| | | | Drugstore Cowboy
(1989) |
story about a group of junkies in 1971 who rob drugstores and get high… Then they rob some drugstores and get high and finally, for variety, they rob some more drugstores and get high!
Led by neurotic Bob Hughes (Dillon), a veritable poster-boy for addiction, this oddball quartet consistently evades the law (an on-form James Remar) and moves from place to place always looking to knock off the next big pharmacy in search of a hit.
Drugstore Cowboy is by far 'Goodwill Hunting' director Gus Van Sant's best movie to date, it's a very realistic portrayal about people so preoccupied with running the race that their relationships with one another become strange and distant, one which examines the psychological, emotional and physical demands of being alive in modern society… it's not so much a drugs film as it is a movie about everyday life.
Whereas films like 'Trainspotting' and 'Fear And Loathing In Las Vegas' were criticised for accentuating the highs, and making the lows too surreal for everyone to understand, 'Drugstore Cowboy' is a movie which shows both good and bad with equal savoir faire, it's non-judgmental tone and unflinching look at the character's lives, means that it's still on the cutting edge of independent cinema, and a testament to my view that Matt Dillon only does good movies.
Matt's performance in this movie is excellent, he plays the amiable addict with a subtle mixture of dry humour and an initial undertone of duplicity which becomes reflection and genuine, quiet repentance, all credit to Kelly Lynch as well, who gives a career best as Bob's wife Diane: Lynch plays an essentially unsympathetic character, whose gradually seen to be as detached, if not colder and more dependant, than her superstitious husband.
'Drugstore Cowboy' would've been too downbeat just as a movie about people orchestrating their own destruction / salvation, so Van Sant does well to exploit the crazy comedy of James Fogle's well written book: first there's Bob himself, who lives by some rather strange rituals; one of which involves never mentioning dogs (for Bob and Diane's first one led the cops to their house), looking at the back of a mirror or having a hat (especially placing one on the bed).
The ending was a little too ambiguous for my liking, but the voiceover more than made up for any shortcomings as it was about things coming back; the strange and sometimes disturbing nature of redemption: how do we make things all right, and when do we know that everything we've done no longer matters? Trust me when I tell you, this is one head-trip which makes 'The Matrix' seem easy.
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The best scene in the movie for me, was when Mat Dillon describes the circle of addiction in an unforgettable and hilarious way: "To begin with, nobody, and I mean nobody can talk a junkie out of usin'. You can talk to them for years, but sooner or later they're gonna get hold of something'. Maybe it's not dope, maybe it's booze, maybe it's glue, maybe it's gasoline. Maybe it's a gunshot in the head. But somethin'. Somethin' to release the pressures of their everyday life… like havin' to tie their shoes."
Many critics thought that casting William S. Burroughs (wrote 'The Naked Lunch' and 'Junkie') as an addict who used to be a priest, was gimmicky: for having a prolific drugs author in a movie about drugs is kind of like Scream-style post modernism: but I reckon it's best not to think of him as William S. Burroughs, but just to take his character on its' own, for he's there to show that not all addicts are unemployed, young stoners with nothing better to do, but that the reigns of dependency are swung over every aspect of society. He represents a future for Bob and knowing that he "…must've shot a million dollars up his arm" makes him out to be some kind of a walking ghost, whose relative indifference to the problem presents us with a whole new way of looking at the issue, a far cry from the frenzied paranoia of 'Reefer Madness' nor as colourfully upbeat as Ted Demme's 'Blow' or Paul Thomas Anderson's 'Boogie Nights'.
'Drugstore Cowboy' is that rarest of things: a well made, almost impartial, film in which the acting and directing are so real you occasionally feel as if you're watching a documentary, a movie which defines itself though the message: "…the toughest thing is learning to live with the uncertainty: "Most people don't know how they're gonna feel from one moment to the next. But dope fiends have a pretty good idea. All you gotta do is look at the labels on the little bottles" Class-A.
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You can now correct/update any item of trivia by clicking the "Update" button next to it...
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James Remar replaced Christopher Lambert as Riaden in Mortal Kombat: Annihalation 
James LeGros turned in an excellent performance in Dicillo's hilarious satire "Living In Oblivion".
Kelly Lynch turned down the leading role in Paul Veerhoven's "Basic Instinct".
People who objected to 'instructional drug use' in "Pulp Fiction" and "Trainspotting" probably hadn't noticed the exact same thing 5 years earlier in "Drugstore Cowboy".
Matt Dillon worked with Van Sant again in "To Die For".
Matt Dillon says Gene Hackman is his idol and a great influence on his work.
