DRUGSTORE COWBOY
US, 1989, 100 minutes, Colour.
Matt Dillon, Kelly Lynch, James le Gros, Heather Graham, Max Perlich, James Remar, Grace Zabriskie, Beah Richards, William S. Burroughs.
Directed by Gus Van Sant.
Drugstore Cowboy was Gus Van Sant’s second film. It was nominated for a number of awards and won many of them in the United States as well as in Berlin, many of them Critics’ Circle awards. Gus Van Sant then began a mainstream career with My Own Private Idaho. He made such interesting films as To Die For as well as the popular Goodwill Hunting and Finding Forester. He also did the exact remake of Psycho. He later reverted to a more minimalist approach in such films as Elephant (winner of the Cannes Golden Palm), Gerry and Last Days.
The film focuses on two couples who are drug addicts in Portland, Oregon. They are a bit like a latter-day Bonnie and Clyde as they go around the various drugstores robbing them to feed their habits. The film is strong in delineating its characters, especially Matt Dillon and Kelly Lynch as the central couple. James le Gros had a long career and Heather Graham became a star during the late 1990s (From Hell, The Guru). Regular character actors James Remar and Grace Zabriskie are in support and there is a guest cameo by author William S. Burroughs, addict and author of The Naked Lunch. He also worked on the screenplay, uncredited.
The film is a picture of the changing drug patterns of life in the United States. After the 1960s, with greater permissiveness and availability of drugs, the number of addicts multiplied. While in the retrospect of the 21st century, this might not seem an unusual situation, in the 1970s and 1980s it served as a mirror of what was happening in society – and a moral fable without drawing any explicit judgments.
1.A portrait of the American drug subculture, the background of the 1960s and the greater availability of drugs, the 1970s and the big number of addicts? The 1970s, the picture of the past, still relevant.
2.A small-budget and independent project? The work of Gus Van Sant (and his later career)? Imaginative treatment of a grim subject? Non-conventional?
3.The Oregon locations, Portland, the city, apartments, institutions, the road, the shops and the stores? The musical score and the period?
4.Bob and his voice-over, the ambulance, the tone, the memory? Drugs, the group, the robberies, Bob and his leadership, his philosophy of life, shared by the others, amoral?
5.Matt Dillon as Bob, acclaim for his performance, his personality, type? The background, his having been an altar boy, family, Diane, love for her, their independence? Their relationship, the public aspects of the relationship, their interactions? The robberies and their techniques? Getting high, the allotted drugs, looking at the stores, seeing what was available? The young dealer and hostility? Activities? Bob’s mother, his bravado? The police, the ladder? The television, death and the reaction, the burial of the body? Changing of moods, drying out – the possibility of cold turkey, counselling, safety? The treatment, free, the types undergoing the treatment? The counsellor and talk? The priest and talk? The gift? Getting out, trying to work, meeting Diane? The robberies, the shooting? Bob’s dreams and imagination? Portrait of an addict? A rounded portrait?
6.Diane, her friendship, a cool character, love, sexuality? The effect of the drugs? Home, jobs, technique? Disappointment? Her sharing the drugs with Bob? The death, the body, trying to dispose of it? Leaving and returning?
7.The boy, the sharing, friendly, the plans, the girl, love, dividing things, death? The change and leadership?
8.The punk character, the deal, not being liked, brutal, the fight and the shooting?
9.The priest and the ironies? Advice?
10.The work of the police, tracking the groups, enmity, the ladder, catching them, opportunities?
11.The mother, her care for her son, interactions, the money?
12.The authorities, the hospital, the drug counsellor?
13.Rick and Nadine, paralleling Bob and Diane? Participation in the robberies? Their own addictions, characters?
14.David, gentry, the other characters in the background? Drugs, dealing?
15.The drugstore managers, the motel managers, the neighbours? Filling out a gallery of characters to make the central characters even more authentic?
16.A memoir of the times, the perspective of the addicts, asking for audience understanding? Sympathy? Offering insight?
