Drugstore Cowboy

Ignored in the Oscar race, this powerful independent film was voted Best Picture by the National Society of Film Critics, and deservedly so. Co-written and directed by Gus Van Sant, the movie stars former teen idol Matt Dillon as Bob Hughes--professional junkie. Along with his wife Diane (Kelly Lynch) and cohorts Rick and Nadine, Bob moves from drugstore to drugstore in Portland, Oregon, stealing whatever's in the drawer--from stool softener to dilaudid. When a local detective rips Bob and Diane's apartment to pieces one more time, the quartet decide to hit the road--sending their drugs ahead to various bus depots along the route. But something happens on the road, something that will change the group's lives irrevocably. No doubt because of its controversial subject matter during a political clime which has waged an all-out war on the "drug problem," Drugstore Cowboy has not gotten the attention it deserves. Although Bobby ends up off drugs, this is not an anti-drug movie. It's not a message movie at all. It's a movie about living, even if it's a low and desperate kind of living. And nearly every frame of this beautifully filmed slice-of-life carries the unmistakable ring of truth. Dillon and Lynch, as a sort of modern day Bonnie and Clyde, are superb. Highly recommended. (R. Pitman)