T03:01:54Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![The\_Dark\_Canuck](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/4bbf92/32.png) [@The\_Dark\_Canuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Dark_Canuck)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2002, 3:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-truth-to-fear-and-loathing-in-las-vegas/139437/1 "2002-11-29T03:01:54Z")
I read the book and saw the movie a few years ago but just watched it again the other day. It got me thinking: how much of the story is actually true? I know HST is well known for his use of foreign substances, but the amount of drugs they had seem like it should have killed them. Another thing: Is, or was, the Mint 400 a real race? ---
**Author:** ![Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e99b99/32.png) [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diogenes_the_Cynic)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2002, 3:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-truth-to-fear-and-loathing-in-las-vegas/139437/2 "2002-11-29T03:14:52Z")
I know that the 'attorney" was based on a real person, but I think that the rest of the novel was entirely fiction. I think the race was a real event, though, and Thompson used to cover a lot of sports events, so some of the novel may have been true in a “gonzo” sense ---
**Author:** ![sleestak](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/919ad9/32.png) [@sleestak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sleestak)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2002, 4:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-truth-to-fear-and-loathing-in-las-vegas/139437/3 "2002-11-29T04:30:38Z")
A friend of mine got to interview HST for the college paper she was working on. According to her he was pretty messed up. IIRC, he wouldn’t let her into his place on time (she drove a long way to talk to the guy) and when he did let her in he was pretty drunk. This was back in 94 or 95. She loved his work before the interview and walked away pretty much hating the guy. She said he came across as an idiot. Note, this is all hearsay but I never found a reason for her to lie. The story she wrote for the paper was really even handed. I was suprised because she really didn’t like the man. So I wouldn’t be suprised if the guy actually took the amount of drugs he said he did. Also, Ozzy is living proof that you can take huge amounts of nasty drugs and stay alive. You may not be in the best shape afterwards but some do live. I wouldn’t recommened it though. Slee ---
**Author:** ![Jello](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f05b48/32.png) [@Jello](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jello)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2002, 6:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-truth-to-fear-and-loathing-in-las-vegas/139437/4 "2002-11-29T06:40:09Z")
The Mint 400 is a real race, and Sports Illustrated really did send HST to cover it. They “aggressively rejected” his 15,000 word response that became Part One of the book. On April 26, 1971 he returned for the National District Attorneys’ Conference on Narcotics and Dangerous Drugs, on assignment from Rolling Stone, who he sold the first story to after SI rejected it. As for the drug-induced incidents of the two trips, somewhere he admitted that those were simulated, but I can’t find the exact quote at the moment. Excerpt from _Fear and Loathing in America_, from a letter to Jim Silberman of Random House: > [@](#): > > Only a genuine freak could have created the Circus-Circus. Which is where I finally found the American Dream…not an easy thing to explain in a few words, as I think I mentioned earlier. This last trip got into far heavier and more serious things than we have in this (Vegas 1) section, enc. What began as a joke and a casual rip-off somehow developed into a serious quest that incredibly yielded up the Main Fruit. > … > But this is not a _reasonable_ story. This is a tale of gross excess on many levels. And those details are hard to fake. There is no way to understand the public reaction to the sight of a Freak smashing a coconut with a hammer on the hood of a white Cadillac in a Safeway parking lot unless you actually do it…and I tell you it’s _tense_. > … > This is horrible. I admit it, and naturally I regret having ever participated in such a spectacle. But it was all in the interest of Journalistic Science. Or maybe Behavorial Science. I’ve always been heavy into Science, on all fronts. Later, in another letter to Silberman, on whether F&L in Las Vegas was journalism or fiction, he just said, “It should never be neccesary for a writer to explain _how_ his work should be read.” ---
**Author:** ![FallenAngel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/5daacb/32.png) [@FallenAngel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FallenAngel)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2002, 8:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-truth-to-fear-and-loathing-in-las-vegas/139437/5 "2002-11-29T08:11:08Z")
The attorney was Oscar (de?) Acosta, a good friend of Hunter’s and a serious activist in the Chicano movement. Hunter actually wrote a serious piece about Oscar after Oscar was missing and presumed (accurately, it turned out) to be dead. It was a touching tribute to a friend and appears in _The Great Shark Hunt_ ---
**Author:** ![Cholo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/58f4c7/32.png) [@Cholo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cholo)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2002, 2:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-truth-to-fear-and-loathing-in-las-vegas/139437/6 "2002-11-29T14:16:24Z")
Wasn’t that piece called _“On the Trail of the Great Brown Buffalo”_? BTW, I’ve seen a picture of HST and OA together in Vegas. At least it looks as if they WERE there together during 71’. How much is true? Who knows. ---
