Product description

Drugstore Cowboy [1989]

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Average customer rating: 5.0

Binding : DVD
EAN : 5050070008326
Label : MGM Entertainment
Manufacturer : MGM Entertainment
Publisher : MGM Entertainment
Release date : 2002-09-16
Title : Drugstore Cowboy [1989]
Actor : Array
Audience rating : Suitable for 18 years and over
Format : Array
Languages : Array
Number of items : 1
Original release date : 1989-01-01
Region code : 2
Running time : 105
Studio : MGM Entertainment
Theatrical releaseDate : 1989-10
Number of discs : 1

Editorial reviews

Amazon.co.uk Review
Drugstore Cowboy was the breakaway change of pace and success for a number of those involved in its making. Principally, Gus Van Sant became a director of immediate notability winning multiple international Festival awards and acclaim. It also allowed Matt Dillon to stretch his acting abilities well outside of the teen rebel pigeonhole he'd become associated with in the 1980s and provided far meatier roles for Kelly Lynch and Heather Graham.

Adapted from James Fogle's novel, the broad strokes of the plot are simple enough; a junkie foursome led by Dillon's headstrong Bob, move around the Pacific Northwest in the early 70s scoring pharmaceutical drugs in a series of robberies. The finer details, created with the sense of family developing between the principals, and how they are not portrayed as either victims or "bad" criminals. Van Sant occasionally slips into the surreal depicting Bob's drug-addled thinking like a James Bond title sequence, along with a questionable in-joke cameo with Williams S Burroughs, dish out advice and temptation to Bob. In one simple way, it's little more than a road movie. Yet on another level there's a cautionary tale of the life of a junkie that has relevance well beyond the film's timeframe.

On the DVD: A stereo track and a grainy print in 1.85:1 usually does a movie little favours, but here they add to the overall gritty atmosphere surprisingly well. The only extra is unfortunately the original trailer. --Paul Tonks

Special Features
English
Region 2

Synopsis
Being a junkie is a full-time job for Bob (Matt Dillon), who leads his wife (Kelly Lynch) and another addicted couple (James LeGros and Heather Graham) on a reckless spree of drugstore robberies. When he has a brush with death, Bob realises he must leave both his addiction and his wife if he wants to survive. This indie classic by Gus Van Sant features an excellent performance by Dillon.

Customer reviews

review by: A soul doctor, so to say date: 2008-07-13 rating:

Drug addiction is in the social behavior of the addict
One gets addicted to drugs, for sure, but that is only a small part of the business. This film tries to show how the addiction is an attitude, a social behavior, an act of belonging to a group, a community, a social class nearly, but not that far away from it. Here the dependence is threefold. First the girlfriend who is determined to stay addicted because her addiction is moderate enough to be controlled. Then the boyfriend and his own girlfriend and this time there is some status question here and to go on is to belong to a certain level of humanity, a certain level of masculinity. And then there is the wider community of the junkies, dealers and other characters in that farcical, yes farcical, melodrama. Then there are various events that make that addiction stick. The solidarity with the girlfriend with whom he was arrested, busted and jailed. He owes her to go on. Then the boyfriend who is the guarantee that he is normal, a normal male, a real male, a male in one word full stop and period. The cops are chasing them, and bad events happen. The boyfriend's girlfriend dies of an overdose one night in total solitude, while a burglary attempt in the pharmacy of a hospital fails pitifully and pathetically, and they have to get rid of the body and bury her in some woods. That makes you stick to your addiction, to your group. And yet, out of boredom and tiredness, and since one of the group has stepped out and down, he decides to do the same and get out of the hassle it has all become. And then you find out very easily how the wider social group is catching upon him. Two of his old acquaintances, now he is isolated, try to get his stash of drugs, since they are convinced he has one, they refuse to believe he has quitted, and then since they are getting nothing and nowhere they decide to shoot him dead, which they fail doing because they know nothing about using fire-arms. And there we are in the ambulance taking him away. Will he tell who attacked him or not? Will he go back to that world and that habit? We cannot know and say right away, right now. But one thing is sure. If he goes back it would not be for the physiological habit, but for the social and maybe emotional habit. Drug addiction is first of all in the mind and in the social behavior of the addict, not in his physiological parameters.

Dr Jacques COULARDEAU, University Paris Dauphine, University Paris 1 Pantheon Sorbonne & University Versailles Saint Quentin en Yvelines

review by: FabioStar date: 2007-08-23 rating:

excellent movie
I was not expecting it, but this is probably one of the best movies I have ever seen. It is well played, hard scenes are not too hard (therefore avoiding shocking some sensitive people), however the message is given with full strength. It is much more than a road movie. My wife and I have liked it more than later Gus van Sant movies. Additionally, it makes you think. I will buy now the novel from which it has been adapted.

review by: monkeyfish4 date: 2002-11-09 rating:

Just Say No.
Matt Dillon and girlfriend Kelly Lynch head a working team of drug addicts who are just trying to keep one step ahead of reality. The beauty of this film, apart from the excellent performances, is it's original approach and deeply personal feel. These are people we all know, not just nameless junkies lying in a doorway somewhere and even as things seem to be running along smoothly, the sense of impending doom is palpable. Original direction and an insightful script with no easy answers make this an all round great film. Look out for William S. Burroughs in a class cameo.

review by: We're all Frankies' date: 2002-03-30 rating:

Classic cult film.
...Gus Van Sant's film is fantastic- imagine a fusion of 'Jesus's Son', 'Junky' & 'The Man with the Golden Arm' and you're close...This is wonderfully shot, the hallucinations and effects on-screen are wonderful (much better than the silly 'Trainspotting'). The hypo-injection scenes appear to have found their way into 'Pulp Fiction'!!! Matt Dillon is great- as are the supporting cast: James Remar, Kelly Lynch, Heather Graham, Max Perlich etc...There are lots of funny moments (the hat hex, the dog flashback) and moments when you see the attraction of drugs. And 'The Priest they called him', William S. Burroughs pops up as a junky ex-priest!...1989 was a watermark year in American cinema- giving us 'Goodfellas', 'Heathers' and this...This is probably Van Sant's best film, though I have an affection for 'My Own Private Idaho' and 'Even Cowgirls Get the Blues'...At this price this is a must own film- as great as 'Performance', 'Two Lane Blacktop' & 'Vanishing Point'. A great cult film.

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