Quartile rating: 7.5/10 · 1 rating
Portland, Oregon, 1971. Bob Hughes is the charismatic leader of a peculiar quartet, formed by his wife, Dianne, and another couple, Rick and Nadine, who skillfully steal from drugstores and hospital medicine cabinets in order to appease their insatiable need for drugs. But neither fun nor luck last forever.
Drugstore Cowboy is a landmark of American independent cinema, distinguished by Gus Van Sant's unflinching, unglamorous portrait of addiction and Matt Dillon's career-best performance as Bob Hughes. The film's novelty lies in its refusal to moralize or sensationalize—it presents the junkie lifestyle with a matter-of-fact authenticity and dark humor that was genuinely singular for its time, informed partly by William S. Burroughs' cameo presence and the source novel's insider perspective. Dillon anchors the film with remarkable nuance, convincingly cycling through charisma, paranoia, and vulnerability. The cinematography is competent and fits the Pacific Northwest milieu but doesn't especially distinguish itself visually. The plot follows a somewhat episodic, picaresque structure—effective but not tightly constructed. The ending offers a genuinely ambiguous, melancholic note of tentative hope undercut by realism, which is fitting but not wholly surprising given the trajectory.