Thoughts on Drugstore Cowboy

via Giphy

"I truly feel pity for you both. You are grown up now! And yet you still act as children, who want to do nothing but run and play. You cannot run and play all your life, Dianne!"

"This, in its own terrifying way, is a love story."

-- tagline, Days of Wine and Roses

I've always been fond of movies where a couple takes a journey, whether literally or internally. It Happened One Night, Wild at Heart, Baby Driver. Of course, not every pair can survive something like that. Drugstore Cowboy, directed by Gus Van Sant from a script he wrote with Daniel Yost based on James Fogle's novel, has a heartbreaking quality. It's powerful because it's played straight.

Bob (Matt Dillon) leads a crew of robbers including wife Dianne (Kelly Lynch), plus Rick (James LeGros) and Nadine (Heather Graham), who aid in the execution or distractions. Drug addicts, the quartet hit pharmacies and hospitals, obtaining everything from the most potent cocaine available to prescription stool softener. Their crimes have earned Bob and company persistent attention from the Portland police (including James Remar as a step-behind detective), but it also pays with a high. 

"After any kind of drug haul, everyone in the crew indulged. I laughed to myself as I pictured blues or Dilaudid in such great amounts that the spoon would literally be overflowing. Upon entering my vein, the drug would start a warm itch that would surge along until the brain consumed it in a gentle explosion that began in the back of the neck and rose rapidly until I felt such pleasure that the world sympathized and took on a soft and lofty appeal. Everything was grand then. Your worst enemy, he wasn't so bad. The ants in the grass, you know, they were just doin' their thing. Everything took on the rosy hue of unlimited success. You could do no wrong. And as long as it lasted, life ... was beautiful."

*While Bob's tripping, Dianne's got road rage*

After any kind of drug haul,
everyone in the crew indulged.
I laughed to myself as I pictured blues
or Dilaudid in such great amounts
that the spoon would
literally be overflowing.
Upon entering my vein
the drug would start a warm itch
that would surge along until the brain
consumed it in a gentle explosion
that began in the back of
the neck and rose rapidly
until I felt such pleasure
that the world sympathised
and took on a soft and lofty appeal.
Everything was grand then.
Your worst enemy, he wasn't so bad.
The ants in the grass, they were
just, you know, doin' their thing.
Everything took on the rosy
hue of unlimited success.
You could do no wrong. And as long
as it lasted, life... was beautiful

Read more: https://www.springfieldspringfield.co.uk/movie_script.php?movie=drugstore-cowboy

After any kind of drug haul,
everyone in the crew indulged.
I laughed to myself as I pictured blues
or Dilaudid in such great amounts
that the spoon would
literally be overflowing.
Upon entering my vein
the drug would start a warm itch
that would surge along until the brain
consumed it in a gentle explosion
that began in the back of
the neck and rose rapidly
until I felt such pleasure
that the world sympathised
and took on a soft and lofty appeal.
Everything was grand then.
Your worst enemy, he wasn't so bad.
The ants in the grass, they were
just, you know, doin' their thing.
Everything took on the rosy
hue of unlimited success.
You could do no wrong. And as long
as it lasted, life... was beautifu

Read more: https://www.springfieldspringfield.co.uk/movie_script.php?movie=drugstore-cowboy

Fogle, in prison during the movie's production, apparently spent the rest of his life committing robberies and doing drugs. I would use some purple language, like that he was a "career criminal" or that he "never escaped his demons." But it feels wrong in any context, real life or movie. In either form, there is a junkie who knows he is a junkie and is incapable of escaping that lifestyle. 

The ensemble, including William S. Burroughs as an addict priest, Grace Zabriskie as Bob's mother and Max Perlich as the seemingly pipsqueak David, is first rate. But Drugstore Cowboy is very much Dillon and Lynch's movie. They're just right as Bob and Dianne. Loving and resourceful, but also downtrodden losers.

"And Bob, you know me. I might have been a lot of things, but I never was a tramp. Bob, I gotta go."

"Hey, Dianne? ... It's really good to see you. I mean, you look really good. ... I wish I could win you back."

Recommended.

Thoughts:

-- Box Office: Grossing nearly $5 million on a $2.5 million budget, this came in at No. 113 for 1989.

-- Critic's Corner: "Funny, depressive and strangely noble, often all at once," according to Dave Kehr, Chicago Tribune. Roger Ebert: "... one of the most absorbing movies in a long time ... a joyous piece of work." "An electrifying movie without one misstep or one conventional moment," wrote Shelia Benson, Los Angeles Times. Vincent Canby used this and True Love as examples of how to depict "ordinary people without condescending to them, sending them up or, worse, making them sound like stand-up comics." Several critics appreciated how the milieu was depicted, free of moralizing and overreach. Peter Travers: "For once a movie, even one that lurches and stumbles, sees the war on drugs honestly by recognizing the enemy's power and allure. Let's hope it's a trend." Most of the actors received positive reviews -- Stephen Holden of the New York Times didn't like Burroughs -- but Dillon's notices were something truly amazing.

-- Critic's Corner, Dillon: Hal Hinson, Washington Post: "This is a perfect role for Dillon: it makes use of that trace of torpor in him. But it gives him a chance to show some of his hangdog charisma too." David Denby, New York: "The dreamy narcissism is gone ... he even shows some promising comic talents." Kehr: "...his first real grownup role." Holden: "... the role of his career." Canby: "... one of the richest, funniest performances of the year."

-- Awards Watch: Dillon, Perlich, the screenplay and the cinematography scored Independent Spirit Awards. The film itself, Van Sant's direction, Lynch and Graham were all nominated. The screenplay also picked up wins from film critics in New York, Los Angeles and nationwide. The national organization awarded the film and Van Sant's direction, while the L.A. organization at least nominated the film and its score. And not a single Golden Globe or Oscar nod.

-- Dillon had praise for Van Sant during an AV Club interview: "I think we kind of felt going into it that this guy was a serious filmmaker, y'know? A real artist. It was a very creative process." Lynch's Random Roles went into more detail, with her mentioning the excitement of the script, filmed movie and released movie all being the same thing. "(It's) what happens when you have a very strong captain of the ship who has a vision that everyone can plug into." She also revealed that the last scene in her audition, which she requested to read, was Bob and Dianne's meeting at his apartment. "... that whole bit where you realize that she's really in love with him, but she's an addict. For me, that's the character. That scene is who that character is. And that's what got me the part." 

-- Hey, It's the Early '70s!: Dianne shoplifts a copy of Love Story during the opening heist. I'm guessing it's included mostly as a timestamp, but it is funny how Love Story and Drugstore Cowboy had inverted experiences regarding publication. Love Story: screenplay to novel to movie. Drugstore Cowboy: manuscript to movie to novel.

-- "Next time you step into the middle of one of my deals to help me with my arithmetic, I'll sell you to the first one-eyed carnival freak I can find for a pack of chewing gum!"

-- Later This Week: Look Who's Talking, The Fabulous Baker Boys and the long-awaited return of Thoughts on Mad About You.