Arts & Culture

Hunter S. Thompson’s 1970 Campaign For Sheriff Focus Of 'Freak Power' Doc

Aspen Public Radio | By Eleanor Bennett

Published October 19, 2020 at 6:00 AM MDT

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“The question here is not How to Work Within the System, or How to Destroy It—but rather How to Seize It, how to drive the pigs off the ship without sinking the ship itself and putting us all in life rafts,” Thompson mused during his campaign for sheriff.";s:3:

David Hiser

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“I went to the DNC a journalist and came back a raving beast,” Hunter S. Thompson wrote after attending the '68 Democratic Convention. He returned to Aspen disgusted, yet motivated by “violently suppressed protests, corrupt politicians and abusive cops." ";s:3:

Bob Krueger

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“Freak Power was the collective energy of a mass of people trying to take control of our political environment,” former Pitkin County Sheriff Bob Braudis says in an interview featured in the upcoming film. ";s:

David Hiser

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The new film features never before seen footage and voices of Aspen area locals who blazed the 1970 campaign trail with Thompson including his wife Sandy Conklin Thompson, artist Travis Fulton and spiritual leader Ed Bastian.

David Hiser

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After winning the race for Sheriff in Aspen, but losing the county, Thompson wrote about the decay of the hippy zeitgeist in Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, “You can almost see the high-water mark—that place where the wave finally broke and rolled back."";s:

David Hiser

To coincide with the 50th anniversary of Hunter S. Thompson’s historic race to become sheriff of Pitkin County, the new documentary, “Freak Power: the Ballot or the Bomb,” debuts on Friday, Oct. 23. While the film chronicles the gonzo journalist’s 1970 campaign in Aspen, parts of it feel eerily similar to today.

Historic footage of anti-war and racial justice protests with young people demanding that their government prioritize people over profits is contrasted with conervative voices calling for “law and order,” safegaurding “the American Dream,” and protecting their livelihoods from “a bunch of communists.”

Created by Ajax Phillips, D.J. Watkins and a team of local filmmakers, “Freak Power” will be released for streaming on the 50th Anniversary of Thompson’s historic campaign and less than two weeks before the 2020 election.Morning Edition host Eleanor Bennett spoke with co-director Watkins ahead of the release and asked him what relevance the documentary has today: