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Avenue Pictures

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Drugstore Cowboy

Name: Drugstore Cowboy
Released: 1989-10-20T00:00:00.000000Z
Rating: 7.1

Sooner or later, someone will pay the price.

1989 • 102 min • ★ 7.1 (630) • Released

Crime Drama

Portland, Oregon, 1971. Bob Hughes is the charismatic leader of a peculiar quartet, formed by his wife, Dianne, and another couple, Rick and Nadine, who skillfully steal from drugstores and hospital medicine cabinets in order to appease their insatiable need for drugs. But neither fun nor luck last forever.

IMDb ↗

Original title: Drugstore Cowboy
Language: EN
Country: US
Budget: $2,500,000
Revenue: $4,700,000

Reviews & Ratings 1

CinemaSerf

Nov 9, 2025 · via TMDB

★ 7.0

I reckon this might be the best effort I’ve seen from Matt Dillon as his “Bob” leads a small group of drug addicts who have finessed the art of stealing prescription medication from pharmacies and hospitals alike before retreating to a motel room and an amiable haze of booze and sex. He’s accompanied on his adventures by his wife “Dianne” (Kelly Lynch) and his understudy “Rick” (James Le Gros) and his gal “Nadine” (Heather Graham) who is very, very, green. Of course, their antics have attracted the attention of law enforcement and wily detective “Gentry” (James Remar) is soon on their trail. Aware that they might be living on borrowed time, they flee their usual stomping grounds until a tragedy befalls the group and that has quite a profound effect on a “Bob” who may now be having his own Damascene moment. Is it all going to be too little, too late, though? Both the convincing Lynch and Dillon manage to imbue their roles with quite a degree of personality here; their characterisations are gritty and plausible and well supported by both the others and by a production design that offers us an uncomfortable glimpse into the lives of these (and potentially other) addicts. There’s plenty of pith from the dialogue and even though what they are doing is destructive and illegal, they still manage to illicit a degree of sympathy as things unfold in an almost pitiable fashion. It also takes quite a potent look at societal attitudes to addiction and ask questions about just what solutions we might suggest instead of incarceration and/or state imposed cold turkey.

User reviews courtesy of TMDB.

Keywords 16

1970s addiction burglars drug abuse drug addiction drug stealing drugs drugstore group therapy hopeful junkie melancholy opioid use disorder portland, oregon support group tragic

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Cast 13

Matt Dillon

Bob

Kelly Lynch

Dianne

James Remar

Gentry

James Le Gros

Rick

Heather Graham

Nadine

Beah Richards

Drug Counselor

Grace Zabriskie

Bob's Mother

Max Perlich

David

William S. Burroughs

Tom the Priest

Eric Hull

Druggist

George Catalano

Trousinski

Ted D'Arms

Neighbor Man

Gus Van Sant

Himself (uncredited)

Crew 9

Robert D. Yeoman

Director of Photography

Eric Alan Edwards

Second Unit Director of Photography

Gus Van Sant

Director

David B. Householter

First Assistant Director

Sharon Bialy

Casting

Cary Brokaw

Executive Producer

Nick Wechsler

Producer

Elliot Goldenthal

Original Music Composer

Gus Van Sant

Screenplay

Gallery

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US Release Dates 2

Oct 3, 1989

Century City

Premiere

Oct 20, 1989

R Theatrical