1989. Based on James Fogle's Drugstore Cowboy, this movie was co-written and directed by Gus Van Sant. Portland, 1971. After years of drug addiction and drugstore heists, Matt Dillon decides to go on methadone and say goodbye to his friends. Exceptional Matt Dillon performance in the role of Bob, the junkie responsive to the signs of Destiny.

Set in 1971, Van Sant's dark, desperate ode to the junkie lifestyle neither glamorizes nor judges its edgy, wayward characters. Dillon excels as the quick-thinking ringleader of outlaw drifters--superbly played by Lynch, LeGros, and a young Heather Graham--whose only immediate goal is getting their next fix. With stylish camerawork and black humor, Van Sant depicts the ravaging effects of drug abuse on this dysfunctional family, while Dillon's voiceover adds a twinge of sadness. And who else but William S. Burroughs could make such a convincing dope-addicted priest? A breakthrough for Van Sant, "Drugstore Cowboy" rides high on the low life.

Bob (Matt Dillon) has a perfect druggie's life. He and his wife Dianne (Kelly Lynch) and close friend Rick (James LeGros) have a perfectly working scheme to rob pharmacies for prescription drugs. Rick has recently taken new girlfriend Nadine (a young Heather Graham) into the fold.

But the cops, especially Gentry (James Remar), are onto Bob and his little operation. Bob and his crew must be very careful. After a raid to their home, they are forced to move to an apartment complex where Bob performs a reverse sting on the police.

Aside from the "stress and strain of staying high", Bob has to deal with his intense superstitions such as not mentioning dogs, not looking at the back of a mirror, and NEVER putting a hat on the bed. If a superstition is broken, bad luck comes to all.

'Drugstore Cowboy', in all honesty, turned me off because of the word "cowboy" in the title, but believe me this is a total addiction/drug movie and has nothing to do with cowboys or westerns at all. Set in 1971, the props (cars, record players, fashions, soundtrack) are all true to form. Topping the chart on interest is the appearance of the one and only William S. Burroughs (author of Naked Lunch and Junky) as a former priest named Tom with a bad habit.

There are a few very graphic needle scenes but otherwise no overt violence, and the actors (especially Max Perlich as David) did great jobs of "tweaking". The problems start when Bob is effected by the death of one of his gang, and decides to go home and go straight on a methadone program, explaining the problems of a junkie to his caseworker as "The pressures of everyday life, like having to tie your shoes."

My only problem with the DVD was that there were no subtitles for either English hearing impaired or any other languages. If your hearing impaired, you'll have to turn the volume WAY up. Still, this is a drug addiction movie you won't want to miss. The acting is incredible, the characters fully fleshed and completely believable, and the scripting tight and true. Definitely a worthwhile addition to your addiction collection. Enjoy!

This is an excellent movie which has a semi documentary feel about it. It is about a group of drug addicts led by Matt Dillon who rob pharmacies (drugstores) in the hope of scoring some drugs and getting high. Matt Dillon's character is smart enogh to realize "this is a game we were destined to lose". It is only until one of his group overdoses and dies that he realizes what a wasted and futile existence he is leading so he gets clean. However his past comes back to haunt him with a vengeance. This movie is a cut about the "lowlife junkie trying to score " movies but I must warn you that the depiction of drug taking scenes is not for the sqeamish. Great performances all around and a special mention for the junkie Priest.

"I was once a shameless, full-time dope fiend. Yeah me! - Bob! The sweet mother's son." And so it begins where it ends and ends where it begins. Directed by Gus Van Sant, _Drugstore Cowboy_ is a totally unique film with a totally unique cast:

Bob .... Matt Dillon
Dianne .... Kelly Lynch
Rick .... James Le Gros
Nadine .... Heather Graham
David .... Max Perlich

Bob and his crew all have full-time jobs - robbing drugstores. There are valuable lessons to be learned here. For example, don't trade no uptown crank for no downtown trash. This story takes place in the Pacific Northwest during the early 1970s and it has a great soundtrack.

