Drugstore Cowboy | | Cast : | Matt Dillon, Kelly Lynch | | Director : | Gus Van Sant | | Studio : | Artisan Entertainment | | Format : | Color, Closed-captioned, Widescreen, Subtitled | | Released Date : | October , 1989 | | DVD Released Date : | April 24, 2001 | | Language : | English (Dubbed), English (Original Language), English (Subtitled) | | Audience Rating : | R (Restricted) | | | BUY THIS DVD FROM AMAZON |
Customer Reviews
| Rating |  | | Date | May 27, 2005 | | Summary | An Alluring Story | Content
 | This movie does a fantastic job in establishing the atmosphere of the addict lifestyle of the 1970s. It vividly brings to life the good and the bad through great casting and great performances. The story is not as heavy as it might have been. The main characters have a child-like aspect that makes them both endearing and menacing.
Matt Dillon gives a great performance, and Wiliam S. Burroughs is perfect at an elderly addict/priest. |
| Rating | | | Date | May 18, 2005 | | Summary | Best of this genre | Content
| As a recovering addict myself, I typically enjoy movies about about the lifestyles of drug addicts, but Drugstore Cowboy offers much more than the typical film in this genre. You get an in depth view of the day-to-day life of a a gang of addicts as the score, get high, lie low for awhile, and move on to their next score. Remarkable performances by a brilliant ensemble of actors, from Matt Dillon to Kelly Lynch, Heather Graham to William Burroughs. They not only deliver a brilliant and original story, but make you care about each of these less-than-admirable characters. This is the type of movie that not only is fascinating to watch, but makes an impact on you. The type that you think about again and again. |
| Rating | | | Date | April 15, 2005 | | Summary | Unusual and highly entertaining | Content
| Drugstore cowboy is a charming little drama centering on a group of misfit junkies who travel across America seeking chemists and hospices to steal (and ingest) whatever they can get their hands on.
The film itself presents (perhaps for the first time) the 'junkie lifestyle', these are not simply drug casualties accidentally hooked on some common street drug like heroin, they will readily ingest anything so long as it affects them psychologically and physically. Living this way is their choice. The sight of them salivating over a bedspread full of various chemical pills is like watching a kid left in charge of a sweetshop. Pursued by a zealous cop out to enhance his career by busting them, they move constantly from place to place. There is something calculatingly benign about these characters which is particularly unusual for film drug addicts, they do not engage in violence of any kind (an exception might be the stunt they pull with the surveillance cops - but that is indirect). It is easy to sympathise with them but there is something depressing about their existence, they are only a short distance away from a bin-bag bed and a polystyrene begging cup. The ending of the film is probably not what you are expecting, our hero settles down to try a 'boring' normal existence with a hard job for once. In many drug movies the character either ends up on a high or a terrible low (either riding off into the sun or burning out), this ending is very in-between and perhaps more true to reality, the cameo appearance by William Burrough's as the junkie priest explains..."the idea that someone can take drugs and escape a horrible life is anathema to them".
Matt Dillon turns in the performance of the movie as the wily daredevil leader of the pack, attired in a leather coat, unshaven, long haired, yet refreshingly complex and likeable, his obsession with the mystical quantity of avoiding superstitious bad-luck becomes an interesting sub-plot in itself and is perhaps no surprise given the risks he takes. His character is well played with noteworthy subtlety and innovation by Dillon and is very credible. There is a hierarchy among the four misfits, second place goes to the character Diane who as Dillon's similiarly street-smart girlfriend does ok. Then there is another junkie who's role would not look out of place in an anti-drug advert, he is very slow (mentally) and probably psychotic. Lastly there is the Nadine character, she has just joined them and is trying to fit in without much success, she is younger and is castigated by the 'professional' Bob for her amateur approach to their night-raids and eventually ends up as the film's only obvious nod to the anti-drug argument. |
| Rating | | | Date | March 08, 2005 | | Summary | Where's the dialogue editor? | Content
| Let me first say, I am a huge Gus Van Sant fan. However, this film is just not that good. The acting is pretty mundane, no real allstar performances, with the possible exception of Heather Graham, whose character dies off halfway through. And the dialogue is atrocious. For the most part, it's extremely cliche (much like the characters) and boring, and fails to progress the plot of the film. There are moments, but they are few and far between.
Van Sant's visual style, however, is a small redeeming factor. The natural grittiness sets the mood well, and his ability to linger on a shot (though not as dramaticly as he would in films like Gerry) is noteable.
It's really just not that great of a movie. The concept is a good one, but poor acting and dialogue really slow the film down and bore the audience, something a drug movie should never do. I'd recommend Trainspotting or Requiem for a Dream far before I would Drugstore Cowboy. |
| Rating | | | Date | February 26, 2005 | | Summary | A truly remarkable film! | Content
| As we all know, there are many movies out there about drugs, crime, and so on. But none with the premise of this film. Focusing on an all-too real, yet very unrecognized problem, 'Drugstore Cowboy' tells the story of Bob (Dillon) and his crew and their adventures in the world of presciption drug abuse. The lengths to which these people go, and the inevitable consequences are not only scary, but right on target.
This is a truly great film, and is one of my top ten favorites of all time. The acting is superb, and the story is refreshingly unique. This is a film EVERYONE should see in their life, and its importance is matched by very few films ever made.
'Drugstore Cowboy' is effective without being ronchy. It delivers its message without being graphic. A brilliant piece of film-making I encourage everyone to see. |
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