Bob hughes matt dillon is the leader of a family of drug addicts consisting of his wife, dianne kelly lynch, and another couple who feed their habit by robbing drug stores as they travel across the country. Drugstore cowboy wouldve been too downbeat just as a movie about people orchestrating their own destruction salvation, so van sant does well to exploit the crazy comedy of james fogles well written book. I feel bad, and drugs make me feel good, although they are also why i feel bad. Bob hughes is the leader of a family of drug addicts consisting of his wife, dianne, and another couple who feed their habit by robbing drug stores as they travel across the country.
Gus van sants indie great drugstore cowboy, predating his more melodramatic hollywood fare, is never less than fascinating throughout its 104 minutes. The screenplay for the film drugstore cowboy released in 1989 was written by director gus van sant, and it was based on a novel by james fogle. Drugstore cowboy 18 movie clip at the pharmacy 1989. Theres a lag time built into the jokes, a holding period, that. Almost the whole plot is the same and a good deal of the dialogue is lifted straight from these pages. A highly superstitious bob and wife diane love to do various pharmaceutical drugs like dilaudid, morphine and cocaine. No, it was too good for that, too personal drugstore cowboy the novel remained unpublished until it was released as a film gus van sant in 1989. The film is about bob hughes dillon and his small gang of drug addicts who roam town to town in early 70s u.
Drugstore cowboy was turned into an awardwinning film in 1989 by gus van sant. Beloved, controversial, influential, the creator of such fascinating and awardwinning films as my own private idaho. To keep up the habit, they and another couple steal from numerous pharmacies. Pacific northwest, robbing drugstores in order to get their next fix. Bob matt dillon is the leader of a group of drugstore robbing drug addicts. A pharmacyrobbing dope fiend and his crew pop pills and evade the law. Drugstore cowboy is a 1989 american crime drama film directed by the american filmmaker gus van sant. Drugstore cowboy is a book by authorcriminal james fogle.
Devilishly charming matt dillon is the head honcho of a quartet of neerdowell addicts who support their habits by robbing drugstores in the mid1970s northwest. However, it did not lead to the publication authorized, anyway of fogles other works or more films. Filmmaker gus van sant shoots drugstore cowboy, the project that will bring he and his collaborators a formidable burst of mainstream attention. Matt dillon plays the leader of a group of dopeheads who wander around the country robbing pharmacies to feed their habits. The making of drugstore cowboy 1999 directed by john. All you gotta do is look at the labels on the little bottles.
I doubt that many reading this need a detailed description of drugstore cowboys plot. Dillons chums include doltish james le gros and teenage junkie heather graham. The drugstore cowboy in the opioid crisis in indiana, criminals can rob a pharmacy faster than you can take money out of an atm the 1989 film drugstore cowboy follows a gang of smalltime junkie thieves helmed by bob, played by a 25yearold matt dillon, who leads his fumbling band of marauding addicts through the pacific northwest. And now, after seeing drugstore cowboy the case for joe earp vs. The novel that inspired the highly acclaimed film directed by gus van sant bob hughes, the offbeat. A thematic study drugstore cowboy, milk and beyond justin vicari on.
In 1971, in portland, bob, his girlfriend dianne and his friends rick and his girlfriend nadine are smalltime thieves of drugstores and hospitals. Drugstore cowboy is a story told with a thread of insane logic that makes it one of the most absorbing movies in a long time. Van sant, a 36yearold director who lives in portland. His followers are the wife dianne lynch, and another couple, rick legros and nadine graham. Its about a group of drugusing thieves ruled over by a junkie named bob who steal from pharmacies. It is a logic that many drug abusers would understand.
Bob matt dillon is a dope addict and the head of a little gang of dope addicts that includes his wife dianne kelly lynch, bobs buddy rick james legros, and ricks girlfriend nadine 19yearold heather graham in her starmaking role. At the time the film was being developed fogle had. Theres a cop that eventually gets too close for comfort which causes the crew to take up. In 1971, bob hughes leads a crew of drug addictshis wife dianne, his best friend rick. James fogle was the american author of the autobiographical novel drugstore cowboy which became the basis for the film of the same name.
