Drugstore Cowboy

Gus Van Sant, USA 1989, 100 minutes

Made in 1989 and released to great critical acclaim under an obligatory "storm of controversy", Gus Van Sant Jr.'s examination of drug addiction in the early seventies laid to rest the decade of excess that was the eighties. It was the final nail in the coffin of all those bratpack movies about yuppie twenty-somethings with cocaine habits. Films such as Less Than Zero and St. Elmo's Fire made drugs the preserve of the rich and beautiful; yes, drugs can even affect those who have had the most fairy-tale of upbringings (think of Demi Moore at the end of St. Elmo's Fire, white curtains blowing in the winds as she realises cocaine has screwed up her life). The message was simple: Just say no! And if you were in any doubts, Nancy Reagan and the Grange Hill gang were there to reinforce it.

Drugstore Cowboy studiously avoids all such attempts at moralising. Based on an unpublished novel by James Fogle (currently doing time for drugs related offences), it is a darkly funny and honest account of junkiedom. It follows the lives of dope fiend Bob (Dillon) and his crew as they ply their trade, robbing drugstores to fuel their addictions. While the film doesn't glamorise the lifestyle, it doesn't condemn it either.

When Bob decides to quit dope, he does so not out of any sense of guilt but because of a superstition that he is under a hex he cannot out run. As Bob tells a counsellor, "I'm a junkie, I like drugs I like the whole lifestyle, it just didn't pay off". There is no apology for his addiction, no blame directed towards his parents or society; just a simple confession that (whisper it) drugs might be enjoyable, but he can no longer lead the life he loves.

The film acts as a blue print for Trainspotting's surreal brilliance and insight into drug usage. Van Sant's use of speeded up film and floating imagery convey Bob's stream of consciousness when he's on junk in much the same way as the toilet scene did Renton's.

Matt Dillon produces a career high as the street-wise junkie and William S. Burroughs turns in a fantastic cameo, basically playing himself as Tom, the priest who "probably shot a million bucks into his arm". The assembled cast provide a very naturalistic feel to the film and Van Sant and Daniel Yost's script avoids the usual clichés of drug speak.

Drugstore Cowboy marked the rebirth of the American-indie and, by transferring the setting from the "bright lights, big city" scenario to the grainy, rain soaked atmosphere of Portland, Oregon circa 1971, Van Sant has created a film which has become as much a document. He presents a reflection on the burnout of the early seventies and the inevitable consequences of sixties hedonism, as applicable to the post Reagan fall out amidst which the fim was made.

Review by Alistair Harkness
Taken from EUFS Programme 1997-98