In some of the Super 8 home-movie looking scenes in the beginning and end of the film, Kelly Lynch is wearing a large chunky ring that says LOVE on it: it is a reproduction of Robert Indiana's famous LOVE sculpture located in Kennedy Plaza in Philadelphia, I found one of these rings and I wear it all the time. -Thanks to Carrie Cantwell
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Drugstore Cowboy or 80's Drama / Historic classics, then be sure to
check out this list: ..... Outsiders ..... Elephant Man ..... Rain Man ..... Stand By Me ..... Wall Street ..... Mask ..... Amadeus ..... Full Metal Jacket ..... Witness ..... Breakfast Club ..... Glory ..... Platoon ..... Scarface ..... Six Weeks ..... Urban Cowboy .....[More]
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The accuracy of the range of drugs was really well researched. The OD death due to Dilaudid (hydromorphone) is still common. The hatred of demerol (not strong enough and too many side effects). Even the comment that you cannot see straight after taking large doses of morphine are totally accurate. -Thanks to Sean Dunlevy
For research and practice, Matt Dillon and James Legros actually drove around Portland for weeks before shooting, in character, casing drugstores and pharmacys. -Thanks to Dee Nineteen
Rodney Harvey was originally cast in the role of "Rick", to be replaced by James Legoss. Harvey was pulled off of the movie by his agent because of drug abuse, he was later cast by Van Sant again as "Gary" in "My Own Private Idaho". He, sadly, died of a heroin overdose in 1998. -Thanks to Erika
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|  |  |  | | Drugstore Cowboy
Locations |
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Drugstore Cowboy was mainly filmed around Portland, Oregon
The drugstore in the movie was "Seaton Pharmacy" at corner of Southeast 60th Avenue and Belmont Street, Portland, OR. [Thanks to Masa]
If you watch the dvd and play it with Matt Dillon and Gus Van Sant talking which is a special feature on the dvd, Gus Van Sant says the drugstore is on 21st and Davis. [Thanks to Larry]
The drugstore in the first scene was Nob Hill Pharmacy on the corner of NW 21st and Glisan. The other drugstore near the end when Nadine spills all the pills is Seatons on SE 60th and Belmont.[Thanks to Larry and Sean]
The first house they lived in when the speed freak comes over is probably in Deep SE Portland around between 24th - 39th Division and Hawthorne st. The houses in that area look just like those houses.
The apartment building they lived in is in one of the older trendier sections of Portland 21st-23rd streets in NorthWest Portland... That's also the area where Matt Dillon tries to rip off the hospital - Good Samaratin Hospital NE 23rd and Lovejoy.
The diner they meet in was a place called Quality Pie that doesn't exist anymore it was across the street from the hospital.
The opening sequence where they are under an overpass was in the industrial area on the West bank of the Willamette River which flows through the middle of Portland. I can't remember the name of the street.
The greyhound bus station was in downtown Portland as well. It's not there anymore, they shut it down in the early 90's after it was a nightclub for awhile and then a Western line dancing club - then they tore it down and put a Skyscraper on the site.
[Thanks to Amanda Evans for this excellent locations info]
I lived on Greenwich Ave, one block west of Interstate and running north to south starting at Lombard, in northeast Portland. I used to walk down Greenwhich and one morning had to take a detour because a film crew was using a house on the street for Drugstore Cowboy. [Thanks to Josh McKee]
The upstairs apartment they move to is on NW 21st and Irving, across the street from the "Gypsy" bar. [Thanks to Sean]
Can you help? Do you know any of the Portland, Oregon (or any other) filming locations used for Drugstore Cowboy, particularly exact street addresses for any locations including the ones above.? [Please send them in]
|  | | | | ![[Letterbox -NOT 16:9 Enhanced]](lbx.gif) | ![[STEREO or SURROUND]](dd2.gif) | Commentary, Featurette |
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Elliot Goldenthal's score works well in the movie but is a little too cosmic: should appeal to people who light incense sticks and wish they were back in the days. Most of the songs are pretty good.
"For All We Know" by Abbey Lincoln
"Little Things" by Bobby Goldsboro
"Psychotic Reaction" by The Count Five
"Put a Little Love in Your Heart" by Jackie DeShannon
TV Commercial Music by Wile Kaplan
"Piu Amore Romantico per Anna" by Jeff Live
"The Israelites" by Desmond Dekker & The Aces
"I Am" by Rony Erickson & Jack Johnson
"Judy in Disguise" by John Fred & His Playboy Band
"Cherry Lips" by The Robins
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Soundtrack Available:
Used On CD
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