Bob and Dianne in a tender bedroom scene: "Dianne, what've you gone crazy or somethin'? Dianne, what the f_ck are you doin'? What are you on glue or somethin'?"

Another touching scene comes when Bob's mom finds him and Dianne at her door: "Oh Lord, it's my dope fiend thief of a son and his crazy little nymphomaniac wife. Please tell me what I did to deserve this. Never knowing when there's going to be a knock on my door telling me my baby's dead, green with an overdose. Shot by a mad pharmacist or run over by a car while fleeing from police pursuit. Why me?"

A series of misadventures (some of them very funny) lead Bob to the conclusion that there must be more to life than just staying high. One day, Bob decides to go straight, but his wife can't even imagine a life without drugs.

Bob speaking to the Methadone lady: "I'm a junkie. I like drugs. I like the whole lifestyle. But it just didn't pay off." Officer Gentry, who has busted Bob on several occasions and harassed him up until now, has his doubts when Bob enters rehab. But, Gentry, expertly played by James Remar, finally becomes a believer and a bond develops between him an Bob as the weeks pass.

Ghosts from Bob's past creep back into his life, yet he is able to resist all temptations. One night, a visit from David changes everything. And here we are, back at the beginning. "I was once a shameless, full-time dope fiend. Yeah me! - Bob! The sweet mother's son." It's not what you might think. Bob is not back on drugs. There is another development which is far more pressing.

This is a well done movie with a great script. The 1.85:1 anamorphic video is crisp and clean. The disk has a 28 minute making-of documentary and a fascinating running commentary with director Gus Van Sant and Matt Dillon.

Be careful, "The Israelites" as performed by Desmond Dekker & The Aces is habit forming. This is the background music for the closing credits and I have found myself playing it over and over again.

Gus Van Sant had one and only one talent: he could pick the right people to act in his films. In Drugstore Cowboy, all the actors fit their roles perfectly. Matt Dillon is ideal for the role of Bob, the main character. Even though he's a junkie and thief, he becomes a halfway sympathetic character through a kind of con-man charm and a willingness to accept the consequences of his actions. At the very least, he knows what he is. He has no delusions about himself. This puts him above someone like the pathetic junkie Dave, who grovels before Bob when he thinks he can get drugs out of it, and then fancies himself to be a tough guy when he gets his hands on a gun.

When Bob decides to give up drugs, Dillon doesn't overplay the decision. It's not like Bob suddenly decided that his lifestyle was morally wrong and had a momentous change of heart. Someone like him probably wouldn't put much stock in such arguments. His decision to clean up is prompted only by exhaustion. Basically, he just becomes tired of going nowhere, and realizes that his lifestyle will lead him to a very miserable end if he doesn't change it. His speech to the social worker contains a kind of weary cynicism.

But although Bob gave up on morality long ago, he's ultimately a normal person. He discovers this only after he cleans up, somewhat to his own surprise, because he still thinks and acts pretty much the same way as before. Thus, he never condemns other junkies, and in fact continues to sympathize with them. It's just that without the drugs weighing on him, he doesn't need to dig himself in deeper anymore.

The other characters are less important to the film, but they are also played very well. The young junkie who starts out in Bob's group and later takes command of it has maybe three lines in the whole film, but just his face says everything one needs to know about him. Van Sant was an admirer of "Tulsa," the 1973 book of photography by Larry Clark that depicted the lives of various drug addicts, and that influence is evident here. For this role, he found some guy who looks exactly like David Roper at thirty. Probably "Tulsa" also supplied the idea for the scene where the junkies wave their guns around. They don't generally commit murder or armed robbery. The guns are mostly needed to show off.

Even the cop, who has a very minor role in the film, stands out by the end. He goes after Bob because it's his job and his conviction to do so. In the process, he has no great respect for the law either. He just views Bob as a punk who poses a threat to society and should be eliminated by any means. But when he realizes that Bob has actually given up drugs, he becomes sympathetic and genuinely tries to help.

