Product Description

Bob is a drug addict who leads his wife and several others on raids robbing drugstores and hospitals. However his inner war with fear omens and dark forces eventually compels him to enter a methadone treatment program. His wife and a defrocked junkie priest both try to tempt him back but he is determined. Studio: Lions Gate Home Ent. Release Date: 11/16/2004 Starring: Matt Dillon Kelly Lynch Run time: 104 minutes Rating: R Director: Gus Van Zant

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #9559 in DVD
• Brand: Lions Gate
• Released on: 1999-10-26
• Rating: R (Restricted)
• Aspect ratio: 1.85:1
• Formats: Anamorphic, Closed-captioned, Color, DVD, Widescreen, Subtitled, NTSC
• Original language: English
• Subtitled in: English
• Number of discs: 1
• Running time: 102 minutes

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

Customer Reviews

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.

DVD review...
First off, let me say that Drugstore Cowboy is a great film, one of my favorites. This review is about the DVD release, not the film. The picture has a few flaws, dirt and noise in some scenes, lines in others... At times it can be distracting. Other times, it looks really nice. Having seen this film at least 6 or 8 times, I knew going in that I would really pay attention to the picture. Despite the problems (I'm starting to believe it's the source print of the film) the DVD is the best that the film has looked since it's theatrical release and I'm just glad that it's available. The sound is a 2.0 digital mix. Nothing great, but a good mix. Everything sounds clean and it has very good detail and level. The documentary is an interesting "making of" look at the film and is a nice extra. The commentary track features both Matt Dillon and Gus Van Sant and is fairly interesting. Overall, the DVD could be better (the bells and whistles of major studio releases overshadow smaller films like this one) but it is a nice release. If you love Drugstore Cowboy and are debating on picking this up on DVD, go ahead, you'll be pleased with it. Just don't expect perfection.

Van Sant's best movie....
I was fortunate to see this film in its limited original release. Over the years much of it stayed with me, and it has stood up to repeated viewings. Hard to say what had the most impact: To see Matt Dillon turn in one of the best acting performances of that year? To witness one of the first performances of an interesting, talented unknown named Heather Graham? Or maybe the inspired performance of William Burroughs in a key role near the end? All the performances in this movie ring true. Truly one of the major overlooked films of the last 20 years.