Rating: Summary: incredible Review: The documentary with Dillon and Gus Van Zant discussing how they made the film was fantastic. Their is also a behind the scenes segment that show's the director setting up carious arty shots. For anyone who loved this movie the first time, the dvd is the icing on the cake. A must buy.
Rating: Summary: Druggies on Film Review: There is a genre, Druggies on Film. You can go back to silent movies where the guy with a mustache drugs the heroine. Reefer Madness and Sinatra's, Man with the Golden Arm continued this type of drama. More recently we have seen Spun and Requiem for a Dream. The truth is, I liked them all. My own illicit drug intake had happened mostly back in the 60's and 70's, and I remember some of the mantic behavior and weirdly, the camaraderie. Yes, it was we against the world. Drugstore Cowboy does a terrific job of recreating this type of subculture. Matt Dillion is wonderful as the young brain behind the gang of pill robbers. His sudden need for rehabilitation is not very convincing, but all his schemes, rehab, and love for Kelly Lynch rings true. James Le Gros and Heather Graham play dumb and dumber. Dillion's druggie wife Lynch, she is so seventies hard girl. Finally, the great druggie of them all gets a cameo role, Beat writer, William Burroughs.
Rating: Summary: A gritty piece of cinema poetry Review: There is a scene in this film that is one of the most frightening I've seen, even though most people wouldn't think so. It involves Matt Dillion's character sitting in the middle of the woods thinking and perhaps wondering about his life. There's something else that makes this scene unsettling, but I can't give it away in this review. The film has many comic moments as well, but the overall mood of the film is melancholic.The technical aspects and style of this film sets it apart from others that I've seen. Closeup shots of mundane items of everyday life, a teabag, a light bulb, etc. Van Sant adds eerie elements and subtle touches that really MAKE this film. Add to that a great cast including Kelly Lynch, Heather Graham, and James Le Gros and you can't lose. Van Sant's characters are superstitious and lost in their lives of drugs and theft. Whether they will stay in their world or join ours is the question. Simply one of the best film's of the 80's - period. Another film that would make a good companion piece is "Sid and Nancy", a film about punk rocker Sid Vicious and his girlfriend Nancy.
Rating: Summary: Drugstore Cowboy Review: This DVD version of Gus Van Sant's best film is filled with excellent extras. The commentary track by director Van Sant and actor Dillon is informative. The making-of documentary is superior to most. Unfortunately, the digital mastering of the film itself has a fatal flaw. The soundtrack remains noticeably out of sync with the picture for the film's final hour. I would recommend to those would like to buy this title to wait until a subsequent edition is released.
Rating: Summary: first film in Van Sant's trilogy Review: This film came out in 1989, funny because it looks modern. I think of "Drugstore Cowboy" and his next 2 films ("My Own Private Idaho" and "Even Cowgirls Get The Blues") as a trilogy of sorts because they're all about people who don't have a real home, they wander from place to place, almost aimlessly except for their one goal. In this case, the goal is the next fix. They also have some of the same cast members in each one even if it's just a cameo. Stylistically, they're shot very much the same way. "Drugstore Cowboy" is probably the most surreal of them all, with visuals of pills and needles flying in front of your face. It also showcases Matt Dillon's best acting as a superstition-obsessed junkie. I can only give 4 stars out of five because as good (sad, funny) as the film is, the plot meanders slightly 3/4 of the way through. But it's still one of the best movies I've ever seen.
Rating: Summary: hats on beds are bad luck Review: This is a good movie about bad people. The imagery is well done as is the direction. The acting isn't all that great. The story is neet enough and dark enough to keep you watching. It's a fun release.
Rating: Summary: I agree: definitely Gus van Sant's best so far Review: This is Gus Van Sant's best movie to date, no question. Matt Dillon is our disillusioned hero and narrator, leading his crew on a non-stop journey round the hotels and chemists of the Midwest. The acting and script for Drugstore Cowboy are so tight, it's great. There are some true comedy scenes (a number involving the stowing of corpses, some cool police escapes and one classic where a stoned Bob (Dillon) tries to fend off his wife Diane's amorous advances) but Van Sant also creates a sense of yearning and sadness as we get toward the end of the story. And the music is divine too - especially the use of 'The Israelites'.
Rating: Summary: A Time Capsule Review: This is one of my all time favorite films. Having come of age in the northwest in the early seventies this film, and especially the wardrobes and weather, has a time capsule quality for me.
Rating: Summary: If you love the movie get the book!! Review: This is one of my all time favorite movies so I was thrilled when I found the book in a library about 8 yeas ago. The book is a semi-autobiographical story by a guy, James Fogel, in prison. This guy was/is Bob and he wrote Drugstore Cowboy about him and his friends in Portland, Oregon. What surprised me most when reading DC was that most of the best dialog and screens from the movie are word for word out of the book, like Bob describing the ants doing their thing. It's nice to see a filmmaker use the best parts rather that leave them out like so many book-to-screen adaptations seem to. SPOILER!...I also like that the book has a happy ending, Bob lives!
Rating: Summary: A powerful, original, moving , and darkly funny film Review: This is one of my favorite movies because it always reveals something new to me. The film manages to present a very realistic view of junkiedom--the highs, lows, and boring middles. The acting, music, direction, and script combine to create a true classic.
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