Reviews (58)

Flea recites Shakespeare. What more do you need to know?
Well-dressed "indie" hack Gus Van Sant (who's about as indie as Evan Dando) received lots of kudos for this pretty-boys-in-ripped-jeans, "loose adaptation" of "Henry IV, part 1". If this is a loose adaptation of Henry, then "The Rainmaker" is a loose adaptation of "Bleak House". This sometimes decent-looking piece of fluff is so desperate to live up to its "loose adaptation" hype, it actually (painfully) inserts some actual dialogue from the play into the middle of the movie. OK, yeah...get it. Thanks.

River Phoenix is actually quite good & handles the vague, sappy story of boy-hooker-with-a-heart-of-gold with class & subtlety. His task is a thankless one: he plays a character who honks on bobo, hangs out with danceclass reject thugs, and has the occassional grand mal seizure on the highway. That and he's looking for Mama. Sure, but that's always the issue, isn't it?

What's his name? Keanu Reeves gives his usual Frank Gifford-on-thorazine performance. He plays a rich kid who hustles to get back at his family. Reeves is uniformly awful throughout. The interaction between Reeves and Pheonix is like watching two popular college guys go to their favorite hole-in-the-wall bar in the seedy section of town and attempt to "fit in". Meanwhile, they try to pay the tab with a VISA Platinum.

The shame of the movie is that what looks like might turn out to be a dark, intriguing portrait of a troubled twentysomething (nothing earthshattering, there, I grant you) winds up being a J. Crew travelogue that desperately wants to be (1) literary and (2) a cult film. Unless your name is Ed Wood, you can't just effortlessly toss off cult films. Even Wood had to wear fake breasts and fondle a cashmere sweater.

In truth, this would be a really good film student project if it were fifteen minutes long and in a language I couldn't understand. As it is, Van Sant doesn't have near the talent or original vision (see Psycho, the rape of) to pull off a formless character study or a literary cult film. Two stars because of Reeves, the first ten minutes and it's not based on a Tom Robbins novel.

Reality check...
This movie shocked me at first, but I soon realized that Gus Van Sant and the actors, especially Phoenix strove to present us with a picture and a reality we often don't see or don't choose to see. Welcome to the world of male hustlers. I didn't expect to be taken on a date in the first few minutes, and I was sad to learn how a person can give over their body for a 20$ bill. I was impressed and touched by River Phoenix's preparation for this character. His effort paid off beautifully! I understand through reading some of the biographical books about him; he always threw himself into every character. It is said that in preparation of the film, he spent a great deal of time with one particular hustler, a young man, whom he portrays. In addition, he lost an incredible amount of weight to look the part. Mike Waters is a young man looking for something. From highways to gay bars and back again, he searches for his mother, an ethereal character from his dreams, nightmares, and semi-wakefulness from his bouts of narcolepsy. The fits of instant sleep provided some comical moments, yet I enjoyed it because I was finding out what gave Mike stress. He was also looking for love from a man, and not from turning tricks. The actors often reffered to having sex with another person, for free, which gave you wings. The extent to which Mike and other actors will go to search and strive after a goal is unbelievable: From the high plains to the sea-board cities to France, they wandered from place to place looking for Mike's Mom. There is a conflict between Mike and his older brother, who is more a part of Mike life than he realizes. I was inspired by the courage of the characters to show the depth of comittment that a young man will go through to discover truth, no matter how difficult.

I highly recommend this movie to become aware of what happens all around us. We can love others better when remove the labels and love them regardless of where they came from. As a pastor and reviewer, I benefited greatly to seeing a brand new perspective of life and it helped in my work to aid people I know in these situations. It made me wonder - in this season of Christmas why our homes are not open to rejected teens. Loving and intimate relationships are free to give. Mike and his companion had a intense relationship of companionship which didn't revolve around sex That should inspire us to think how we treat the people around us.

