‘I was once a shameless full-time dope fiend...’
The problem with films that are shocking and controversial upon release is that they invariably lose their power in the unstoppable sands of time. People went from fainting and screaming during the first screenings of The Exorcist to openly laughing at the rudimentary effects when it was re-released years later. And so it is for Drugstore Cowboy – a film that probably had some kind of power back in 1989, but now just feels aligned with many other similar films that came directly afterwards…
Bob (Matt Dillon) leads a quartet of pharmacy-robbing dope fiends in a bid to evade the long arm of the law and chase the next high. Joining him are his lover Dianne (Kelly Lynch), his partner-in-crime Rick (James Le Gros) and troubled, naive Nadine (Heather Graham).
If that plot sounds slight that’s because it is. This is a movie where very little happens, particularly in the third act when Bob makes a crucial life decision that makes sense in terms of his character development but also kills the movie as a pure piece of entertainment. This is a shame because director Gus Van Sant (Good Will Hunting) is clearly bursting with ideas and he wrings possibly Dillon’s best ever performance from him here despite the character having numerous foibles that almost render him cartoonish. It’s a testament to Dillon that he is able to successfully pull off the notion that he has a phobia of dogs being mentioned in conversation or hats being left on beds.
Ultimately, there is a lot of talent involved here, and Drugstore Cowboy’s status as a truly independent film is commendable, but on a purely cinematic level it perhaps doesn’t deserve the amount of praise that it has received.