In 1980, a feature film, Where the Buffalo Roam, directed by Art Linson, was released. Based on "the legend of Hunter S. Thompson," the film adapted elements from both Fear and Loathing books and also incorporated characters and incidents from The Great Shark Hunt (1979). With Bill Murray in the lead role, the film depicts Thompson as a clownish psychotic. He is a mumbling outsider who never confronts his subjects openly but lurks in the background. The essence of Thompson's gonzo approach to journalism is lacking in Murray's portrayal. The real protagonist of the movie is Thompson's attorney, played with gusto by Peter Boyle, who moves from one extra-legal enterprise to the next with insouciance.

The movie was released with little fanfare and was roundly panned by the critics.