"My Own Private Idaho" (just one more)
I forgot one more story, related to what I wrote, already. As if you'll print this, but maybe.
When "Sweet November" came out, I realized it was a remake of the 60s film, only it starred Keanu Reeves and Charlize Theron, this time. I'd seen the original, with Sandy Dennis and Anthony Newley, back in the 70s, when it was on TV late one night, with Susie, my ex-girlfriend I wrote about earlier--the one who gasped, when I called her from the hospital and told her I think I'm an alcoholic. We'd loved that movie--and the "irony" there is that her birthday is November 17th, and that date features prominently in the new movie. It's also set in San Francisco, and I live just north of there, at Muir Beach. What an "irony." Sometimes, when I see "coincidences" in movies his friends and family make and my own life, I now think this was maybe River trying to tell me something from the Great Beyond.
When I wrote Susie of this "irony," after yet another hiatus in our relationship--she is fundamentalist Christian and has right-wing beliefs, when no one I know on purpose does, anymore, really--she ignored me. So bye-bye, Susie, and maybe that is for the best, since she wasn't in sobriety, even though we smoked and drank and took drugs, though she didn't favor that last.
I have related stories--such as when I saw Summer, River's youngest sister, in "Wasted," for the first time. I like this movie, though I can do without the sex scenes. And she can't relate it to River's OD, though it's about heroin addiction and is dedicated, in part, to those who lost their lives due to this disease.
I will go to sleep, now. I had no idea I'd write so much, and it's late. I have a bit of a head cold, but I thought I'd write you, since you sell me a bunch of River Phoenix things, suddenly, and you might want to know why, incidentally.(...)

Weird and wonderful...Keanu Reeves can actually act??
Being fairly new to the world of 'art-house' movies, i first found this a little confusing, and i was concerned that this strange approach would hinder the emotional impact of the film, rendering it yet another overly stylish, powerless and incomprehensible piece of modern film-art. I had also heard that it was extremely shocking and controversial. However, i began to understand Gus Van Sant's language, and it soon seemed completely natural. The claims regarding its explicit sexual nature have been, fankly, grossly exaggerated and probably the result of mild homophobia. The camp fire scene is the most memorable, with River Phoenix's perfomance as Mike, subtle and shining as usual, bringing to mind the very similar camp-fire scene in "Stand by me". Having only seen Keanu Reeves appear in such films as 'Speed' and 'the Matrix', in which he hardly demonstrates any power or skill as an actor, it came as somewhat of a pleasant surprise to see his humorous and striking portrayal of Scott. A sensitive choice of music contributed to the mood, both in the comic, nostalgic steel-string guitar to the gentle folk song that plays as Mike vows through tears to find his mother (by the way, does anybody know what that song is or how to find out?). I was slightly disappointed and depressed by the ending, which is extremely inconclusive, but i suppose movies don't always need a conclusive ending to make them good. Overall a visually stylish, emotionally powerful movie, with some fantastic acting by River Phoenix and Keanu Reeves.

wierd, different, and sad
I did not know exactly to expect when watching this movie but I am a big fan of River Phoenix so I decided to give it a shot. I watched about the first third or so of it and found myself thinking I can't believe I rented this, with the exception of a few scenes that I thought were pretty funny, but when the campfire scene happened I became more involved with the film. I started to see Mike more as a person searching for love and his mother instead of just a male prostitute that fell asleep a lot. I thought River's acting was brilliant. Everything I have seen him in so far is so believable to me. For example, when he sees Scott and his new girlfriend kissing at the dinner table he blows smoke at them, out of obvious jealousy, and he can't sleep when he hears them making love in the next room. I think he was excellent in picking up people's mannerisms and the little things that people do. I ended up being so mad at Scott in the end and was saddened in how it seemed that Mike would live that life until his death. The role of Mike was played perfectly in that it seemed that he didn't even like being a prostitute, evident by his fits of sleep during most of those situations, but he was just trying to get by and find love. The believable acting, mostly by River, and the sadness and emotional vulnerability of the second 2 thirds or so of the film more than make up for the beginning. I hope to look deeper into people's lives and less likely to judge others, something that I must admit needing a little more help in. It really saddens me that there are people right now as I'm typing this review living lives similar to this one feeling like the "road never ends" for them. God bless them and everyone else. ... Read more

