Drugstore Cowboy

"Sooner or later, someone will pay the price."

1989 1h 42m EN

👍

7.1

SOLID

🔥

94%

CERTIFIED FRESH

💯

METACRITIC

⭐

7.2

IMDB

★7.1TMDB · 641🍅94%Rotten Tomatoes●82Metacritic★7.2IMDB · 43,399

DramaCrime

Synopsis

Spoiler shield

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.

“Sooner or later, someone will pay the price.”

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Cast

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

Credits

Behind the camera

Director: Gus Van Sant
Writers: Gus Van Sant, Daniel Yost
Languages: English
Countries: United States of America

Want more? Switch to Cinephile mode in the header for DP, composer, budget, box office, production companies, keywords, and release history.

Did you know?

Fun facts 🍿

1 / 8

MONEY

Did you know

Shot for just $2.5M — micro-budget by Hollywood standards.

MoodPlayr · trivia#01

2 / 8

ERA

Did you know

37 years old — old enough to be someone's favourite childhood film.

MoodPlayr · trivia#02

3 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Directed by Gus Van Sant, shot by Robert D. Yeoman. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.

MoodPlayr · trivia#03

4 / 8

ERA

Did you know

Original score by Elliot Goldenthal. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.

MoodPlayr · trivia#04

5 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Editor Mary Bauer shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.

MoodPlayr · trivia#05

6 / 8

CAST

Did you know

Matt Dillon and Kelly Lynch and James Remar carry the top of the cast.

MoodPlayr · trivia#06

7 / 8

FACT

Did you know

Marketing tagline: "Sooner or later, someone will pay the price.".

MoodPlayr · trivia#07

8 / 8

WILD

Did you know

IMDB entry: tt0097240 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.

MoodPlayr · trivia#08

Cinephile deep dive

The take

Gus Van Sant directs. Robert D. Yeoman behind the camera. Elliot Goldenthal scores. Mary Bauer cuts. Profitable at the box office. Produced in United States of America. Dialogue in English.

Trivia

Things worth knowing

1Shot for just $2.5M — micro-budget by Hollywood standards.
237 years old — old enough to be someone's favourite childhood film.
3Directed by Gus Van Sant, shot by Robert D. Yeoman. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.
4Original score by Elliot Goldenthal. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.
5Editor Mary Bauer shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.
6Matt Dillon and Kelly Lynch and James Remar carry the top of the cast.
7Marketing tagline: "Sooner or later, someone will pay the price.".
8IMDB entry: tt0097240 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.
9Classified under 16 themes, including "drug abuse", "support group", "1970s", "drug addiction".

The technical file

Cinematography: Robert D. Yeoman
Original score: Elliot Goldenthal
Editing: Mary Bauer
Production design: David Brisbin
Makeup / hair: Lizbeth Williamson
Sound: Wayne Heitman
Stunt coordinator: David Boushey
Runtime: 102 min · 1h 42m
Aspect ratio (typical): 1.37:1 (Academy)
Status: Released
Budget: $2,500,000
Box office: $4,700,000
Return: 188% of budget
Original language: EN
Certification (US): R
IMDB: Drugstore Cowboy (1989)
Rotten Tomatoes: 94% 🍅 Fresh
Metacritic: 82/100
IMDB rating: 7.2/10 · 43,399 votes
MPAA: R

Awards

12 wins & 11 nominations total

Also by

Gus Van Sant

Stills · wallpapers

Selected frames

Full-resolution frames — open one to save it as a wallpaper.

Wallpaper

Trailers & featurettes

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Community reviews

What people are saying

CinemaSerf2025-11-09
★ 7/10
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.

Production companies