Drugstore cowboy is one of the best films in the long tradition of american outlaw road movies a tradition that includes bonnie and clyde, easy rider, midnight cowboy and badlands. Drugstore cowboy definition is one who wears cowboy clothes but has had no experience as a cowboy. Accompanying bob on his neverending drugruns are his wife, dianealso a hardcore junkie but without the generous heart that makes bob so appealingand. A characters view, drugstore cowboy essay freebooksummary. They spend their lives drugged and bob is chased by the abusive police detective gentry james remar. And if you just watch the movie youll know that the best drug in their minds is called blues, but is never identified by its name. The characters in this stunningly bold and eccentric film live pickup lives centered completely on the robberies they commit to get drugs. Drugstore cowboy definition of drugstore cowboy by. We all know its a study of the alternative lifestyle led by a. James fogle, drugstore cowboy author, arrested the new.
The return of the drugstore cowboy dangerous minds. A drugstore cowboy scene features drug logic at its most. Drugstore cowboy by gus van sant gus van sant, matt. Written by van sant and daniel yost, and based on an autobiographical novel by james fogle, the film stars matt. Everything in drugstore cowboy, the new film about a gang of smalltime junkie thieves, is steeped in a kind of narcotic hilarity. Fogle was in prison at the time of the films release in 1989. Compared to most stories about addiction, drugstore cowboy happens to be extremely accurate. James fogle 19362012 was the author of the autobiographical drugstore cowboy. Matt dillons character is very superstitious and eventually his luck runs out. The books of sanction i drugstore cowboy, james fogle.
It had been in a drawer, inert, but great not unlike a pharmacists drawer of vials and i didnt read it until 1994 when i was 20yearsofage. Drugstore cowboy is one of the best films in the long tradition of american outlaw road movies a tradition that includes bonnie and clyde. A drugstore cowboy scene features drug logic at its most inventively deranged. One page essay for theater 19 moving category due march 2012 by charles chuck borges march th 5. Starring matt dillon, kelly lynch, and heather graham, the film follows a roving quartet of drug addicts and, consequently, drug thieves, especially from the businesses of the title who wash up in portlands thengritty. James fogle, whose book drugstore cowboy told the story of drug users who robbed pharmacies to feed their addiction, had died in a washington prison. It is about criminals who do not intend to be particularly bad people, but whose lives run away with them. The drugstore cowboy in the opioid crisis mel magazine. A thematic study drugstore cowboy, milk and beyond by vicari, justin and a great selection of related books, art and collectibles available now at. Drugstore cowboy is a period piece, so we get an old sylvania tv set and that groovy floralpatterned armchair in the foreground. James fogle september 29, 1936 august 23, 2012 was the american author of the autobiographical novel drugstore cowboy, which became the basis for the film of the same title. The novel that inspired the major motion picture directed by gus van sant.
After a tragedy befalls a member of his group, bob decides he must leave his dysfunctional clan and go straight. Definition of drugstore cowboy in the idioms dictionary. Director gus van santas 1989 feature drugstore cowboy is. Thats partly because the author himself lived the very same lifestyle as the main characters.
Bob, 35, is the ultimate drugstore cowboy veteran of 20 years of matching his keen wits against cops and the owners of the pharmacies and hospitals that house his beloved narcotics. Fogles story of four marauding drug addicts who travel through the pacific northwest looting narcotics from drugstore pharmacies was the basis for. Happily for me, there are few differences between the book and the film. Plot in 1971, bob hughes leads a crew of drug addictshis wife dianne, his best friend rick, and ricks teenage girlfriend nadinetraveling across the pacific northwest and robbing pharmacies and hospitals to support their habits. Pages can include limited notes and highlighting, and the copy can include previous owner inscriptions. Most people dont know how theyre gonna feel from one moment to the next. James fogle, 73, the author of the novel drugstore cowboy, about a fumbling band of thieves and addicts, was arrested, again, in a drugstore robbery. Gus van sant s 1989 film drugstore cowboy, based on author james fogle s autobiographical novel about his lifelong addictions, adventures, and crimes, was an unexpected cult success. A copy that has been read, but remains in clean condition. A group of drug users in the 1970s help finance their habit by robbing drug stores.
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