Amazon.com essential video

Gus Van Sant made his name with this offbeat story of a small group of drug addicts who heist pharmacies to feed their habit. Matt Dillon completely broke with his juvenile persona as Bob, the grungy ringleader and jittery mastermind of a junkie crew. With his frustrated wife Dianne (Kelly Lynch), his loyal partner, the easygoing Rick (James Le Gros), and Rick's juvenile girlfriend Nadine (Heather Graham in an early role), Bob plots ingenious heists and spends the rest of his days sitting around the house getting high. When the heat becomes too intense in Portland, the quartet hits the road for small-town drug stores and hospitals, but when their luck runs out it does so in grand fashion. Set in the Pacific Northwest of 1971, Van Sant so effortlessly re-creates the period that you'd think the film was a time capsule--except for the attitude. Van Sant refuses to moralize and lines his sympathies behind his characters. They're no heroes, but Van Sant can't cast them as villains either. His low-key direction concentrates on the flavor of day-to-day life for a crew of junkies living from fix to fix. Even his drug imagery is inventively placid, a dreamy set of floating visions that suggests their own disembodied states. James Remar costars as the dogged police detective Gentry and cult author William S. Burroughs makes a memorable appearance as the aging junkie Tom the Priest. --Sean Axmaker ... Read more

Reviews (29)

Northwest Junkie Pranksters
I am always surprised at how many people have not heard of this film. Although released back in 1989, this is definitely one of Van Sant's best films. This flick takes you into the day to day routine of Bob (played by Matt Dillon) and his melancholic and nomadic band of junkies who roam around the Pacific Northwest raiding pharmacies and hospital drug cabinets in search of Valium, Dilaudid and other narcotic goodies to pop, shoot and snort.

The mood of this film is generally very dysphoric however some comic relief is added throughout in the dialogue and 'trippy' visual imagery. Some of the pranks they pull on the detective they are eluding are also pretty humorous.

The movie definitely captures the 70's era well with its acting, dialogue and wardrobe. Superb acting by Dillon as the intimacy phobic, restless and highly superstitious ringleader, Kelly Lynch as his less than satisfied girlfriend, James LeGros as simpleminded Rick, and Heather Graham as the young ditzy neophyte who literally goes overboard trying hard fit into this group of merry prankster junkies.

This movie is a creative little exploration into the day to day routine and psyche of the junkie, so if you can't handle the portrayal of this reality, then this is another movie that isn't for you. Interestingly, William Burroughs plays a short role as a junkie priest, adding some penetrating social commentary towards the end.

As dark as comedy can come
Remember one thing when watching this film: DRUGSTORE COWBOY is a comedy; the darkest comedy for its time but a comedy nonetheless. It was a breakthrough in so many ways. Obviously, Gus Van Zant got a career going. Independent films were beginning to be taken seriously.But Matt Dillon finally proved that he was more than a chiseled face. His comedic performance here would be his best. "No hats on the bed!" Even though he was wildly funny in THERE'S SOMETHING ABOUT MARY, he's three times better here.

There are moments when I've felt that individual scenes are better than the whole. I love William Burrough's scenes as a junkie priest. In one scene, after one of Dillon's friends o.d.s in a motel, Dillon goes to unbelieveable lengths to hide the body in a crawlspace. Once he's completed this gruesome task, he realizes that the motel complex is surrounded by State Troopers--for a convention! The look on Matt Dillon's face is priceless.

