Drugstore Cowboy

Gus Van Sant’s breakthrough picture was based on a novel by James Fogle, a career criminal and writer who was involved in drugstore heists for four decades.

In the film Matt Dillon is Bob Hughes, leader of a group of addicts travelling across the Pacific Northwest in 1971, supporting their habit by robbing pharmacies and hospitals. Bob decides to go straight after a tragedy strikes the group, a task complicated by his wife’s determination to stay high and by the corrupting presence of ex-priest Father Tom Murphy, played by William Burroughs.

'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'
- Roger Ebert