And the famous Beat writer William Burroughs is the most perfectly cast of all. He portrays an old morphine addict with an aristocratic streak. It is impossible to imagine a role that would be better suited to Burroughs, or to imagine another actor who would be better suited to this role. This is exactly how he is described in Jack Kerouac's books. The old man has absolutely no regrets about the way he has lived his life, and in fact has come to view himself as being superior to others - more educated, more refined, more honest - because of his drug habit. If you buy the idea that the purpose of art is to accurately capture some aspect of reality, then this is art, of an unsettling sort.

And that's all. The film is carried by the actors. Van Sant contributes nothing much in the way of cinematography or screenwriting. Actually, his sole visual gimmick is to show the junkies floating in the clouds and gazing at flying cows when they're high. This just looks silly. In my opinion, the same point would have been made better if he just showed them lolling around slack-jawed on their couches.

The script is likewise nothing special. In fact, sometimes it feels like there's barely a script at all. The four junkies only have one protracted conversation, where Bob describes some superstitions that are apparently supposed to be common among thieves. But that conversation is again carried by Dillon's acting, not by the actual content of his lines. In some sense, this film doesn't really need a script. The characters are contained entirely in the faces of the actors. In any case, they're supposed to be pretty ordinary people who have very boring, tedious lives when they're not out stealing. They're not meant to pause and reflect much. If the film had a lot of dialogue, it would probably have seemed much more artificial.

And, well, that's pretty much it. When this film came out, Van Sant was supposed to be the next saviour of American independent cinema. His next film was My Own Private Idaho, which also features excellent casting, but has much more clunky symbolism and a tendency to pretentiously quote Shakespeare. After that, Van Sant's ambition ran wild. He remade Hitchcock's Psycho, filmed a movie about two guys getting lost in a desert, won the grand prize at Cannes for a graphic depiction of a school shooting, and did other pointless things. But Drugstore Cowboy is a good film.

The story of Bob and his drugstore raids through various cities is a very real story. This movie, however- doesn't so much offer into the insights of what it is like when you get drugged up or high. This is a movie about the lifestyle Bob and Diane lead- the drugstores they raided, the scores they made, the encounters they had along the way, and what eventually led to Bob going to rehab in the very end.

About ? of the movie is focused on Bobs "recovery" or attempts to get his life back on track. He goes and gets a job, he goes to the methadone program, he completely gives up on his relationship with Diane... he makes a commitment to be completely drug free- and in the end it is tragic what happens.

Go see this movie! There has never been one like it before; it is interesting to watch the lifestyle these people live.

Oscar nominee Matt Dillon (Best Supporting Actor, Crash) gives one of his best performances in "Drugstore Cowboy" directed by Oscar nominated director Gus Van Sant (Best Director, Good Will Hunting). This movie is truly a masterpiece, both as a drug movie and as a piece of entertainment. It's also probably my favorite movie by Van Sant, who moves from big budget movies to independent movies faster than Liz Taylor switches husbands. This movie, which was co-written by Van Sant, is probably Van Sant's masterpiece. It's not his best film, but for as far as movies he's written (I didn't dig "Elephant" or "Last Days" that much) it's really good. The movie stars Dillon as Bob, a drug addict who robs drug stores as a way to support his habit. Bob runs a crew that consists of his wife Diane (Kelly Lynch), Rick (James Le Gros), and Nadine (Heather Graham). Each of them is heavily addicted to drugs and high all the time...ALL the time. They're also smart, every time the cops catch on they move. The movie's portrayal of the addicts is good, but not entirely accurate and this movie doesn't have the effects and editing that later drug films like "Requiem for a Dream" or "Spun" has, but unlike those films you feel sympathy for the characters and like the characters. The movie is also pretty funny, I love the scene with the cop and the window. The dialouge is great, especially some of the speeches. Dillon was robbed of an Oscar nomination. This is truly one of those great movies, I highly recommend it.

