Freak Power: The Ballot or the Bomb | |
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Directed by | Ajax Phillips, Daniel Joseph Watkins |
Based on | Freak Power: Hunter S. Thompson's Campaign for Sheriff by Daniel Joseph Watkins |
Produced by | Mimi Polk Gitlin Ajax Phillips Angus Wall Daniel Joseph Watkins |
Release date |
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Running time | 94 minutes |
Country | United States |
Language | English |
Freak Power: The Ballot or the Bomb is a 2020 American documentary film directed by Ajax Phillips and Daniel Joseph Watkins, based on the book Freak Power: Hunter S. Thompson's Campaign for Sheriff written by Watkins. [1] The film follows journalist Hunter S. Thompson and his 1970 campaign for sheriff of Pitkin County, Colorado, against the incumbent sheriff Carol Whitmire, whose crackdown on marijuana and loitering aimed to incarcerate and intimidate young hippies, or "freaks", into leaving the area. Thompson created and ran under the third party "Freak Power" ticket, with the strategy of registering hundreds of young voters who had never before participated in the democratic process.
Thompson famously wrote about his campaign and the concept of Freak Power in The Battle of Aspen, his first article for Rolling Stone Magazine.
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the documentary could not pursue the traditional film festival circuit and instead was released digitally in the United States on October 23, 2020.
Amidst a backdrop of Nixon-era America, marked by riots, protests, and the war in Vietnam, young journalist Hunter S. Thompson visits the 1968 Democratic National Convention and experiences firsthand the brutality of the Chicago Police Department against protestors, "radicalizing" his political outlook against authoritative uses of force. Thompson realizes the best way to change the system is from the inside out, and begins to organize his campaign for sheriff where his residence is located in Aspen, Colorado.
As Hunter's campaign gains momentum, the incumbent sheriff's supporters begin to use underhanded tactics to malign Hunter and undermine the campaign's credibility. Journalists and news stations from across the US descend on Aspen adding to the tension and antipathy in town in the days leading up to the election. When Hunter starts getting death threats that even the Colorado Bureau of Investigation (CBI) agrees are credible, the fear and paranoia in the campaign spikes, and Hunter and some of his supporters become convinced that someone may try to assassinate him. Hunter's campaign team sets up a nightly armed patrol at his house and vacate their headquarters, which Hunter believes have been bugged.
On election night, Hunter loses by several hundred votes. Though he seems disheartened by his defeat and never runs for public office again, the tide is turning in Aspen. By 1976, one of Hunter's likeminded friends becomes sheriff and Aspen's elected officials begin to reflect the population of one of the most liberal counties in Colorado, enacting many of the policies that Hunter had fought for.
Two years after the release of the book, Travis Fulton, a friend of Watkins, found a reel of 16mm film in his barn that read "Hunter Thompson For Sheriff" on the label. They discovered it was never-before seen footage from the campaign shot by his brother, experimental filmmaker Robert Fulton III. The Fulton family searched their archives and found 40 more reels of footage from Thompson's campaign, five of which had never even been developed for nearly fifty years and had to be carefully processed in order to be salvaged. Watkins also pulled together a collection of 3000 photographs from the campaign by photographers David Hiser and Bob Kreuger.
The production team includes producer Mimi Polk Gitlin ( Thelma and Louise , The Breadwinner ) and Angus Wall (editor, The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo , The Social Network ). The film is edited by Will Znidaric ( Winter on Fire ), with music by two-time Academy Award-winning composer Gustavo Santaolalla ( Brokeback Mountain , Babel ) and an original song, "Valley of Last Resort", performed by Gary Clark Jr. and Santaolalla, music by Santaolalla and Gary Clark Jr. with lyrics by Paul Williams.
An Aspen Times article about the documentary stated the film "will be released to video-on-demand services beginning on Oct. 23". [2]
Gonzo journalism is a style of journalism that is written without claims of objectivity, often including the reporter as part of the story using a first-person narrative. The word "gonzo" is believed to have been first used in 1970 to describe an article about the Kentucky Derby by Hunter S. Thompson, who popularized the style. It is an energetic first-person participatory writing style in which the author is a protagonist, and it draws its power from a combination of social critique and self-satire. It has since been applied to other subjective artistic endeavors.
Hunter Stockton Thompson was an American journalist and author. He rose to prominence with the publication of Hell's Angels (1967), a book for which he spent a year living with the Hells Angels motorcycle club to write a first-hand account of their lives and experiences. In 1970, he wrote an unconventional article titled "The Kentucky Derby Is Decadent and Depraved" for Scanlan's Monthly, which further raised his profile as a countercultural figure. It also set him on the path to establishing his own subgenre of New Journalism that he called "Gonzo", a journalistic style in which the writer becomes a central figure and participant in the events of the narrative.
Oscar "Zeta" Acosta Fierro was a Mexican American attorney, author and activist in the Chicano Movement. He wrote the semi-autobiographical novels Autobiography of a Brown Buffalo (1972) and The Revolt of the Cockroach People (1973), and was friends with American author Hunter S. Thompson. Thompson characterized him as a heavyweight Samoan attorney, Dr. Gonzo, in his 1971 novel Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas. Acosta disappeared in 1974 during a trip in Mexico and is presumed dead.
