Drugstore Cowboy: Matt Dillon, Kelly Lynch, James LeGros, Heather Graham, Eric Hull, Max Perlich, James Remar, John Kelly, Grace Zabriskie, George Catalano, Janet Baumhover, Ted D'Arms, Gus Van Sant, Cary Brokaw, Karen Murphy, Nick Wechsler, Daniel Yost, James Fogle, William S. Burroughs: Amazon.ca: Video

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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

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Customer Reviews

32 Reviews

5 star:		(22)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(2)
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Average Customer Review

4.5 out of 5 stars (32 customer reviews)

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4 of 4 people found the following review helpful

3.0 out of 5 stars Drugstore Cowboy, April 22 2000

By

G. Pullano (Aurora, CO) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Drugstore Cowboy (Widescreen) (DVD)

This DVD version of Gus Van Sant's best film is filled with excellent extras. The commentary track by director Van Sant and actor Dillon is informative. The making-of documentary is superior to most. Unfortunately, the digital mastering of the film itself has a fatal flaw. The soundtrack remains noticeably out of sync with the picture for the film's final hour. I would recommend to those would like to buy this title to wait until a subsequent edition is released.

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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Van Sant's best movie...., Jan 6 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Drugstore Cowboy (VHS Tape)

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.

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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars "What month is it anyway?", Nov 21 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: Drugstore Cowboy (VHS Tape)

Truly one of the greatest films of the eighties and, actually, one of my all-time favorites. I could watch Drugstore Cowboy once a week for a year and never get tired of it. This is a great example of Gus Van Sant's work and, along with My Own Private Idaho, is probably his best. For those who think that they know who Gus Van Sant is because they saw Good Will Hunting or want to see Psycho, they should check this out and see what he's really all about. Great performances all around, escpecially from Dillon and Lynch, and a fantastic cameo by William S. Burroughs as Bob's childhood priest. Unapologetic in tone, and beautiful to look at (especially Van Sant's obsession with time-lapse photography). Along with Do the Right Thing, the best film of 1989, and one of the most powerful films in the past ten years. Definitely check it out.

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Most recent customer reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars Drugstore Cowboy
matt dillon's 2nd best film, but does a great role as a strung out person trying to get cleaned up!

Published 18 months ago

3.0 out of 5 stars drugs and thugs
this one is about 4 losers who rob drug stores for..............what else?................drugs!then they either take them or sell them. Read more

Published on July 8 2004 by abe