GRADE: A

that opening scene with dinah washington singing world-weary blues and matt dillon lying in an ambulance tells you right away this movie isdifferent. This story of a group of junkie bandits in the pacific northwest doesn't shy away from the appeal of drugs, nor does it romanticize them.

This is one of gus van sant's best movies and gets a career-best, or close to it, from kelly lynch, matt dillon, james legrow and others. Not to mention a cameo appearance by williams burroughs as a junkie priest. a minor masterpiece.

Drugstore Cowboy is one of my all-time absolute favorite movies. If I could, I'd give it 10 stars. If you like dark comedies, drugs or perhaps both, you'll certainly appreciate this movie. I think Requiem For A Dream pulls some of it's style from Drugstore Cowboy, at least it seems to look that way to me, so if you like Requiem (which is also an outstanding movie) but want to watch something a little less sad, Drugstore Cowboy is an excellent choice. Because of it, I'll never leave a hat on a bed ever. My boyfriend ironically feels the same way about hats. I've watched this movie too many times to count, but everytime, it's just as enjoyable. I love when they create the diversion in front of the hospital...classic! And the scene where they trick the cops is quite clever. Makes me wish I'd thought of it. Happy viewing...you will be in the minority if you don't enjoy this movie!

Bob Hughes (Matt Dillion) is the ringleader of a gang of dope fiends who rob drugstores for narcotics. The police are on to them, and he's royally pissed off one officer by setting him to get shot by a gun-toting neighbor. Hughes takes his gang of four on the road in pursuit of drugs. He's a little paranoid with superstitions-no mentioning dogs, no leaving hats on beds, and no looking at mirrors from behind-all of which indicate days, months, of years of bad luck.

When one of his crew purposely leaves a hat on a bed in defiance of Hughes's superstitions, everything goes to hell. One of the crew tries to cut the others out of a deal, too many drugs are done, and Hughes is scared straight. Sobriety isn't easy, either. Hughes has to deal with a lifelong junkie priest (William Burroughs) living a life of shame and still trying to score drugs at age 70. The cop he set up is still out for blood. Street punks still think he's holding drugs. And what is his wife up to?

Realistic. Shocking. Gritty. Touching. A commentary on drug policy.

A depressing comedy (that might sound weird, even oxymoronic, but it's true) about two couples, all junkies, who go around the Portland area robbing drugstores and hospitals for drugs. Matt Dillon plays the leader of this pack and plays it well; there are similarities to RAISING ARIZONA here, but without the raucous humor, which is sorely missed. There's a quirkiness in the movie(odd superstitions, empty-headedness, etc.), but unfortunately it's not brought to the fore and played for what it's worth. Dillon goes straight by the end - or so it seems, until the ironic, O-Henry-like conclusion pops us one. The camerawork and soundtrack are impressive, but overall the movie is depressing and nihilistic enough not to stay in the mind's eye for long.

The hat on the bed is worth the price of admission alone.

I purchased this film hoping it was a more artsy Gus Van Sant picture, like Elephant or Gerry, but instead it is more along the lines of Good Will Hunting: great narrative, but less artistic. It's not his fault he has too much talent to focus making one specific style of film.

The hat on the bed. Buy it and see!

In a downward spiraling saga of drug abuse in the 1971 Pacific Northwest, Bob (Matt Dillon) and his wife, Diane (Kelly Lynch) canvas neighborhoods, choosing locations to burglarize, local pharmacies their specialty. Their movements are constricted by the superstitions that make as much sense as anything else they do, a hat on the bed, the back side of a mirror, anything can trigger a string of bad luck that will take them all the way down. To avoid detection by local authorities, Diane sends their drugs ahead to bus stations across the country, hopefully not more than eight hours away, so that the drugs they're on don't wear off. Along the way, Bob finally gets tired of the life and returns to Portland to enroll in a methadone program, leaving Diane to make her own way. She's nowhere near ready to quit.

