Get That Hat Off The Bed

I watched Drugstore Cowboy (1989) for the first time since it was in release.  I think it holds up.  It was Gus Van Sant's first film with any sort of budget, and though he's gone on to quite a career, with big hits, Oscar nominations and a Palme d'Or, I don't think he's ever topped it.

The story, based on a then-unpublished autobiographical novel from James Fogle, is pretty simple.  A gang of junkies travels around the Northwest in 1971, stealing drugs.  Matt Dillon is the leader.  His woman is Kelly Lynch.  His main comrade in crime is James Le Gros whose girl is the very young Heather Graham.  Most of the story is about how they burgle pharmacies, avoid the cops, and get high.  Eventually Dillon leaves the gang and tries to clean up.  (There he meets William S. Burroughs as an old junkie not far removed from William S. Burroughs.)

Van Sant is able to show the life without judging it, but also without indulging in nostalgie de la boue.  To this group, being on drugs is real life.  The rest is figuring out how to get the drugs.  It almost makes sense--at least until the time you crash and burn.  I don't know how well Van Sant knew this world, but the story seems honest.

Perhaps Dillon and Lynch are a bit too good-looking to be junkies, even if the characters are still in their twenties.  But hey, you get a few million in your budget, you hire beautiful people.