Fear and Loathing is a cult film about a savage journey to the heart of the American Dream and is a dark comedy. The movie’s storyline is about two hippies, a peculiar journalist and a psychopathic lawyer that go on a psychedelic journey to Vegas.
Johnny Depp and Benicio Del Torro play the main characters in Fear and Loathing. It details the duo’s journey through Las Vegas as their initial journalistic intentions decentralize into an exploration of the city under the influence of psychoactive drugs.
The Plot
Duke (Johnny Depp) has been assigned by a magazine to travel to Vegas and cover the Mint 400 cycle race. The duo has, however also decided to take advantage of the assignment and purchase a large variety of drugs which sets them on a downward spiral. Chaos and mayhem reign supreme. Their drug-induced states see them destroying hotel rooms, leaving casinos due to hallucinations and finally Dr Gonzo ditching Duke in Vegas and leaving him with an expensive bill for the hotel room.
Duke tracks Dr Gonzo down and finds out he has a suite at the Flamingo Las Vegas so Duke checks into the suite so he can cover the District Attorneys convention on narcotics, somewhat ironic! The pair attend the conference and snort cocaine during the guest speakers speech on marijuana addicts. They eventually leave the conference and continue their binge for an unspecified number of days where they finally part ways and Duke finishes his article.
Conclusion
Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas is a narrative of drug-induced delusions of a reporter while on assignment in Las Vegas. Initially, it was supposed to be a journey with a journalistic purpose but instead turns into the exploration of Vegas and Casinos under the umbrella of illegal substances.
Alan Woods
Alan Woods was a legend in the gambling Industry. He gambled professionally in Australia and Hong Kong and was considered by mathematicians to be the biggest gambler in the world.
He mainly focused on Blackjack and Horse Racing and worked with Bill Benter and Zeljko Ranogajec during his gambling career. He pioneered quantitive gambling by betting on Hong Kong horse races and gave Bill Benter the idea to bet on Horse Racing in Hong Kong.
Alan Woods Gambling Career
It’s by no means an overstatement to say Alan Woods was the gambler who started the horse racing betting. He did not place bets on gut feelings; instead, he decided to use the same algorithms that were successful in financial markets and made a fortune on horse racing. He did not develop this unbeatable strategy by himself, he had a team of advantage gamblers who collected data, and one of his partners was Bill Benter.
Their first year was catastrophic; the gambling duo lost more than $120 000, and it was one of the reasons the duo split. After the split, both gamblers went on to make hundreds of millions in the years to follow. He is known for his tremendous wins in betting on horse races but initially reached legendary status through card counting. He retired in 1982 to focus on horse betting in Hong Kong.
At the time of his death, his estimated net worth was AU$670 million. What many do not know is he used his gambling money for the greater good by investing in mental health research. Moreover, he donated millions of dollars to the Philippines to build orphanages, hospitals and schools.
Conclusion
Alan Woods left a considerable gap in the gambling world with his passing in 2008 from appendiceal cancer. He will always be known as the mathematical genius from Australia who used his super IQ and principles of quantitive gambling to win millions on Horse Racing.