Old habits die hard and although Bob is committed to living without pharmaceuticals, even working a straight job, the neighborhood is filled with temptation, addicts on every street corner and down every alley. Attending group counseling and avoiding his old haunts, Bob finds comfort in an old friend, a parish priest from his childhood, one of the most serious junkies Bob has ever known, "Father must have shot a million dollars up his arm". Settling into a new way of living, Bob admits, "For all the boredom, the straight life ain't so bad." Then a former street pal makes a late night visit to Bob's place, demanding money or drugs. When Bob can't give what he doesn't have, the intruder shoots him. Even though he recognizes him, Bob won't identify his assailant for the cops, feeling it's his time to pay the piper. Sirens blaring, Bob is taken to the hospital, the biggest pharmacy of them all.

The cinematography is eerily effective, dreary, wet and monochromatic, the addicts moving in slow motion from one high to the next. The supporting cast, Rick (James LeGros), Nadine (Heather Graham) and Detective Gentry (James Remar), drift as satellites around the main characters, Bob and Diane, the doomed couple. Rick and Nadine are newcomers brought along on a cross country trip to show them the ropes, but they are young and greedy and Nadine gives herself a hot shot with some pure-grade pharmaceutical. After that, Bob can't make himself go on. Dillon is effective as a man caught up in a habit that is stealing his life, ever more anxious as the cycle goes on, finally too emotionally and physically exhausted to continue. Although Diane and Bob have been together since they were kids, Diane can't accompany her husband on this final ride, exuding her own quiet desperation, forced to relinquish her only solid relationship.

Gus Van Sant captures the somber mood of the drug life, the endless pursuit of pleasure and the agony of potential withdrawal, even Bob's slowly emerging sobriety painted with the realism that accompanies such a journey. Bob speaks to a counselor about the pressures of everyday life, acknowledging the futility of her work, "nobody, and I mean nobody, can talk a junkie out of using." Like the ill-fated alcoholic pair in "The Days of Wine and Roses", Bob and Diane are destined to part ways, the drugs that brought them together eventually dooming their marriage. Drugstore Cowboy may begin with the joyful looting of a pharmacy, but it ends face to face with the violence that is endemic to the lifestyle. Luan Gaines/2005.

I have watched this film over a dozen times and still enjoy it. The color palette is so insanely beautiful and the story and acting are fantastic. I was psyched about the audio commentary with Matt Dillon and Gus Van Sant and was disappointed when it ended up being fairly bland. I had hoped for some words about the different locations in Portland and other tidbits about the actors. I can't even recall a single instance where either one said anything about Kelly Lynch which I found bizarre.

What they did talk a lot about are things like the wardrobe and how certain footage (like the closeups) were filmed later by another person, not the director. While this was also very interesting, I would have preferred the commentary be more extensive and entertaining.

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.

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.

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.

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.

There is a genre, Druggies on Film. You can go back to silent movies where the guy with a mustache drugs the heroine. Reefer Madness and Sinatra's, Man with the Golden Arm continued this type of drama. More recently we have seen Spun and Requiem for a Dream. The truth is, I liked them all. My own illicit drug intake had happened mostly back in the 60's and 70's, and I remember some of the mantic behavior and weirdly, the camaraderie. Yes, it was we against the world. Drugstore Cowboy does a terrific job of recreating this type of subculture. Matt Dillion is wonderful as the young brain behind the gang of pill robbers. His sudden need for rehabilitation is not very convincing, but all his schemes, rehab, and love for Kelly Lynch rings true. James Le Gros and Heather Graham play dumb and dumber. Dillion's druggie wife Lynch, she is so seventies hard girl. Finally, the great druggie of them all gets a cameo role, Beat writer, William Burroughs.

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.

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.

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

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.