**Author:** ![Zebra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/c0e974/32.png) [@Zebra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zebra)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2002, 11:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-truth-to-fear-and-loathing-in-las-vegas/139437/7 "2002-11-29T23:30:39Z")
What kind of truths are you looking for in the book? Names, dates, places, don’t seem to me to be the kind of thing HST writes. ---
**Author:** ![pesch](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pesch/32/4925_2.png) [@pesch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pesch)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2002, 12:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-truth-to-fear-and-loathing-in-las-vegas/139437/8 "2002-11-30T00:57:30Z")
The Vincent Black Shadow does exist, and it’s a pretty heavy motorcycle to ride. Of course, all of HST’s reactions to things have to be filtered through his drug-addicted sensibilities. And those were weird times. In reality, HST was a pretty good journalist. A collection of his work gave a pretty complete overview: straight pieces from his pre-‘Vegas’ days through to the bitter end. His '72 campaign diary book is also excellent, and not only reflective of the times but accurate as well (at least so far as explaining how someone like McGovern managed to cop the nomination). Now, he’s a nutcase ranting on the corner. ---
**Author:** ![Keith\_Berry](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/22d042/32.png) [@Keith\_Berry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Keith_Berry)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2002, 4:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-truth-to-fear-and-loathing-in-las-vegas/139437/9 "2002-12-06T04:33:19Z")
Acosta also made a lot of problems for Thompson and associates when “Fear And Loathing” was approaching publication. He apparently wanted a sizeable cut of the book’s profits under threat of a libel lawsuit. This caused quite a few headaches, as well as any movie interest in the book being scared away. In my (admittedly sketchy) opinion, the basic facts are true: Thompson and Acosta were in Las Vegas, and did party heavily, but I’d say most of the book’s most entertaining moments were probably exaggerated from reality or completely fabricated. As regards the movie, the fact that John Lennon wanted to star in a adapation has always struck me as one of those intriguing “what-ifs?”. We saw Lennon act a little in his lifetime (The Beatles movies, plus “How I Won The War”) and while he was akward, he also seemed to have a natural quality to him that might have become something with training and experience. ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Wrong](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d9b06d/32.png) [@Mr.Wrong](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Wrong)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2002, 6:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-truth-to-fear-and-loathing-in-las-vegas/139437/10 "2002-12-06T06:00:36Z")
I seem to remember HST writing that _Fear and Loathing_ was written mostly as a way to unwind while working on the much heavier (sixties term) piece about Oscar. The events are probably mostly fictional, but Hunter’s observations and insights are mostly truthful. Like any good novel. “The only thing that scared me was the ether. There is nothing more helpless and desperate and irresponsible than a man in the depths of an ether binge.” ---
**Author:** ![alex\_arg](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ebca7d/32.png) [@alex\_arg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/alex_arg)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2002, 6:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-truth-to-fear-and-loathing-in-las-vegas/139437/11 "2002-12-06T06:14:59Z")
> [@](#): > > “The only thing that scared me was the ether. There is nothing more helpless and desperate and irresponsible than a man in the depths of an ether binge.” [nitpick] That would be depraved, not desperate [/nitpick] ---
**Author:** ![reprise](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/ea666f/32.png) [@reprise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/reprise)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2002, 6:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-truth-to-fear-and-loathing-in-las-vegas/139437/12 "2002-12-06T06:24:32Z")
How true is F&L? Read “The Great Shark Hunt”. While many of the stories about HST being drug-f\*\*\*\*\* are total hyperbole, many more of the stories are some of the most incredibly incisive social commentaries you’ll ever read. I’d really love to reprint right here his telling of the assassination of a leading Chicano rights activist but the work is copyrighted - as are his observations of the Nixon years. IMHO, anyone who wasn’t alive at the time these events took place should read the _Rolling Stone_ columns written by HST. ---
**Author:** ![SC\_Wolf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/eb9ed0/32.png) [@SC\_Wolf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SC_Wolf)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2002, 9:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-truth-to-fear-and-loathing-in-las-vegas/139437/13 "2002-12-06T09:02:12Z")
[hijack]So in the realm of cinema, who was the better HST? Bill Murray in Where the Buffalo Roam, or Johnny Depp in Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas? [/hijack] ---
