It’s a shame Hunter S. Thompson shot himself right in the middle of George W. Bush’s two terms in office (or maybe that’s why he shot himself) because the author would have had so much more to say. He had some amusing anecdotes about the state of the world under the Bush administration in his final book, “Hey Rube,” but there was still a term’s worth of material he could have written about when he died in February of 2005.

What’s even more of a shame is people who discover Thompson’s books today, in the future, and even in the past few years, will never be able to look forward to new material. And they won’t be able to hear him speak – either in person or in new interviews.

In a new biography, “Buy the Ticket, Take the Ride: Hunter S. Thompson on Film,” set to air on Starz on Dec. 12 at 10 p.m. (ET/PT), viewers will be able to see and hear Hunter speak. There’s much more to the show, and much more that makes this documentary worth watching, but it’s amazing to see Hunter for a few minutes and then think back to his books. In print, he’s a drunk, a rebel, crazy, etc. In person, I do not doubt that he is the same way, but you wouldn’t know it from seeing old interviews with him.

He is quiet. I never pictured him to be quiet when I read a few of his books over the past few years. He doesn’t exactly come off as the most rational person, but certainly not the one who never plays by the rules in his Fear and Loathing books.

This documentary gives new readers – and there are still plenty every year who are introduced to Thompson through university courses – the chance to really get a sense of who Thompson is.

But seeing him on screen is just a small part of this presentation.

This is also a collection of interviews with his closest friends and family members. Some of these people so rarely speak on camera in such depth, including Bill Murray and Johnny Depp, who both played Thompson in films.

You’ll also hear from Sean Penn, John Cusack, his wife and son, Gary Busey and several others.

And while the documentary could have survived with just the interviews and not old clips of Thompson, using the old interviews of the man himself is what puts the documentary over the top. Thompson created “gonzo” journalism, which, to sum it up, is when he put himself in the stories. It wasn’t just a story on the Kentucky Derby; it was Hunter’s take on a horse race, complete with how he got there, what he did when he was there, and what he did after. It was more about Thompson and it just so happened that a horse race was going on. Which is precisely why not including Thompson in his own biographical film would have been cruel.

If you’ve never read any of Thompson’s books, it will be hard just to “get” what he was all about from this documentary or any other movie. So watch the special, but complement it with his literature. And if you have read his novels, you’ll love hearing stories told from his closest friends and Thompson himself.

And one final note, Gary Busey is hilarious. Watch the clip embedded below to see a clip from the special in which Busey teaches how to interview him.

Buy the Ticket, Take the Ride airs on the Starz cable channel Dec. 12 at 10 p.m. ET/PT.






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