Review of Drugstore Cowboy (1989) by Simon D — 21 Sep 2010

I enjoyed watching this film in my youth growing up in the early 90's. I have fond memories seeing this at different times in my life throughout high school and college. And no, I'm not a druggie, although I have lost two, more recent friends to heroine long after that. And I admire Williams Burroughs?s work immensely. Seeing that old coot in this film always thrills me to no end.

This was my first introduction to Matt Dillon?s work along with 'The Flamingo Kid' which I also discovered around the same time and enjoyed a great deal. Not long after, I discovered 'Rumblefish' and 'The Outsiders' which I also liked although not to the same extent as the first two films here mentioned.

Dillon then disappeared off of my personal radar for a while until I saw 'There's Something About Mary' which I also liked, though hated that they gave him the role of such a scumbag. Though if he preferred the stretch then that might be forgivable, although I did not feel him shine as much as he did in his previous reincarnations; it was, in my opinion, too secondary a role for him. I also saw 'Crash' but immediately shrugged it off as the cheap Hollywood Oscar-bait that it was. Again, my childhood acting-hero had not shined as he once did. I'm not saying he's Nicholson or Pacino when those boys were his age, but he did hold his own quite well and was very convincing, just like Sean Penn when he was younger -- who also had equal talent to shine through and not simply just "be" (e.g. 'Bad Boys').

Liking the actor aside -- and at the time I first saw it I could care less who Matt Dillon was because I foremost always loved this piece as a whole -- the movie held me enraptured from beginning to end. It's a privileged look into a secret life, shot without predjudice or favoritism towards the young criminals. It's also a tale of responsibility and maturing, although I won't say more without turning this into a spoiler.

You don't have to like drugs, soft or hard, to appreciate this movie. And the little quirks of some the supporting actors in this is something to watch out for as well. This is a truly unique film in a world of such kinds of films that often only end up embaressing themselves to some degree. (I could get into another movie by the same director which I hated, but I won't digress.) And it's safe to say that this one can never be replicated because it had all the ingredients needed, even though some of those ingredients might have been luck and timing.

Really, it's the perfect example of so many things going right at the same time that can't necessarily be controlled in every single facet by any one director or producer. Surely from the time of conception to the time of completion, the stars were aligned and no ultimate tragedy could befall this project. This comes from the cast and script too, sure, but the director could only fill in the rest by feeding this sleeping monster when it was hungry.

Sometimes you just need to let things breath when the winds are favorable, and I get the impression that 'Drugstore Cowboy' was one of those rare heaven-sent situations.