Ralph Idris Steadman is a British illustrator best known for his collaboration with the American writer Hunter S. Thompson. Steadman is renowned for his political and social caricatures, cartoons and picture books.
"Jesus freak" is a term arising from the late 1960s and early 1970s counterculture and is frequently used as a pejorative for those involved in the Jesus movement.
Raoul Duke is the partially fictionalized author surrogate character and sometimes pseudonym used by Hunter S. Thompson as the main character and antihero for many of his works. He is perhaps best known as the narrator for his 1971 autobiographical novel Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas. The book was originally written under the name Raoul Duke. The character wears a bucket hat and yellow tinted aviator sunglasses.
The freak scene was originally a component of the bohemian subculture which began in California in the mid-1960s, associated with the hippie movement. The term is also used to refer to the post-hippie and pre-punk period of the early to mid-1970s. It can be viewed as encompassing a range of disparate groups including hippies, pacifists, politicized radicals, as well as psychedelic and progressive rock fans. Those connected with the subculture often attended rock festivals, free festivals, happenings, and alternative society gatherings of various kinds.
"The Kentucky Derby Is Decadent and Depraved" is a seminal sports article written by journalist Hunter S. Thompson on the 1970 Kentucky Derby, which first appeared in Scanlan's Monthly in June of that year. The article marked the birth of what would become known as "gonzo journalism".
"The Battle of Aspen" is an article published in Rolling Stone No. 67, dated October 1, 1970, and written by Hunter S. Thompson. The cover of the magazine ran the teaser "Freak Power in the Rockies," and the article was later reprinted with that title in The Great Shark Hunt.
Where the Buffalo Roam is a 1980 American semi-biographical comedy film which loosely depicts author Hunter S. Thompson's rise to fame in the 1970s and his relationship with Chicano attorney and activist Oscar "Zeta" Acosta. The film was produced and directed by Art Linson. Bill Murray portrayed Thompson and Peter Boyle portrayed Acosta, who is referred to in the film as Carl Lazlo, Esq. A number of other names, places, and details of Thompson's life are also changed.
Timothy Crouse is an American journalist and writer.
Barbi Benton is an American retired model, actress, television personality, and singer. She appeared in Playboy magazine, as a regular on the comedy series Hee Haw, and recorded several moderately successful albums in the 1970s. After the birth of her first child in 1986, Benton retired from show business.
Fuck is a 2005 American documentary film by director Steve Anderson about the word "fuck". The film argues that the word is an integral part of societal discussions about freedom of speech and censorship. It examines the term from perspectives which include art, linguistics, society and comedy, and begins with a segment from the 1965 propaganda film Perversion for Profit. Scholars and celebrities analyze perceptions of the word from differing perspectives. Journalist Sam Donaldson talks about the versatility of the word, and comedian Billy Connolly states it can be understood despite one's language or location. Musician Alanis Morissette comments that the word contains power because of its taboo nature. The film features the last recorded interview of author Hunter S. Thompson before his suicide. Scholars, including linguist Reinhold Aman, journalism analyst David Shaw and Oxford English Dictionary editor Jesse Sheidlower, explain the history and evolution of the word. Language professor Geoffrey Nunberg observes that the word's treatment by society reflects changes in our culture during the 20th century.
The Aspen Times is a free, 6,500-circulation daily newspaper in the ski resort town of Aspen, Colorado, United States, with a history dating back to 1881.
Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas: A Savage Journey to the Heart of the American Dream is a 1971 novel in the gonzo journalism style by Hunter S. Thompson. The book is a roman à clef, rooted in autobiographical incidents. The story follows its protagonist, Raoul Duke, and his attorney, Doctor Gonzo, as they descend on Las Vegas to chase the American Dream through a drug-induced haze, all the while ruminating on the failure of the 1960s countercultural movement. The work is Thompson's most famous book and is noted for its lurid descriptions of illicit drug use and its early retrospective on the culture of the 1960s. Thompson's highly subjective blend of fact and fiction, which it popularized, became known as gonzo journalism. Illustrated by Ralph Steadman, the novel first appeared as a two-part series in Rolling Stone magazine in 1971 before being published in book form in 1972. It was later adapted into a film of the same title in 1998 by director Terry Gilliam, starring Johnny Depp and Benicio del Toro, who portrayed Raoul Duke and Dr. Gonzo, respectively.
Bibliography of works by American author and journalist Hunter S. Thompson.
Better Than Sex: Confessions of a Political Junkie is a 1994 book written by American author and journalist Hunter S. Thompson. In Volume IV of The Gonzo Papers series of books, Thompson details his reactions to the 1992 election of Bill Clinton as U.S. President, as well as recollects his own (unsuccessful) run for sheriff of Pitkin County, Colorado.
Thomas Whelan Benton was an American artist, best known for his political posters and his collaborations with writer Hunter S. Thompson.
Fear and Loathing on the Road to Hollywood, also known as Fear and Loathing in Gonzovision, is a documentary film produced by BBC Omnibus in 1978 on the subject of Hunter S. Thompson, directed by Nigel Finch.
The Pitkin County Courthouse is located on East Main Street in Aspen, Colorado, United States. It is a large brick building erected in the late 19th century that serves as offices of Pitkin County's courts. A landmark of the city, it was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1975.
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