**Author:** ![Cholo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/58f4c7/32.png) [@Cholo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cholo)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2002, 12:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-truth-to-fear-and-loathing-in-las-vegas/139437/14 "2002-12-06T12:14:26Z")
Depp…he had the bowlegged shuffle down to a “T”. Not only that, he let HST shave his head for the film. I give him credit for going all the way. ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Wrong](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d9b06d/32.png) [@Mr.Wrong](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Wrong)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2002, 6:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-truth-to-fear-and-loathing-in-las-vegas/139437/15 "2002-12-06T18:18:27Z")
> [@](#): > > _Originally posted by alex\_arg_ > [nitpick] That would be depraved, not desperate [/nitpick] Right you are, I knew that. Must be the mescaline. ---
**Author:** ![SC\_Wolf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/eb9ed0/32.png) [@SC\_Wolf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SC_Wolf)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2002, 7:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-truth-to-fear-and-loathing-in-las-vegas/139437/16 "2002-12-06T19:30:55Z")
I remember hearing a story that Depp spent two weeks straight with HST to get a feel for the character, and by the end of the first week, Hunter turned his cellphone over to Depp because none of his friends could tell the difference over the phone. Anyone else confirm hearing this one? Then again, considering the kind of people HST would have as friends, maybe this isn’t saying much. ---
**Author:** ![Eats\_Crayons](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/278dde/32.png) [@Eats\_Crayons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eats_Crayons)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2002, 7:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-truth-to-fear-and-loathing-in-las-vegas/139437/17 "2002-12-06T19:39:20Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by SC\_Wolf \* > **I remember hearing a story that Depp spent two weeks straight with HST to get a feel for the character, and by the end of the first week, Hunter turned his cellphone over to Depp because none of his friends could tell the difference over the phone.** Dunno about the “over the phone” stuff, but there were some reports that HST behaved so badly (he was around for his cameo) that he was pretty much thrown off the set. Allegedly, his on-set behaviour was similar to what was seen in the film. (I cannot confirm or deny this without digging through old issues of Variety.) ---
**Author:** ![Ivar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/51bf81/32.png) [@Ivar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ivar)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2002, 7:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-truth-to-fear-and-loathing-in-las-vegas/139437/18 "2002-12-06T19:57:59Z")
I saw him speak at college in '91-'92, and when asked the question about how much oh FLLV was true he responded that “since the statute of limitations has run out on those crimes, I’d have to say about 95%” (not strictly a quote by him, but a close paraphrase). Also, he was an hour and a half late, was drunk and stoned, and insisted on smoking his cigarettes in the gymnasium. Though the reason he was late was not entirely his fault. His plane arrived early, before the students assigned to pick him up got to the airport. In an airport with 8 gates (Roanoke, VA), it took them an hour to find him. The students didn’t know anything about him and weren’t aware that the first place to look for HST when you can’t find him is in the nearest bar. That’s right, he was bellied up to the bar in the Roanoke airport. Also, in the middle of the night, he got hungry and called one of the “handlers” and asked her to get 12 hamburgers. For himself. She had to drive 10 miles out of town to the 24 hour truck stop, pick up the burgers and bring them back. How many were left in the morning? 11 of them. So, yeah, he’s a bit of a jackass. ---
**Author:** ![Lucki\_Chaarms](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/9de0a6/32.png) [@Lucki\_Chaarms](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lucki_Chaarms)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2002, 8:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-truth-to-fear-and-loathing-in-las-vegas/139437/19 "2002-12-06T20:01:06Z")
What was HST’s cameo in the movie? I bet I can remember him if you tell me where he was. Anyway, Depp was PERFECT. That movie would have been NOTHING without his dead-on performance. As a side note, I think that F&L is the scariest book I have ever read. I think pretty much anyone who’s taken psychedelics will agree- it takes that to be able to grasp what it would have been like, and that is a freaking NIGHTMARE! Heebies and jeebies man. LC ---
**Author:** ![Eats\_Crayons](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/278dde/32.png) [@Eats\_Crayons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eats_Crayons)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2002, 8:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-truth-to-fear-and-loathing-in-las-vegas/139437/20 "2002-12-06T20:11:35Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Lucki Chaarms \* > **What was HST’s cameo in the movie? I bet I can remember him if you tell me where he was.** There’s one scene in a Vegas nightclub (gee, that narrows it down :rolleyes: ) when Depp comes out of the bathroom. There is an old guy sitting at a table laughing, surrounded by drunken revellers. Depp does a double-take and his voice over says: “Shit that’s me… Shit that _is_ me!” Brought the house down in the cinema when I saw it. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-truth-to-fear-and-loathing-in-las-vegas/139437.md?page=2)