Please take a look at this dark and funny film. Forget about some of the poorer qualities of the DVD (although they are annoying). DRUGSTORE COWBOY is worth the viewing.

drugs and thugs
this one is about 4 losers who rob drug stores for..............what else?................drugs!then they either take them or sell them.nobody important showed up on audition day.this is not a lifetime movie and can be enjoyed by the guys.it does look inexpensive like a lifetime movie though.it is not nasty like that movie with leonardo dicaprio where hes a junkie or trainspotting with thier lewd and disgusting scenes and dead babies.there are 2 really obnoxious people here.one is a slow kid from next door who keeps trying to hang with the big kids and the other is one of the main 4 characters who constantly screws everything up.the real deal is this movie is good.since no one else will say it,i will........if you want to make a good movie about heroin and other narcotics,just cut out the screaming rehab workers,the gay men in the bathroom stalls and all graphic displays of bodily functions.oh and no one AND I MEAN NO ONE is amused by the dead baby scene in trainspotting.so,my point is this movie follows that formula and is therefore good.

Dillon is bad to the bone
loved this movie with a fire. Im a huge fan of Matt Dillon's work and he gives probably the best performance of his career and he hasnt topped it yet. he plays a druggy and he has a girlfriend played wonderfully by Kelly Lynch and he has two friends, James LeGros and Heather Graham and he also has a cop on his ass played nicely by James Remar. later a stealing of drugs goes bad and Graham kills herself so Dillon wants to rehabilitate and start over with his life and he checks in and he finds out one of his former teachers is going there. Max Perlich also stars as a dimwitted drug dealer. powerful anf funny. the bet scene is where that guy comes out of his house and shoots the cop on the ladder

Independent Film making at its Finest
The best aspect of Drugstore Cowboy is that any sententious moralizing about getting high is kept to a minimum while the audience is left to make up its own mind regarding the pros and cons of tuning in, turning on, and dropping out.

Set in Portland during the early 70s; Van Sant has put together one of the finest independent films ever. Excellent quips such as Dillon's character referring to a young junky as a "TV Baby" make for a meaningful and scintillating script. It's also a humorous movie with certain scenes retaining an understated comic appeal. While the sets give a fantastic portrait of 1970s west coast junkie life.

The always intriguing late William Burroughs makes an appearance in the last quarter of the picture as Father Murphy, a well known old school addict who also happens to be a man of the cloth. The dialogue between him and Dillon's character is the high point of the movie; writing just doesn't come much better than this.

Drugstore Cowboy is simply brilliant all the way around and stands as an example of what American film making can achieve if the giant studios are kept from meddling in the artistic process.

It should be remembered that Burroughs classic book on the dope scene: "Junky", would make for a nice companion to the movie. ... Read more

Reviews (58)

Flea recites Shakespeare. What more do you need to know?
Well-dressed "indie" hack Gus Van Sant (who's about as indie as Evan Dando) received lots of kudos for this pretty-boys-in-ripped-jeans, "loose adaptation" of "Henry IV, part 1". If this is a loose adaptation of Henry, then "The Rainmaker" is a loose adaptation of "Bleak House". This sometimes decent-looking piece of fluff is so desperate to live up to its "loose adaptation" hype, it actually (painfully) inserts some actual dialogue from the play into the middle of the movie. OK, yeah...get it. Thanks.

River Phoenix is actually quite good & handles the vague, sappy story of boy-hooker-with-a-heart-of-gold with class & subtlety. His task is a thankless one: he plays a character who honks on bobo, hangs out with danceclass reject thugs, and has the occassional grand mal seizure on the highway. That and he's looking for Mama. Sure, but that's always the issue, isn't it?

What's his name? Keanu Reeves gives his usual Frank Gifford-on-thorazine performance. He plays a rich kid who hustles to get back at his family. Reeves is uniformly awful throughout. The interaction between Reeves and Pheonix is like watching two popular college guys go to their favorite hole-in-the-wall bar in the seedy section of town and attempt to "fit in". Meanwhile, they try to pay the tab with a VISA Platinum.

