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Drugstore Cowboy (1989)
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Overview
User Rating:
Director:
Writers:
Release Date:
October 1989 (USA)
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Plot:
A realistic road movie about a drug addict, his 'family', and their inevitable decline into crime. full summary | full synopsis
Awards:
10 wins
&
4 nominations
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NewsDesk:
(28 articles)
Beautiful, Fabulous and Evil: 10 Favorite Female Villains!
(From The Movie Fanatic. 17 November 2009, 3:22 AM, PST)
Beautiful, Fabulous and Evil: 10 Favorite Female Villains!
(From The Movie Fanatic. 17 November 2009, 3:22 AM, PST)
(From The Movie Fanatic. 17 November 2009, 3:22 AM, PST)
Beautiful, Fabulous and Evil: 10 Favorite Female Villains!
(From The Movie Fanatic. 17 November 2009, 3:22 AM, PST)
User Comments:
Not a masterwork of any sort, but a fine early movie from Van Sant which augurs well for all involved
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Cast
(Cast overview, first billed only) | Matt Dillon | ... | Bob |
 | Kelly Lynch | ... | Dianne |
 | James LeGros | ... | Rick (as James Le Gros) |
 | Heather Graham | ... | Nadine |
 | Eric Hull | ... | Druggist |
 | Max Perlich | ... | David |
 | James Remar | ... | Gentry |
| John Kelly | ... | Cop |
 | Grace Zabriskie | ... | Bob's Mother |
| George Catalano | ... | Trousinski |
| Janet Baumhover | ... | Neighbor Lady |
| Ted D'Arms | ... | Neighbor Man |
| Neal Thomas | ... | Halamer |
| Stephen Rutledge | ... | Motel Manager |
| Beah Richards | ... | Drug Counselor |
Additional Details
Parents Guide:
Runtime:
102 min
Country:
Language:
Color:
Aspect Ratio:
1.85 : 1 more
Sound Mix:
Certification:
Norway:15 |
South Korea:18 |
New Zealand:R16 |
Australia:M |
Finland:K-16 |
France:-12 |
Portugal:M/18 |
Sweden:15 |
UK:18 |
USA:R |
West Germany:12
Filming Locations:
Company:
Fun Stuff
Trivia:
Based on the writings of James Fogle, who was in reality a criminal and drug addict who robbed drugstores.
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Goofs:
Continuity: When Bob returns from his car in the motel parking lot, after having put Nadine's dead body in the trunk of his car, the door to his motel room is wide open. Cutting to the next scene however, you see Bob opening the door and entering the motel room.
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Movie Connections:
Referenced in "Saturday Night Live: Quentin Tarantino/Smashing Pumpkins (#21.5)" (1995)
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Soundtrack:
TV Commercial Music
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FAQ
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The premise of Gus Van Sant's sophomore film Drugstore Cowboy, after his quiet feature-film directorial debut with 1985's Mala Noche, is extremely simple. You could even call it clichéd, drab or original. Set in 70's America when drugs were a way of life for millions of citizens in The Land Of The Free, the film focuses on one particular drug addict, one of those rebels you'd find in films such as Rumble Fish or On the Waterfront who know the local police force like their own family, but for all the wrong reasons.
In Drugstore Cowboy this single druggie is played none other than Matt Dillon, who coincidentally played in the aforesaid Francis Ford Coppola films Rumble Fish and The Outsiders; in these two companion films he plays a street thug who's part of a vast hierarchical amateur crime ring. All in all, it's a role which isn't exactly ground-breaking role for the actor. Perhaps it's just this particular film character which Dillon is good at playing and can easily fit into; you could easily say that, as in Drugstore Cowboy he puts on one of the best performances of his career.
But that's for later, back to the seemingly clichéd story. Dillon plays one random drug addict in America during this marijuana/cocaine/heroine/insert drug here-fuelled era, one Bob. It's described as a 'road movie' by some, a title which can certainly be called valid when analysing the tumultuous journey of the character throughout the movie. He has a girlfriend (Kelly Lynch), who's also in drugs. He has another friend (James LeGros), his partner-in-crime, who's also in drugs. And his right-hand man has a girlfriend (Heather Graham), who's, inevitably, also into the drug world.
They're a faithful band of amateur criminals who rely on drugs to keep them going. Where do they get their supply? Not from the usual connections of sleazy drug dealers who dwell in smoky apartments – seeing that their unofficial dealers themselves – but from robberies of various drugstores and pharmacies in and around the Pacific-West board of the United States. It's where the title derives from – they're cowboys in the sense that their robberies are always inventive, creative – sometimes even entertaining for us to watch - and their crusades are always for the stock of these stores which are never suited for robberies as such. They're drugstore cowboys, without a horse but with a trusty getaway car in its stead.
Bob's story, as mentioned already, is not one that is original. The film has the potential to be the most clichéd and unoriginal film of 1989 perhaps. However, after you see the film you can't help but consider the film as one of the most original of the year, if not the decade. There are few other movies that bear total, utter and unmistakable semblance to Drugstore Cowboy, and that's other movies by Van Sant: My Own Private Idaho, the aforementioned Mala Noche, maybe even to some the later disastrous Even Cowgirls Get the Blues. Perhaps.
What makes Drugstore inimitable is Van Sant himself, who unrelentingly injects his entire distinctive nuance into the movie. It's full of the elegiac style and subtle form of film-making which Van Sant flouted during these early years. Yet at the same time, he knows how to balance 'subtle' with 'overt'; there are brash and loud scenes filled with riling emotions and racketeering dins, which perfectly contrast the other parts of the movie which ruminate for their entirety without falter.
Van Sant tells the story without any censorship and with full coverage. He leaves no details out, and truly succeeds in over-fulfilling the definitions of an omniscient point of view. Bob's story is mapped out from the very beginning, with his absolutely captivating self-introductory monologue, to the very end where we're treated with a quiet, ambivalent but wonderful ending; in between, his biography is written and spoken to us. The other four characters too receive the same treatment, and by the end of the movie we care about them as much as we would about the dearest film characters; even more impressive considering this wild bunch are all low-life druggies.
Well they're not entirely low-life. They have understanding of right and wrong and what's morally decent. There's even times when Bob tries hardly to go 'straight', and escape this world of crime which is all around him. It's another clichéd and 'stock' subplot which is provided in Drugstore Cowboy, yet it's never annoying for its unoriginality and is always interesting for it's brilliant style.
Although the movie is only imperfect for its troubled pacing throughout the movie, the rest of the film can be duly lauded. It's Van Sant's second film, and what a glorious effort. There is a gargantuan amount of potential which Van Sant shows during this early movie, and it augurs for him, as well as everybody involved, outstandingly. This is a truly fine movie.
7.5/10