Powerful movie about drugs that seem low budgeted but so what. It's still worth watching. Matt Dillon performance is outstanding. Maybe these are the type of roles he is good at...tough guy attitude, just like the classic 'my bodyguard' movie. I enjoy this but not a movie i want to see again since it doesn't have a real happy ending.

If you have anyone close to you who take drugs, i suggest watching this movie.

Before director Gus Van Sant decided to get all mushy on us with the likes of Finding Forrester, he made this suprisingly little-seen gem. The first time I saw it was not long after having seen Trainspotting, and I immediately understood where Trainspotting had found a great amount of its inspiration - like that film, Drugstore Cowboy is essentially a comedy. Black as they come, but a comedy none the less.

The story of a group of four junkies who raid drugstores in their search for drugs, this film takes a gritty, unflinching look at drugabuse and the hell people go through while using and after they quit. Shifting tones between deeply dramatic and darkly comical, Van Sant never judges his characters, but just allows them to speak for themselves - literally, as Matt Dillon's character narrates the movie. Dillon has never been better than here, and is supported by an excellent Kelly Lynch (where did she go in the meantime, anyway?) and a very young Heather Graham.

There are moments in this film you'll remember forever: when Dillon and Lynch get stuck in a motel hosting a sheriff's convention with a dead body on their hands, you don't know whether to laugh, cry or shiver at the thought. And who ever suspected that a song like "The Israelites" could be made to sound so haunting? In the framework of this movie, it does. Above all, this movie comes across as very honest and heartfelt, emotional without being corny, effective without being preachy.

DVD-edition features a fine transfer of the film - its occasional graininess is likely due to either the low budget it was shot on in the first place, or an artistic choice. I've never seen it any better than here, and the rough edges of it do seem to add to its content and mood. Commentary by Van Sant and Dillon starts out entertaining, but towards the end they seem to be searching for new things to say. Very good "making of"-featurette.

Before director Gus Van Sant decided to get all mushy on us with the likes of Finding Forrester, he made this suprisingly little-seen gem. The first time I saw it was not long after having seen Trainspotting, and I immediately understood where Trainspotting had found a great amount of its inspiration - like that film, Drugstore Cowboy is essentially a comedy. Black as they come, but a comedy none the less.

The story of a group of four junkies who raid drugstores in their search for drugs, this film takes a gritty, unflinching look at drugabuse and the hell people go through while using and after they quit. Shifting tones between deeply dramatic and darkly comical, Van Sant never judges his characters, but just allows them to speak for themselves - literally, as Matt Dillon's character narrates the movie. Dillon has never been better than here, and is supported by an excellent Kelly Lynch (where did she go in the meantime, anyway?) and a very young Heather Graham.

There are moments in this film you'll remember forever: when Dillon and Lynch get stuck in a motel hosting a sheriff's convention with a dead body on their hands, you don't know whether to laugh, cry or shiver at the thought. And who ever suspected that a song like "The Israelites" could be made to sound so haunting? In the framework of this movie, it does. Above all, this movie comes across as very honest and heartfelt, emotional without being corny, effective without being preachy.

DVD-edition features a fine transfer of the film - its occasional graininess is likely due to either the low budget it was shot on in the first place, or an artistic choice. I've never seen it any better than here, and the rough edges of it do seem to add to its content and mood. Commentary by Van Sant and Dillon starts out entertaining, but towards the end they seem to be searching for new things to say. Very good "making of"-featurette.

Gus Van Sant, I would qualify, as THE man to retract the universe of junkies, porn and violence in a teenager context (remember "Kids"?), or in an adult instance, or maybe them both in a reciprocity. Drugstore Cowboy is no exception either: a group of junkies who are so obsessed and obstinated to steal some drugs at drugstores (even hospitals) to cloy their need.
Matt Dillon, impressively for the first time I have ever seen, acts really well and does something great, displaying a character (Bob) who knows how to deceive the police with his tricks, attended also by his beautiful lover (Dianne, played by pretty Kelly Lynch) and two others (Rick and Nadine),who follow him throughout to get their portions, and [oftenly] getting killed by their gold.