The shame of the movie is that what looks like might turn out to be a dark, intriguing portrait of a troubled twentysomething (nothing earthshattering, there, I grant you) winds up being a J. Crew travelogue that desperately wants to be (1) literary and (2) a cult film. Unless your name is Ed Wood, you can't just effortlessly toss off cult films. Even Wood had to wear fake breasts and fondle a cashmere sweater.

In truth, this would be a really good film student project if it were fifteen minutes long and in a language I couldn't understand. As it is, Van Sant doesn't have near the talent or original vision (see Psycho, the rape of) to pull off a formless character study or a literary cult film. Two stars because of Reeves, the first ten minutes and it's not based on a Tom Robbins novel.

Reality check...
This movie shocked me at first, but I soon realized that Gus Van Sant and the actors, especially Phoenix strove to present us with a picture and a reality we often don't see or don't choose to see. Welcome to the world of male hustlers. I didn't expect to be taken on a date in the first few minutes, and I was sad to learn how a person can give over their body for a 20$ bill. I was impressed and touched by River Phoenix's preparation for this character. His effort paid off beautifully! I understand through reading some of the biographical books about him; he always threw himself into every character. It is said that in preparation of the film, he spent a great deal of time with one particular hustler, a young man, whom he portrays. In addition, he lost an incredible amount of weight to look the part. Mike Waters is a young man looking for something. From highways to gay bars and back again, he searches for his mother, an ethereal character from his dreams, nightmares, and semi-wakefulness from his bouts of narcolepsy. The fits of instant sleep provided some comical moments, yet I enjoyed it because I was finding out what gave Mike stress. He was also looking for love from a man, and not from turning tricks. The actors often reffered to having sex with another person, for free, which gave you wings. The extent to which Mike and other actors will go to search and strive after a goal is unbelievable: From the high plains to the sea-board cities to France, they wandered from place to place looking for Mike's Mom. There is a conflict between Mike and his older brother, who is more a part of Mike life than he realizes. I was inspired by the courage of the characters to show the depth of comittment that a young man will go through to discover truth, no matter how difficult.

I highly recommend this movie to become aware of what happens all around us. We can love others better when remove the labels and love them regardless of where they came from. As a pastor and reviewer, I benefited greatly to seeing a brand new perspective of life and it helped in my work to aid people I know in these situations. It made me wonder - in this season of Christmas why our homes are not open to rejected teens. Loving and intimate relationships are free to give. Mike and his companion had a intense relationship of companionship which didn't revolve around sex That should inspire us to think how we treat the people around us.

"My Own Private Idaho" (just one more)
I forgot one more story, related to what I wrote, already. As if you'll print this, but maybe.
When "Sweet November" came out, I realized it was a remake of the 60s film, only it starred Keanu Reeves and Charlize Theron, this time. I'd seen the original, with Sandy Dennis and Anthony Newley, back in the 70s, when it was on TV late one night, with Susie, my ex-girlfriend I wrote about earlier--the one who gasped, when I called her from the hospital and told her I think I'm an alcoholic. We'd loved that movie--and the "irony" there is that her birthday is November 17th, and that date features prominently in the new movie. It's also set in San Francisco, and I live just north of there, at Muir Beach. What an "irony." Sometimes, when I see "coincidences" in movies his friends and family make and my own life, I now think this was maybe River trying to tell me something from the Great Beyond.
When I wrote Susie of this "irony," after yet another hiatus in our relationship--she is fundamentalist Christian and has right-wing beliefs, when no one I know on purpose does, anymore, really--she ignored me. So bye-bye, Susie, and maybe that is for the best, since she wasn't in sobriety, even though we smoked and drank and took drugs, though she didn't favor that last.
I have related stories--such as when I saw Summer, River's youngest sister, in "Wasted," for the first time. I like this movie, though I can do without the sex scenes. And she can't relate it to River's OD, though it's about heroin addiction and is dedicated, in part, to those who lost their lives due to this disease.
I will go to sleep, now. I had no idea I'd write so much, and it's late. I have a bit of a head cold, but I thought I'd write you, since you sell me a bunch of River Phoenix things, suddenly, and you might want to know why, incidentally.(...)