What the movie displays here as message is that, maybe, if you have freewill and belief in yourself, you might transcend your wounds and vices and get "fixed" in a "real life" ambit. Drugstore Cowboy also displays some irony and sarcasm, getting rid of that usual image that other movies retract the addicted people: depressed and agressive. People here look perfectly "normal" (according to what people subscribe as normality, anyway) and it might be someone you don't even expect.

Great movie. Watch it now.

One cannot escape the torture or agony put forth in this excellent movie about a group of druggies who live together and roam from pharmacies to pharmacies, stealing drugs to ease there addiction.

Drugstore Cowboy takes place in the early '70s when drug use was at an all time high, and this video couldn't protary it better. Matt Dillon plays the ring leader of the group, planning elaborate schemes to distract checkout clerks and pharmacists from the treasured--and locked--narcotics drawers behind the prescription counter. This video has some comic relief, but for the marjority of the film, it's focusing on the suffering and addiction of drugs. Even to the point where Matt Dillon's own mom won't even let him into his house because she's afraid he'll steal something to pond for dope [The most powerful scene in the movie]

This movie's acting is excellent, as well as the directing, and I would recommend this to anyone.

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.

There is a scene in this film that is one of the most frightening I've seen, even though most people wouldn't think so. It involves Matt Dillion's character sitting in the middle of the woods thinking and perhaps wondering about his life. There's something else that makes this scene unsettling, but I can't give it away in this review. The film has many comic moments as well, but the overall mood of the film is melancholic.

The technical aspects and style of this film sets it apart from others that I've seen. Closeup shots of mundane items of everyday life, a teabag, a light bulb, etc. Van Sant adds eerie elements and subtle touches that really MAKE this film. Add to that a great cast including Kelly Lynch, Heather Graham, and James Le Gros and you can't lose.

Van Sant's characters are superstitious and lost in their lives of drugs and theft. Whether they will stay in their world or
join ours is the question.

Simply one of the best film's of the 80's - period. Another film that would make a good companion piece is "Sid and Nancy", a film about punk rocker Sid Vicious and his girlfriend Nancy.

The documentary with Dillon and Gus Van Zant discussing how they made the film was fantastic. Their is also a behind the scenes segment that show's the director setting up carious arty shots. For anyone who loved this movie the first time, the dvd is the icing on the cake. A must buy.

This film came out in 1989, funny because it looks modern. I think of "Drugstore Cowboy" and his next 2 films ("My Own Private Idaho" and "Even Cowgirls Get The Blues") as a trilogy of sorts because they're all about people who don't have a real home, they wander from place to place, almost aimlessly except for their one goal. In this case, the goal is the next fix. They also have some of the same cast members in each one even if it's just a cameo. Stylistically, they're shot very much the same way. "Drugstore Cowboy" is probably the most surreal of them all, with visuals of pills and needles flying in front of your face. It also showcases Matt Dillon's best acting as a superstition-obsessed junkie. I can only give 4 stars out of five because as good (sad, funny) as the film is, the plot meanders slightly 3/4 of the way through. But it's still one of the best movies I've ever seen.

This is one of my all time favorite movies so I was thrilled when I found the book in a library about 8 yeas ago. The book is a semi-autobiographical story by a guy, James Fogel, in prison. This guy was/is Bob and he wrote Drugstore Cowboy about him and his friends in Portland, Oregon. What surprised me most when reading DC was that most of the best dialog and screens from the movie are word for word out of the book, like Bob describing the ants doing their thing. It's nice to see a filmmaker use the best parts rather that leave them out like so many book-to-screen adaptations seem to. SPOILER!...I also like that the book has a happy ending, Bob lives!

Hmmm.... Very familiar. Seems like a compilation of every drug-culture movie I've seen. It's basically a collage of ripped-off scenes and ideas. I recommend that you spend your money on something like Trainspotting instead. Same drug culture, more originality ;).