Weird and wonderful...Keanu Reeves can actually act??
Being fairly new to the world of 'art-house' movies, i first found this a little confusing, and i was concerned that this strange approach would hinder the emotional impact of the film, rendering it yet another overly stylish, powerless and incomprehensible piece of modern film-art. I had also heard that it was extremely shocking and controversial. However, i began to understand Gus Van Sant's language, and it soon seemed completely natural. The claims regarding its explicit sexual nature have been, fankly, grossly exaggerated and probably the result of mild homophobia. The camp fire scene is the most memorable, with River Phoenix's perfomance as Mike, subtle and shining as usual, bringing to mind the very similar camp-fire scene in "Stand by me". Having only seen Keanu Reeves appear in such films as 'Speed' and 'the Matrix', in which he hardly demonstrates any power or skill as an actor, it came as somewhat of a pleasant surprise to see his humorous and striking portrayal of Scott. A sensitive choice of music contributed to the mood, both in the comic, nostalgic steel-string guitar to the gentle folk song that plays as Mike vows through tears to find his mother (by the way, does anybody know what that song is or how to find out?). I was slightly disappointed and depressed by the ending, which is extremely inconclusive, but i suppose movies don't always need a conclusive ending to make them good. Overall a visually stylish, emotionally powerful movie, with some fantastic acting by River Phoenix and Keanu Reeves.

wierd, different, and sad
I did not know exactly to expect when watching this movie but I am a big fan of River Phoenix so I decided to give it a shot. I watched about the first third or so of it and found myself thinking I can't believe I rented this, with the exception of a few scenes that I thought were pretty funny, but when the campfire scene happened I became more involved with the film. I started to see Mike more as a person searching for love and his mother instead of just a male prostitute that fell asleep a lot. I thought River's acting was brilliant. Everything I have seen him in so far is so believable to me. For example, when he sees Scott and his new girlfriend kissing at the dinner table he blows smoke at them, out of obvious jealousy, and he can't sleep when he hears them making love in the next room. I think he was excellent in picking up people's mannerisms and the little things that people do. I ended up being so mad at Scott in the end and was saddened in how it seemed that Mike would live that life until his death. The role of Mike was played perfectly in that it seemed that he didn't even like being a prostitute, evident by his fits of sleep during most of those situations, but he was just trying to get by and find love. The believable acting, mostly by River, and the sadness and emotional vulnerability of the second 2 thirds or so of the film more than make up for the beginning. I hope to look deeper into people's lives and less likely to judge others, something that I must admit needing a little more help in. It really saddens me that there are people right now as I'm typing this review living lives similar to this one feeling like the "road never ends" for them. God bless them and everyone else. ... Read more

Reviews (29)

Northwest Junkie Pranksters
I am always surprised at how many people have not heard of this film. Although released back in 1989, this is definitely one of Van Sant's best films. This flick takes you into the day to day routine of Bob (played by Matt Dillon) and his melancholic and nomadic band of junkies who roam around the Pacific Northwest raiding pharmacies and hospital drug cabinets in search of Valium, Dilaudid and other narcotic goodies to pop, shoot and snort.

The mood of this film is generally very dysphoric however some comic relief is added throughout in the dialogue and 'trippy' visual imagery. Some of the pranks they pull on the detective they are eluding are also pretty humorous.

The movie definitely captures the 70's era well with its acting, dialogue and wardrobe. Superb acting by Dillon as the intimacy phobic, restless and highly superstitious ringleader, Kelly Lynch as his less than satisfied girlfriend, James LeGros as simpleminded Rick, and Heather Graham as the young ditzy neophyte who literally goes overboard trying hard fit into this group of merry prankster junkies.

This movie is a creative little exploration into the day to day routine and psyche of the junkie, so if you can't handle the portrayal of this reality, then this is another movie that isn't for you. Interestingly, William Burroughs plays a short role as a junkie priest, adding some penetrating social commentary towards the end.

As dark as comedy can come
Remember one thing when watching this film: DRUGSTORE COWBOY is a comedy; the darkest comedy for its time but a comedy nonetheless. It was a breakthrough in so many ways. Obviously, Gus Van Zant got a career going. Independent films were beginning to be taken seriously.But Matt Dillon finally proved that he was more than a chiseled face. His comedic performance here would be his best. "No hats on the bed!" Even though he was wildly funny in THERE'S SOMETHING ABOUT MARY, he's three times better here.

There are moments when I've felt that individual scenes are better than the whole. I love William Burrough's scenes as a junkie priest. In one scene, after one of Dillon's friends o.d.s in a motel, Dillon goes to unbelieveable lengths to hide the body in a crawlspace. Once he's completed this gruesome task, he realizes that the motel complex is surrounded by State Troopers--for a convention! The look on Matt Dillon's face is priceless.

Please take a look at this dark and funny film. Forget about some of the poorer qualities of the DVD (although they are annoying). DRUGSTORE COWBOY is worth the viewing.

drugs and thugs
this one is about 4 losers who rob drug stores for..............what else?................drugs!then they either take them or sell them.nobody important showed up on audition day.this is not a lifetime movie and can be enjoyed by the guys.it does look inexpensive like a lifetime movie though.it is not nasty like that movie with leonardo dicaprio where hes a junkie or trainspotting with thier lewd and disgusting scenes and dead babies.there are 2 really obnoxious people here.one is a slow kid from next door who keeps trying to hang with the big kids and the other is one of the main 4 characters who constantly screws everything up.the real deal is this movie is good.since no one else will say it,i will........if you want to make a good movie about heroin and other narcotics,just cut out the screaming rehab workers,the gay men in the bathroom stalls and all graphic displays of bodily functions.oh and no one AND I MEAN NO ONE is amused by the dead baby scene in trainspotting.so,my point is this movie follows that formula and is therefore good.

Dillon is bad to the bone
loved this movie with a fire. Im a huge fan of Matt Dillon's work and he gives probably the best performance of his career and he hasnt topped it yet. he plays a druggy and he has a girlfriend played wonderfully by Kelly Lynch and he has two friends, James LeGros and Heather Graham and he also has a cop on his ass played nicely by James Remar. later a stealing of drugs goes bad and Graham kills herself so Dillon wants to rehabilitate and start over with his life and he checks in and he finds out one of his former teachers is going there. Max Perlich also stars as a dimwitted drug dealer. powerful anf funny. the bet scene is where that guy comes out of his house and shoots the cop on the ladder

Independent Film making at its Finest
The best aspect of Drugstore Cowboy is that any sententious moralizing about getting high is kept to a minimum while the audience is left to make up its own mind regarding the pros and cons of tuning in, turning on, and dropping out.

Set in Portland during the early 70s; Van Sant has put together one of the finest independent films ever. Excellent quips such as Dillon's character referring to a young junky as a "TV Baby" make for a meaningful and scintillating script. It's also a humorous movie with certain scenes retaining an understated comic appeal. While the sets give a fantastic portrait of 1970s west coast junkie life.

The always intriguing late William Burroughs makes an appearance in the last quarter of the picture as Father Murphy, a well known old school addict who also happens to be a man of the cloth. The dialogue between him and Dillon's character is the high point of the movie; writing just doesn't come much better than this.

Drugstore Cowboy is simply brilliant all the way around and stands as an example of what American film making can achieve if the giant studios are kept from meddling in the artistic process.

It should be remembered that Burroughs classic book on the dope scene: "Junky", would make for a nice companion to the movie. ... Read more